Reflection on Fieldwork Placement

Running head: REFLECTION ON FIELDWORK PLACEMENT
Reflection on Fieldwork Placement
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1REFLECTION ON FIELDWORK PLACEMENT
Journal Entry 1
Reflect on how you integrated your classroom learning into your Fieldwork
Placement.
Learning in a classroom environment and applying them in real life are two
completely different things. During my course of community service, I learned the ethics and
code of conduct of social workers, the qualities that makes better social workers, the duties
and responsibilities of us as social workers and many other concepts (Australian Association
of Social Workers (AASW)., 2010). When I received the fieldwork placement in Mosman
Park Nursing Home, Perth I was granted a chance to apply the knowledge that I had gathered
and enhance them. This institution provides aged care services where we had young
residents, aboriginal residents, high care dementia patients and aggressive patients all under
the same roof (Hall & Prior Aged Care Group - 24 Nursing Homes in WA and NSW., 2020).
I attended the fieldwork for almost a month and had much exposure to learn new things.
For example:
Give examples of when you applied specific skills and knowledge in completing your
placement tasks, especially in working with clients.
In our community service course, we learnt about the necessity of communication
with the people that we care. I also learnt about the aspects of empathy, patience and tryst
building. Thus, on the very first day, I only had an introductory session. Even for the next
day, my job was limited to the basic activities. It was not until the third day that I started
building rapport with them. I exercised patience and gave the clients a chance to become
familiar with me, which we had learnt in our classroom sessions. While talking to the clients I
applied active listening and advocating. When I did not understand anything, I politely

2REFLECTION ON FIELDWORK PLACEMENT
clarified so that there would be no communication gap or misunderstanding. Initially, my
duty was to observe people and understand how they go about their daily activities.
How did it challenge you? How did it motivate you to develop further as a community
worker?
The most challenging part was the differences in culture and the subsequent
differences in beliefs and values that accompanies it. Due to that reason, there were
sometimes communication problems. There were many people supervising me and they
helped me in difficult scenarios. My experience in the fieldwork motivated me to develop
myself as a better community worker. The happiness and pleasure that the clients found in the
nominal activities gave me a glimpse of the happiness that I could spread among them (Cleak
& Wilson, 2013). The fieldwork also challenged my problem solving and empathy. In places
like, conflict might occur and it is necessary to solve the problem and listening to the people
attentively and trying to work a solution that will please them both are important. This ability
needs to be developed in me.
How did you respond to a critical or important event on placement using your
knowledge and skills in community services?
The Mosman Park Nursing Home gives aged care to vast range of people. During my
fieldwork placement, on the sixth day of my experience I witnessed a disturbing incident.
Two of the clients were fighting with each other. Though there were no physical fight, they
both were using string language, which created irritation among other clients. Me and one
other caregiver intervened and led each of them to different places. I asked the client that I
was accompanying about the problem. I calmed him down so that he is able to communicate
with me. We talked for a while, he told me the issue, we discussed to come up with a solution
and the client was happy. In this scenario, I had to apply patience, communication. Active
listening and empathy to handle that situation.

3REFLECTION ON FIELDWORK PLACEMENT
Journal Entry 2
Reflect on the specific community/human services-related tasks you performed
during your Fieldwork Placement. For example:
In the first few days of my fieldwork, the main task was to observe the clients and
remain present at their sides as much as possible. I observed them in their daily activities and
sat with them for many other activities. Helping the other caregivers was also another
important task. After my introduction and formal rapport building, I mainly assisted them in
their everyday activity. I arranged for birthday parties and bar-b-q in the facility. I also had to
manage two conflict situations where I was able to perform quite satisfactorily. In both the
situations, I was able to calm the client down, made them realize their mistakes, and assisted
them in reaching an amicable solution. I also took part in a reminiscing activity and learned
many things about them. They were also able to recount their most cherished memories.
How did the tasks that you undertook benefit the clients of the agency? Provide
examples.
All of the tasks that I performed benefitted the clients of the company in many. For
example, the fight that occurred in the facility where I intervened, the client that I talked to
learnt about the mistakes that he was making in approaching a person aggressively. I assisted
them in daily activities, took care of the needs to the clients coming from different sectors. In
another conflict too, the client that had the irritation outburst was able to open up to me. I
helped her deal with the bad memories that were triggering her emotion (Prgomet et al.,
2017). Through playing reminiscence, I was able to promote mental health among the clients
as this game gave them a chance to revisit them.