Two Saturdays in Feburary and March I went along to train as an appropriate adult.  The days were very long from 9:30 until 16:30 and there was not any exiting tasks to engage in like there was with Home-Start. It was also very different because most of the people there were of a similar age and occupation to myself.  Most of the trainees were psychology and criminolgy students, with the acception of one older lady who had moved to Devon to be a Foster carer and do some volunteering on the side and an ex soldier who wanted to get back into work after recovering from PTSD and wanted to give something back to society.  I had a great time at these two training days and learned a lot. However, there was a lot to get through and lots of legal knowledge for us to learn.  It did feel like I had more pressure in this group to try not to over share information about myself due to the fact that I will be working with people I once was. I will be working with youth offenders. There were times when the co-ordinator went through certian issues we might face when I thought, ‘Oh I did something similar to that when I was 15’. Or I felt the urge to discuss my experience of my perception of youth offending workers and appropriate adults when I was a teenager.  I was rather suprised that I got accepted to do this work after the taining finished due to the content on my DBS check. I was rather thrilled.  I got on very well with the co-ordinator and the man who runs the youth offending team.  The co-ordinator also runs a volunteer festival type venue in Wosestershiere during the summer months, where I have offered to stay for a month to do some summer work.  I am quite exited about this role and it was my first choice for placement.  At the end of our training we got to have a tour around charles cross police station which was rather amusing to see from the other side. The cells look much smaller and there is also a cell specifically for people who have been arrested on a drugs charge. The cells toilet does not flush into the draines but has a box at the back of it with a black glove stuck to it and unfortunately an officer on duty has to put their hand in there and search through feces for drugs. Although they do get extra pay for it which is good.

15/03/2019: I was on call today and expected to be ready to head to Charles Cross police station where I would be expected to support a detainee. However, I was not called in. If I had been I would have been there from 9-5 and may have had to supported a number of detainees.