Reflection

Hi everyone,

It has definitely been a while since I have posted on this blog. Here is my attempt at reflecting my last couple months as QuIHN.

For the past 2 months I have only had about 7 days where I wasn’t working or attending placement so I really have not had much time to breathe. I actually reached my 240 hours of placement about a month ago but I still try to attend placement as much as I can as I enjoy it so much. I am currently working on a project called the Client Health Survey where we interview clients about their general health, injecting use, drug use and mental health. A lot of the questions in the survey as quite sensitive and bold so depending on the answers I would need to implement some form of intervention or referral. I have learnt so much from my placement and am truly grateful I was given the chance to go to QuIHN. My practical experience has really helped me cement my passion for the alcohol and drug sector.

In the past couple months I have also completed a couple training sessions. One of them was the mental health first aid which is offered for free by the university. This course has been very useful and relevant to my placement and I highly recommend it. Mental health has affected over half of the population and is an issue that needs to be considered in so many aspects of health. The course really helped me breakdown my own stigma I had of mental health and ever since I completed it I have had to use skills and tools I learnt from the training on several occasions – in and out of placement. I also attended training called the;’family drug support training run by the FDS. I never realised the impact drug use could have on the support network of the drug user.

Wow it is 3 am so I might continue this when I have time again.

Michael