Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Confessions of Shadowing Mental Health Chaplains Part One

Three days in and I have finally found the time and energy to blog about placement. I did my usual underestimation of how difficult I would find it but it has truly been an amazing experience thus far.

Aside from the placement I am flat-sitting for some friends, so I'm learning the mechanics of living alone for the first time as well as a pretty tough day job! I don't do things by halves...

Surprisingly enough I've loved living on my own, cooking for myself and friends and getting my bearings when it comes to power showers and different oven temperatures! I feel in my element being the hostess but when it comes to practicalities such as getting a power shower to work of a morning, I get a bit panicky (!)

On my first day of placement we began with a midday prayer which the whole spiritual care department stop for every day. It was a lovely way to begin and set the tone of the immense amount of praying I've done in the last three days!

I then accompanied Verity, my supervisor to an acute slow rehabilitation unit where she delivered a talk to the staff on what the Spiritual Care department do within the Trust. Practically speaking, the driving around and orientating myself have been a really hard part of the week because as anyone who has been with me when I've had to use my sense of direction - it becomes clear that I have NO sense of direction!

So I got lost on the way to the Shrodells Unit situated at Watford General hospital. I arrived rather harassed at the unit and found it very eye-opening to see not only the conditions of the unit but also how ill the patients are.

The day ended in a lovely fashion, cooking for Kat, Lucy and Lizzie. A fantastic end to a difficult but rewarding day!

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