gothqueen24

[gothqueen24]

Managing challenging behaviour

There are many reasons why a person might have challenging behaviour; it could be because they have a learning difficulty or they could have ADHD. These behaviours can cause distress to the person and those around them. You might find that depending on the job you do, dealing with challenging behaviour is a regular part of your job, for example a prison officer. Sometimes the challenging behaviour can be because of addictions. Learning how to deal with the behaviour can be difficult and often it is not something that can be taught, plus in every job role there will be limitations on what you can do.

Sometimes, none of the strategies works, so you really are only left with one option: walk away from the situation. However, only do this if the individual you are dealing with is safe to be left alone. If they are not safe to be left alone, ask for help from someone.

[gothqueen24]

Working with vulnerable people

There are vulnerable people everywhere in society, and we are responsible for looking after them in many different ways. That might be as a mental health worker or a physiotherapist.

The Equality Act 2010 sets out rules that have to be followed when looking after a vulnerable person.

In the Equality Act there are 9 protected characteristics

These characteristics mean that a person can not be treated differently than someone without these. For example, they can not be dismissed from a job if they become pregnant or they get married.

It is crucial that information is collected on these characteristics. An employer often does this via a questionnaire. By collecting this data, a company can identify areas for improvement in supporting its staff and ensure that the workplace is fair, equal, and accessible to all.

Mental health is being talked about so much more now than it ever used to be, and that is fantastic. Mental health issues are more common in the protected characteristics groups because they have a lot of often complex issues. So it is important that mental health issues are identified so that they can be supported.

The above image only shows a tiny amount of mental health problems a person could have, and often, it can take a while to get diagnosed and then get help and support.

The criminal justice system has to have systems in place to help vulnerable people, whether that be a police officer on the street or a prison officer. For this reason, policies and procedures are constantly evolving to find ways to better help and support these people.

[gothqueen24]

Data Protection (GDPR) & confidentiality

I am sure many of us have heard about data protection, whether on the internet or with paper data. Keeping personal information private and confidential is an everyday part of life that we all should be aware of and what our responsibilities are and how they develop as we progress from childhood to adulthood and being in the work place.

In the UK, we have the Data Protection Act 2018 which covers all aspects of how to protect data.

No one wants their personal information available for anyone to see so there are things you need to do to prevent this and maintain confidentiality.

Keep information password-protected if on a computer system

Keep paper information locked in a filing draw/cupboard

Do not allow others to see information that is not relevant to them

Do not discuss private information in a public place

Confidentiality is vital in the workplace, especially when working with vulnerable people because if their private information is shared, it could put them at risk, which becomes a safeguarding issue.

Some workplaces may even require you to sign a confidentiality agreement to protect you, their employees, and their clients. Breaching this agreement could have serious consequences for everyone involved. You could lose your job, the company could get fined, the client could sue the company for breach of data protection and confidentiality, or the client could be put at risk of harm.

So do not discuss private information with anyone who is not authorised to know the information

[gothqueen24]

Reflective practise

This is a relatively new idea to me, but I realised I often do this without being aware I am doing or what it is called. What is it? Well, it is where you look back on something that has happened or a time period in which lots of things have happened. Then you look at where things went wrong or did not quite go to plan, and you work out a plan of action to make sure those things do not go wrong again or to change the outcome you had that was not desired. Feedback on an essay is the perfect example of reflective practice. You read this feedback so that you can see where you can improve your future essays. For example, did you include references, or could you construct your paragraphs better?

As you can see above, there are 2 types of reflective practice. I have already mentioned reflection on action. Reflection in action is a more immediate action. This type of reflection is an important skill to have in the workplace as well as during study.

WHY is reflection in action important?

It shows that you can adapt to the situation you find yourself in at any time. For example, you are having a discussion in class/lecture, and you realise that a classmate is looking confused and says they can not understand what you are saying so you might change the language you are using to less complex words perhaps or speak clearer.

In the workplace, an example of this might be how you deal with challenging behaviour like aggression from, say, a prisoner. What do you do? I go into this situation more in my post about working with challenging and vulnerable people.

Reflective practice is also a way to give feedback to the right people, like your boss, to improve things within the workplace or to get help managing situations in the future. So be more aware of when you are reflecting and make an effort to document your reflections for future use, even if it is just for yourself.

[gothqueen24]

Professionalism

Professionalism is all about you and how you act and dress—a bit like giving a presentation. I said you can not go to work in your PJs well unless you are told you can, so you need to dress appropriately for the workplace. That could be a uniform like a police officer or PPE on a construction site. Or a non-uniform but still appropriate like a suit or black trousers/skirt with a white shirt/blouse. This is just the start of professionalism. Like I said, it covers how you act, and this can depend on where you work. Some workplaces expect very formal behaviour, like addressing people by their surname. Less formal might be using someone's first name.

By acting professional you are giving out a positive attitude that will be noticed by your colleagues and boss which could mean the possibility of a pay rise or promotion. There are things that are not professional and I am sure we all are guilty of some of them like being late or being on our phone when it is not a break time but if you want to succeed and be seen as professional do not do not do this.

[gothqueen24]

Health and Safety

I am sure we have all seen the really bad accident in the workplace and the where there is blame there is claim adverts on tv. They are hilarious, but health and safety is not a funny issue. It is a critical issue that everyone must take responsibility for in the workplace or where you are studying.

Why is it important? It prevents minor accidents, like a cut finger, from happening, up to fatal accidents. A lot of health and safety is common sense, so obviously, you do not put your finger in an electric socket, but there might also be risks that you might not even think about, for example, if you wear a tie, tuck it out of the way when you are using a shredder so that you do not get pulled into the shredder and choked.

In the UK, we have the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 which covers all aspects of health and safety.

Along with the overall health and safety rules, each workplace might well have additional safety measures in places that are relevant and necessary because of the environment that you are in. For example, a prison officer will need to lock doors behind them so that staff and prisoners are kept safe, or a teacher/lecturer will not give out their personal email addresses to students.

[gothqueen24]

Personal safety

We all do things to stay safe, often without even realising that we are doing it. But how seriously do we take our safety? and how is it relevant during your degree?

Personal safety includes the mind and body and how to keep these safe. There are many reasons why it is important during your degree. Keeping your mind safe covers things like how you manage the workload and any stress it causes. A degree might cover subjects that cover sensitive topics like sexual crimes, so it is important that you know how to manage the feelings that might arise. Keeping your body safe is also very important because lots of different things could happen if you do not stay safe. For example, being on campus and having headphones in could mean that you fail to hear a fire alarm and so putting you and others at risk.

Personal safety also applies when volunteering, working, and fundraising. You may be working with people who have challenging behaviour, and you need to be aware of how to stay safe around them. It is also linked to safeguarding for yourself and others, as well as health and safety.

Things NOT to do

Give out personal information

Put yourself in harm's way

Stay in a situation if you do not feel safe

Below is a link that will give you more ways to stay safe in various situations.

Most of all, if you do not feel safe, get yourself safe, and then please report it to the right people immediately!!!!

[gothqueen24]

Fundraising

This is another way to add experience and knowledge to your CV and boost your self-confidence. It is also valuable within society because it helps those who are struggling with things like food or clothing to have those basic things that so many take for granted. It is also how many non-profit organisations are able to continue supporting people with many different things.

Fundraising does not need to be anything big, flashy or even visible. So many of us have things at home like clothes, gadgets or food that we do not want or need anymore, so why not bag these up (as long as they are in good condition, still usable and in date if food, not fresh food. Take these bags to your nearest or favourite charity shop and drop them off, and if you can, please gift aid because every penny counts. Food can be taken to food banks, or most supermarkets now have a drop-off point for food items and other items like toiletries. This is just the start of things that you can do to support charities and society. If you feel like you want to do more, then go for it. Just follow the rules and laws that govern fundraising.

[gothqueen24]

Undertaking voluntary work

So you have decided to volunteer and chosen where to volunteer. You will be thinking about what happens next. Well, there will be lots of things that need to happen before you start. There will be things to read, like the laws of volunteering. The link below is for the UK government guidelines.

There will also be other areas that will need to be covered

Safeguarding

Confidentiality

Working with challenging people

Working with vulnerable people

Health and safety

Data protection

Risk assessment

Personal safety

All of these things should be covered in some form of training before you start. Different organisations will do the training in different ways, but it is important that you understand why each area is covered and what each section means, as well as what your responsibilities as a volunteer are. My blog does include posts on all of these areas just to give you a starting point.

The link below might not be from the UK, but the same principles apply. The only difference might be the checks that you have to have. Here in the UK you might have to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

[gothqueen24]

Searching for voluntary work

Voluntary work is an excellent way to add to your knowledge and support you in your future career. There are many different ways to find voluntary work. Your tutor/lecturer might have a list of possible options that would match the area that you are studying. You also have the option to look for yourself.

[gothqueen24]

Resilience

Resilience is part of everyday life and how you cope with life events like lots of essay deadlines for your degree. For some people, a lot of deadlines can induce a lot of stress and panic, and they have no idea how to cope with the pressure. For others, they seem to take it in their stride and cope really well with the pressure.

Ways that a resilient person copes with what happens in life is

Find ways to manage the situation

Marshall available resources

Ask for help

Use healthy coping skills.

There are many signs of resilience.

Survivor mentality

Effective emotional regulation

Feeling in control

Problem-solving skills

Self-compassion

Social support

You might find yourself struggling with your resilience during your degree, and believe me, I have done loads of times, I know I was not the only one in my class, and it is only as I am coming towards the end of my first year that I have found ways to try and boost my resilience. My biggest problem was a lack of self-compassion. I struggle with complex health conditions, and often, I am not kind to myself, but I have learnt to be kinder to myself. The video below might give you some ideas on how to help yourself. The most important thing I can say is to ask for help if you are struggling.

[gothqueen24]

Everyone learns differently

Everyone is different, and so everyone will learn differently.

When it comes to learning techniques, you need to find out what works best for you because what works for your friend, mum, or siblings might not work for you. Also, the way you learn can change with age because, after all, our brain ages so things like memory might not work as well as they used to or you might find out that you have an additional learning need like dyslexia or have fibromyalgia which affects the way you learn.

You can do many different things to help yourself learn, no matter your needs. Going for a run and listening to something Podcasts or recordings of lectures might help. You could even do this at home whilst cleaning or cooking. Are you a visual learner? Videos, sticky notes, and different coloured pens and paper could be your options. You could have each subject or essay in its own colour-labelled folder to save yourself confusion and possibly loosing notes and handouts.

A tutor told me one way that helps me learn and write essays. They suggested that because I am a visual learner and a writer, I could try using a window and whiteboard pens at home. This worked great for me; however, I did not like cleaning my windows so often, and the sun often meant I could not see what I had written. So, a friend gifted me a whiteboard, which is now on the wall next to my desk at home and I use lots of different colour pens to help me plan things out. No more mountains of paper on my desk that make no sense to me. If I need to clean the board and still need the information on there I take a picture that way it takes up no space and I can look at it any time any where.

[gothqueen24]

Use of e-resources

E- resources are sources of information you can find online or via your university student portal. For mature students who have not been in education for a long time, this will likely be a new way of finding out information you need for writing essays and information from your tutors/lectures. I know for me that it took me a while to understand how to find and access the e-resources and then use them appropriately. I would highly recommend spending some time before your degree starts or very early on learning how to find them and use them.

The image below shows two different e-resources. One is Canvas, a student information hub that leads to library e-resources, from which you can choose which section you wish to look.

E-resources are a very important part of a degree because, as you can see above, there are links to journals and books, which are very important and valuable sources of information to use in essays and research in more depth on a certain subject field.

[gothqueen24]

Critical writing

Critical writing will probably be a new thing to many degree students. If it is not, then the degree level raises the level of critical writing skills you already have.

Being thoughtful, asking questions, and not taking things you read (or hear) at face value. It means finding information, understanding different approaches, and using them in your writing.

There are many different ways to help you write critically. One way is known as the P.E.E.L method

[gothqueen24]

The value of journal articles

Hopefully, this is not the first time you have heard of journals in relation to studying, but if it is, here is a quick overview of what they are.

Why are they important?

They are essential because they are written by professionals and are reasonably fast and up-to-date. Also, for a journal article to be published, it has to be peer-reviewed. This means that other professionals have read it and studied it to see if the information and research within it are acceptable.

Very early on in your degree, you will be expected to find, read and use journal articles in your work because the information is from a reliable source, which is expected at the degree level. Plus it is where you will find the information that will give you the higher grades when applied correctly within your work.

[gothqueen24]

Critical reading and thinking skills

Thinking for yourself and reading for yourself is massively crucial during a degree. Why? Well, putting it bluntly, you are not spoon-fed during your degree. You actually have to think for yourself and that includes reading extra material outside of the hours you spend in the classroom/lecture theatre. This is because you only have a limited amount of teaching time. The bulk of your study time is independent. If you want to get higher grades and understand what you are studying in greater depth, you must do extra reading and research.

Thinking skills are not only about thinking about the current essay or the area of study; they also apply to other areas. For example time management. You need to think carefully about how you are going to manage to fit in all of your study time alongside things like running your home, children (if you have any) and relaxing.

You also need to be able to think for yourself, and by that, I mean you need to decide what you read and research. Also, how do you read and take information from what you have read? Do you highlight things and use different colours for different things? Do you take notes? Do you create a mind map?

[gothqueen24]

Safeguarding

                          An adult is someone18 plus.

It is there to allow an adult to live in safety free from abuse and neglect. How does this happen I hear you ask well it is organisations like college and yourself who work together to prevent and stop neglect and abuse from happening. Whilst this is happening, they are making sure a person’s wellbeing is being promoted by considering a person’s views, wishes, feelings and beliefs and taking them into account.

What does safeguarding cover?

Mental health

Physical health

Sensory needs

Neglect

Everyone has the right to life in safety and free from abuse, neglect and discrimination no matter their age, gender, belief's, sexual orientation and disability.