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Student placement helps Rebecca to make a difference

Youth work graduate Rebecca is succeeding in a competitive employment market thanks to her hard work and a student placement with Windermere Child & Family Services.

Rebecca applied for a student placement with Windermere after her university lecturer drew her attention to the opportunity.

“Windermere offers student placement opportunities for final year students in various disciplines such as social work, youth work, occupational therapy, speech pathology and other allied health disciplines,” says Gen Dawson, Student Unit Coordinator.

Rebecca was very excited to be accepted by Windermere and started her student placement in March 2020, right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had three days on site and then we started to work from home due to COVID-19,” she says.

Originally it was intended that Rebecca would work with youth in Windermere’s school-based program, Kids on Track. Kids on Track aims to give students the ability to learn positive behaviours in themselves and others, and the skills to make informed choices so they have the opportunity for a better future.

Due to the pandemic, rather than attend classrooms, Rebecca assisted Windermere to convert Kids on Track into online learning modules.

“I learnt so much from Rachel, (Windermere Kids on Track project officer). We were not able to go into classrooms so we turned my placement into a research and development project instead,” says Rebecca. 

During her placement Rebecca was given a wide range of opportunities to expand her skillset. “Rebecca interviewed technology companies about software options, worked with our marketing, learning & development teams and participated in meetings with management.  One of the highlights was observing Rebecca finishing my presentation to our CEO and management team when I had technical issues and my audio dropped out,” says Rachel.

Although she was unable to participate in face to face activities with young people, Rebecca strongly benefitted from her time with Windermere.

She enjoyed learning the different ways that educational material could be presented and explored with young people. “I got so much out of learning to navigate the whole curriculum and planning it out. I also got to know Rachel. We had a lot of conversations rather than going into action in the classroom due to the COVID situation,” she says.

Today Rebecca is proud to have been offered an education support role at a primary school. She says that many of the children she works with are considered vulnerable and that the knowledge she learnt at Windermere, particularly around trauma informed practice, has been directly transferable to her current role.

“I absolutely recommend doing a student placement with Windermere. I’ve already put into practice so many skills that I learnt and a large part of gaining employment was due to my experience at Windermere,” says Rebecca.

It’s great to see Rebecca being rewarded for her hard work. “Rebecca was exceptional during her placement, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability having only completed one week of placement in the office before having to continue remotely.  She moved with the organisation, adjusted her expectations of experiencing in person program delivery, and jumped into detailed youth program design with enthusiasm;” says Rachel.

For more information visit Student Placements at Windermere.