Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
This one week of Work Experience helped me gain a multi-layered perspective on child development, which is something i’m interested in within Psychology, such as how teachers implement strategies to best aid learning. I provided daily dedicated one-to-one support to a student with SEN, assisting them with lesson engagement and emotional regulation. This experience also helped me develop non-verbal communication techniques, such as using Makaton which is a vital scaffold for communication, to help me engage with students with complex learning barriers that I worked with in other year groups within the school too. I also supported teachers across all year groups (from early years to year 6) to help facilitate inclusive learning in all environments. I had to adapt communication styles to suit different developmental stages. I also gained insight into diverse learning needs and the practical application of supportive educational strategies such as positive reinforcement, which I had learnt from A-Level Psychology, aswell as sensory breaks to help reduce cognitive load and help support each students unique learning pace. This experience really help to solidify my desire to study psychology, as through my experience, I am eager to further explore the neurological underpinnings of learning and how early intervention can reshape a child’s developmental trajectory and foster an inclusive educational environment.
Over the course of volunteering every weekend for eight months at a Birmingham Hospice Charity Shop, I developed a really strong foundation in retail and operations. I provided high-quality customer service, such as managing point of sale transactions and resolving customer enquiries at the cash desk to help maintain a welcoming shop environment. I also helped process incoming donations by sorting, quality checking, tagging, and pricing items to ensure only high standard stock reached the shop floor to be sold. This role required really high levels of organisation and attention to detail. I also helped in Merchandising, assisting in the shop’s visual merchandising and also doing floor replenishment ever 30 minutes to an hour (as the shop was quite busy) to maximise sales for hospice funding. Contributing to a team that directly funds essential palliative care really taught me the importance of operational efficiency and community impact in a professional setting too as my volunteering contributed to a large impact for those requiring care in hospice. Psychology side: I learned how to navigate the more “human side" of retail, dealing with the psychological weight of bereavement as working in this hospice-affiliated environment also meant talking to people about the hospice's work when donors brought in items to the front. Through open conversation with them, prompted by asking why they had brought in the donation ,which we had to do, I had learnt about their personal stories and why maybe they donated through gift aid and supported the charity so much, as they wanted to give back to the charity that helped them through really tough times, such as losing someone really important to them, with some of them even donating things from lost loved ones. This also helped me get better insight into public perception around end of life care.