Learning from Life

Reflection

Last year, I really surprised myself while on placement. I was so nervous– which was expected– but I was unaware of how at ease I soon became once I knew exactly what was expected of me and where everything was, and I just got carried away with the flow of the hectic school life routine.

I was unsure how I would come off to the pupils and feared (maybe a bit too much) of what they thought of me.  But as one of my personal traits is the constant need to make sure everyone is OK and feels happy, it allowed my P7s to see that all I really wanted was to help them, and this lay the foundation for great relationships to form. For each of my placements to come, I am sure that I will go into each one with a more positive and confident outlook, founded by my ability to manage the many interesting situations that my first placement presented myself with.

My placement did however surprise me as many of the situations I did come face to face with often stemmed from mental health issues and the children’s open use of the terms ‘anxiety’ and ‘depression’. It worried me as I wasn’t aware that children in primary school would even know what these terms meant—but it was explained to me many times but many different pupils! I should have realised that with the heavy influence of social media that this sort of thing would be common in schools now compared to when I was at school. This realisation made me sad and I was constantly worrying about my kids as I often put myself into their shoes and could feel how stressful certain situations could make them feel. But I wondered ‘was my one and ones really enough to make them feel better or does this run deeper?’

Therefore, I want to take the opportunity from Learning from Life module and work within the healthcare sector to strengthen my ability to manage my emotions in a professional way in order for me to give pupils the best advice and guidance, and ensure they feel safe and happy while at school. I want to educate myself more about childhood depression and the safe ways to deal with these situations. Understanding the processes in which need to be put in place to aid children with depression would also be beneficial for myself (and everyone!) to realise what services are out their and who are involved.