St Martins is often approached by students to provide them with a placement as part of their academic course. We recently had the privilege of hosting Thomas, a student paramedic, who found that his compassion towards people was reignited by his time with us, witnessing how our team removes the ‘homeless’ stereotype in the way they interact with people.
Placements are one of the ways we support the wide network of agencies who work with our client group. Providing placements at our services helps to upskill the students and to build links across the health and social care sector.
We welcome students from a variety of courses, including nursing, occupational therapy and health and social care.
Iain Boag, Head of Residential Care at Highwater House said, “There is no education better than actually spending time hearing our residents’ stories and about their needs first-hand.”
Placements – which can last anywhere from days up to weeks – allow the student to become immersed in the day-to-day life at St Martins’ services. Iain said, “They follow a shift pattern, take part in daily tasks and routines, and are expected to, as far as is possible, behave as any other team member does.”
“Each student helps us to become better by offering their unique perspective on our work – bringing with them personal insight as well as professional opinion. Their experience also helps our partner agencies gain a deeper understanding of the needs of our residents.”
Thomas Millar is studying to be a paramedic at Glasgow Caledonian University. He joined our team at Highwater House for three weeks on placement and gained valuable insight into working in the homelessness sector.
Thomas said, “It was an incredible privilege to have been able to work at St Martins. As a student paramedic I value the ability to experience and work in dynamic and unfamiliar situations.”
“The biggest aspect which I will take from St Martins was the incredible vision to replace the label of ‘homeless’ to simply view every person simply as an individual with their own life story – this was incredibly touching and really grew on me the longer I spent at St Martins.”
Thomas has worked with marginalised groups in the past, however he had never experienced an environment like St Martins that encouraged independence. He said, “The best experience I had at Highwater House was being able to sit down with residents and just talk about their life and experiences…Having meals with the residents created a sense of family, togetherness and unity which I have never experienced in social care, or indeed healthcare.”
“It was genuinely an experience which I will keep with me, not only into my academic life, but especially into my day-to-day life.”