"How has 2020 impacted your mental health?"

Students from The Student Social Work Hub share their thoughts on working, living, and studying from home.

Emma Brookes said: "At first, trying to balance all of those things was a real test. Some days were really wobbly.

"Working in a role that required me to be face-to-face in emergency situations where we had a lot of staff shielding was additional pressure on top of study. However, for me it has also shown strength that I was not aware of before, and my passion for social work and desire to make a difference has really shone through.

"Virtual placement and study has challenged me, with children at home, and tested my motivation like a lot of students, but I have felt able to reach out for support from my tutors. I just hope we can have some sort of normal soon."

Duane Phillips said: "It’s been a mixed bag of emotions.

"Personally, I’ve loved working from home, which has given me a healthier work-life balance.

"The truly sad part of this lockdown has been the difficulty to adapt my learning style to completely online, and remain motivated.

"The expectation to perform academically to the same standard during this past 12-15 months has been especially problematic, both mentally and emotionally.

"I completed a whole placement virtually, and the disconnect from the people I worked with certainly took the ‘social’ out of social work.

"Furthermore, building professional relationships with people whom I would never see was difficult.

"I think my main reflection is how resilient we are to be able to work at this level in such challenging circumstances!"

Kristine Bloomfield said: "Lockdown certainly put a strain on my ability to cope with balancing my commitments.

"My usual childcare support network wasn’t available due to the restrictions, which meant that I have had even less study time than I would have had before the pandemic.

"This caused some stress, and potentially a slight dip in my grades.

"Juggling my family of five, two volunteer jobs, my society role, establishing and maintaining The Student Social Work Hub, as well as completing my degree, has caused a wobble or two with my mental health.

"Having gone through some big breakdowns in the past, I just remind myself to keep getting up and try again – that’s all we can do."

Becky Salter said: "I was expecting a final year placement within a child protection team to be challenging, but the impact of almost 100 days being completed virtually from my own home led to a few ‘placement wobbles,’ and impacted my ability to focus.

"During the pandemic, my different identities became blurred as my ultimate identity within my home was that of a wife, a mum, and a friend; but they now co-existed in the same space as being a student on placement and completing academic work.

"Ultimately, there were days I felt overwhelmed.

"Like anything, this eased with time and now my placement has ended, I am able to start looking at my home as a safe space again."

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