Light at the end of the tunnel!

I submitted my dissertation on the 1st of August. There was a time when I nearly gave up although I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Within the time allocated to me to write my dissertation, my husband was admitted twice into hospital and I was working full time as well. My tutor advised that I request for an extension however I told her I will rather finish and qualify this year. So I continued the juggling. There were nights where I slept for a few hours after coming back from the hospital and worked on my dissertation. The next morning I was back to the hospital or work.

I can now say that I have passed my dissertation!!!! I am a qualified social worker! Not only that, I have started my new job nearly two months now and I am enjoying it. In my next post, I will be writing a brief summary of my three years as a student of Ruskin, a mother of two, a wife and carer and a working mum.

Watch out for my graduation post as well!!

My placement and the good news.

My placement has ended well. I passed my placement and you know what, all the hard work has paid off. Read about it below:

Hello all, I am pleased to inform you that my interview was very successful and as such I got the job!! Yes I got the job!!!! It still feels to me like a dream. I went for the interview on Wednesday and got the good news yesterday. I was terrified of the unknown. The good news is I have got the job!!! And I screamed and broke down in tears. I cried for some time. A quote from the Lead SW. 'Seyram, when you started this placement I thought you wouldn't make it. I thought you would fail. But you proved me wrong. Over the past four months, you have really proven yourself ready for practice as a social worker. You have handled your safeguarding case professionally and you were recommended by the senior practitioner. I have asked him to write a recommendation letter for your portfolio, you have picked up complex cases and handled them on your own successfully and you have contributed to the team by amending the guidelines for discharge planning for service users who have Direct Payment. None of us had an idea but you solely worked collaboratively with the DP office and sorted that out. I am really proud of you and you should be proud of yourself too. I wish I could keep you but the bad news is you will be joining another team but come to me if you need anything' end quote. How can I take all these credits without appreciating you all. For all your input. Just want to say a big thank you to Ruskin College for the opportunity!! And to all who make studying in Ruskin a memorable one. To Des, Teresa, Cathy, Christine, Olwen, Bec, Bridget and to my colleagues, you all have been such a blessing. To Audrey I say AYIKOOOOO!!!! Meaning thank you in my language. To Hannah I say thank you!!!!!. You know, for some time now I stopped promoting my blog for the fear that I might fail and be a disgrace to Ruskin. There was so much going on as a mother, wife and carer, a daughter and bread winner. These were all covered up with a lovely smile hoping and praying that one day, everything will be okay. And now I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have got to go before I start my second round of crying. Wishing you all the best. The workshop for the job interview was helpful. I am finishing my placement next week Wednesday by God's grace. See you all soon Thank you Seyram.
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So far...

We had a recall day and I decided to find out the views of my colleagues about their journey so far in Ruskin. It is amazing how we, students, share the same opinion of views about Ruskin and how beneficial it has been to been to all of us. In my placement I met a qualified Social worker who did her diploma at Ruskin. She still bears the same witness we bear now about Ruskin. So many years have passed but Ruskin college is still giving its best to their students today. Today I am asking my other colleagues to share with us their experiences on the Social Work course at Ruskin
" Fantastic three years have stretched my mind and my social circle having made so many lifelong friends. Alison- I have loved every minute of my three years at Ruskin College. This staff have been fantastically very supportive and I have made some wonderful friends I will be sad when the course is over".
Anna- Can't believe how fast the three years have gone. Staff have been very supportive and I have met some wonderful new friends. I would recommend the course highly.
Catherine- I have been at Ruskin for five years and have enjoyed every minute. Ruskin are so supportive and encouraging. I have achieved so much more than I thought myself capable. I would recommend it to anyone thinking of returning to education.
Dawn- My time at Ruskin has been three of the most in enriching years of my life. The staffs have offered above and beyond the expected level of support and I have made some good friends. I have recommended the course to others and as a result an ex-colleague from my first placement is in year one of BA Social Work.
My name is Nancy. I am in my last year on placement in Social Work. Raskin has changed my life and thinking. This has been a wonderful and great learning experience. Ruskin College has been inspiring with great tutors and friendly atmosphere

Theory into Practice

How time flies. I've been on my last placement for the year. This year, things are rather more practical. I'm doing my Placement at a hospial. Even though it's been busy, I really prefer it as it's a lot more hands on. I work within a social work unit whose duty among other ones is to work out a care package for clients. It's been actually involved in interviewing clients and recommending care packages for them. Now I'm able to put all the theories I learnt on the course into practice. I will be posting my experiences over the next weeks until the placement is finished.

Another term begins...

Hi to you all. How are you keeping. Welcome to the new students. You have made the right decision in choosing to study at Ruskin. Ruskin has enabled me to embark on a degree course that I would not have been able to afford at all. My future prospect changed from gloom to a bright one and a future with as a carer.

This is a summary of last term  - my second year. I can't even believe myself that this September I will be in my third year. Well, last term went well and I was really enjoying it. Especially the different topics that were covered. We had external professionals who were invited to teach us. They came from different specialities and gave practical teaching examples that really helped. It gave us a clearer view, understanding and practical tips to dealing with people from different walks of life.

Although I really enjoyed the term, towards the end I had challenging situations that I had to face. I lost a dear and loving sister to cancer. It was so painful and I had to take sometime off. I tried to put into practice bereavement theory that I had learnt but it failed. At the same time, I was also facing difficult challenges that can not be mentioned here. I almost gave up on the course; that was how low I felt!  It affected my performance and I now have to redo one of my assignments. I received great support and encouragement from both family and the college. The good thing is I have a tutor to support me and a tutorial session as well to help me work through my assignment. Wow !!. Where else can you find such support? No where I think. 

I have been having a lot of chats with people about Ruskin and they have been very impressed about  the great work and change it's bringing to a lot of people that had given up by given them a second chance. The journey continues and all comments are welcome.

First placement completed

Hello everyone! Can you believe it? My placement is over and I am almost at the end of my second year. Me? No, I don't believe it. It all seems like a dream but it is real.

My placement went on well. Of course there were some challenges and good times. There were opportunities for me to shed light on the good work, teaching and support Ruskin College is giving its students.

Some of the challenges faced are coming to terms with the work that go on in the children/family centre because I was not familiar with it but I had support.

Almost to the end of my placement, my husband was hospitalised and I had to juggle my placement, family, college and work. It was very difficult and a very stressful process. But hey, I was determined to push on. Not only that, the support I got from my tutors was amazing. My colleague was really amazed by it. My tutors were available to be called and my supervision time was regular. They worked hard for me to be able to gain all my experiences and knowledge needed.

The good times were meeting new people as usual. Being able to put theory into practice, working with people to bring a change to their lives. In one instance, a family's circumstances changed as a result of taking up their case and working on their behalf. They are much happier now. It felt really rewarding to me.

Some of the challenges were also dealing with ethical issues but because of confidentiality, I will not be able to say anything more on it.

Overall, it was a good learning process for me. At first, I thought too much work was required of us compared to a colleague from another university that was on the same placement with me. On closer look, the work that we are required to do made me more aware of theories, approaches, legislation and a lot more. From the feedback I had, Ruskin College is the best place for studying.

I want to use this opportunity to say thank you to all my tutors and supervisors for their support in enabling me to go through my placement and second year as a whole.

Catch up with you soon.

Happy New Year!!

Thanks to everyone who has been following me through my blog and for all the encouragement. Happy New Year to all of you. I hope those who have pursuing further education as part of their new year resolutions will consider Ruskin College.

I hope you all have a great, prosperous New Year. Catch up with you soon.