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'I will never forget my time here' - Saying goodbye to our wonderful social work students
- ciaran583
- Jan 20
- 4 min read
We offer placements to social work students from universities in Leicester and further afield, enabling undergraduates to spend 70 to 100 days here, directly helping the women and young people we support.
Each is placed under the supervision of a qualified social worker and is responsible for a caseload of up to 12 clients.
We are very proud of this programme. It gives our students invaluable real-life work experience, as well as practical day-to-day help for those clients.
The students always tell us being confronted with the realities of our clients’ lives – including the corrosive effects of homelessness, debt, substance use, mental ill-health, sexual abuse, domestic violence or sex work – has a profound effect on them.
Hayley, Mary-Anne, Vanessa and Precious have just completed their 70-day placement with us and have returned to the second year of the social work undergraduate degree at Leicester's De Montfort University.
Each said our team, particularly our director Della Kagure Brown and crisis support manager Avril Lewis, supported and inspired them every step of the way.
Hayley, 20, said: "The first time I came to New Futures was to have an interview with Della about the placement.
"After I spoke to her about the project and what it does, I walked out thinking 'I want to come here'.
"I was nervous when I actually started my placement.
“It wasn't because of the environment I was going into, I think I was worried I wouldn't know how to help the women who come here.
"The people at New Futures were very clear from the beginning that they would always be there to reassure and support us, so we would be prepared for anything.
"So, if there is a difficult situation, Della or Avril are always there to help and to give you advice and feedback.
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"This placement has changed me as a person. Hearing the clients' backstories has given me and the others a new perspective.
"You learn to understand their vulnerabilities and their deeper sides, especially when they come in at a time of crisis in their lives.
"I knew the world is cruel - that's a given - but hearing the women's stories from them and reaching the point when they start to open up and trust you is heart-warming.
"They might not have had that opportunity to feel heard before."
Our students are closely supervised and assessed throughout their time with us. Crucially, we also ask their clients to tell us what they make of them.
Precious, 20, said: "Sometimes, clients can be challenging, even confrontational if they get emotionally overwhelmed by something that has happened to them.
"The feedback I had from one of my clients was particularly important to me. It made me feel I was doing something right.
"She made me believe in myself, that I will go on to become a good social worker and make a difference. I've learned a lot about myself, 100 per cent.
"That client also said she had enjoyed working with me. She said she had got a better perspective because I am a young person."
Vanessa, 22, said: "I was quite scared and uncertain about the people I was going to meet and the situations I was going to be in.
"I think it helped that friends from university were coming to do their placement too.
"If you are having a hard day, we talk about it. If one of us is unsure about something, we ask each other questions and give our perspectives.
"Some of the clients can be confrontational, but being here I have learned to remain professional and steady and to be ready to talk to them about it when they have calmed down.
"As well as the professional experience, coming here has helped me come out of my shell."
Mary-Anne, 19, told us: "Avril and Della have been really reassuring and supportive in all the time we've been here. They have really helped us on our journey.
"It's been very eye-opening. It's given us a new perspective and made us stronger and more resilient I think.
"I will never forget my time here."
Della Kagure Brown, director of the New Futures Project, said: "We are very proud of our student training programme, which we have been running for more than 10 years now.
"In that time, we have supported several hundred students at this important time in their professional development.
"This particular group a brought a lovely energy and enthusiasm to their time with us, as so many others before them have done.
"As a staff team, it's always a pleasure to have people come in and bring new ideas and new ways of looking at things.
"A lot of our students stay in touch with us, some taking on paid staff roles here. Currently, four members of our management committee first came here as student social workers.
"It's always a joy to have them here and is sad when they go. We wish them all every success in the future."
The New Futures Project offers a comprehensive welfare and counselling service for women and young people dealing with sexual abuse or exploitation, domestic violence, trafficking, poverty and debt, substance use or mental ill-health.
Call us on 0116 251 0803 or send us a message at: info@new-futures.org.uk
You can find us at 71 London Road, Leicester, LE2 0PE.
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