Jasmine Rose Louise Szymczuk

In June 2018 when I was 15 years old, I created my first CV, applied for part-time work at Treasure Island Soft Play Centre and attended an interview. This was the start of my ability to be autonomous, independent and confident. Skills that I particularly used in my interview for my first job included presenting professionally with my physical appearance and also with my communication skills. I demonstrated my communication skills by speaking clearly in a formal manner, showing my interest in this job i was applying for by not only verbally expressing this, but by also using non-verbal communication which was illustrated by maintaining eye contact and keeping a close and open proximity to my interviewer. When I started employment at Treasure Island, I was a member of the floor staff. This job role entailed serving customers coffees and food, using the till and handling money, and cleaning around and after customers. This increased my confidence in communicating with members of the public and my knowledge of my job role which lead to my promotion to a party host in 2019, when I was 16 years old. Being a part host allowed me to continue to communicate with parents and carers, expanding my use of communication skills with children as I was now hosting their parties and leading their party games. This was the beginning of my development of leadership skills as I now had to manage bookings, deposits, set-ups of rooms, party games, larger payments, timings and being subject to reviews, making me more accountable. My success in the role of being a party host allowed my leadership skills to mature to the point of which my job role was promoted to being a supervisor amongst the management and owners of the family led business in 2020, when I was 17 years old. Becoming a supervisor aided my continuation of leadership skills as I now create shift patterns and rota's for staff on a weekly basis, provide training to new starters, collect and filter CVs, supervise trial shifts, liaise with external businesses who can partner with the soft play, manage complaints made by customers and being trusted to manage cash flow which has to be formally recorded for the accountants. Whilst working at Treasure Island, I have had the opportunity to broaden my knowledge by completing food allergy and intolerance training, Level 2 Food hygiene and Safety for Catering and Level 2 Paediatric First Aid which I utilise every shift. I have continuously worked at Treasure Island since starting in 2018, managing my time critically to ensure I have sufficient time for University studies, placements and rest by changing hours accordingly.

Brief Outline of Duties:

- Serving customers refreshments and taking food orders.

- Cleaning the soft play equipment and surroundings to ensure a safe and pleasant experience for customers.

- Creating a weekly rota to inform staff members of their shifts.

- Cashing up the tills each evening and formally recording this information to deliver to an accountant.

- Providing staff training.

- Providing time management to each day to ensure correct party timings and staff breaks.

- Providing first aid support and recording of this appropriately in an accident book.

- Placing orders with suppliers.

- Posting information on social media.

- Food preparation.

- Hosting of children's parties and party games.

- Planning and hosting of larger scale events, for example : Christmas Eve events and Easter egg hunts.

- Liaising with owners to provide feedback of the business.

- Running of the business for 1-2 week periods of time when the owners are unavailable.

- Recruitment of staff members.

Achievements:

- Level 2 Paediatric First Aid.

- Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering.

- Allergen Training Course.

In November 2022, I started my 100 day placement within The Assessment Team at Together for Children in Sunderland, which I was very pleased to receive to be fortunate enough to gain experience in statutory Social Work.Together for Children strictly follow the Signs of Safety Model in all practice, which is assured by their own designated Signs of Safety Team. The Signs of Safety Team provide training sessions and support to ensure that all interactions, paperwork and language is strength based and child focused. I thoroughly support and enjoy using this approach as it is anti-oppressive for children and families and I personally feel that my probability of experiencing vicarious trauma is reduced. This placement has given me the opportunity to experience parental interactions, which I felt I previously lacked. By being able to work directly with parents I am able to empathise and respect their dignity, whilst ensuring that children and happy and safe. This has allowed me to address risk management when working with adults of different level of risk and has increased my ability to manage conflict by assuring people of my role of being there to ensure support and ensure safety. Together for Children has encouraged my growth in writing skills as I have been using the Liquid Logic System to case note information, input chronologies and complete Children and Families Assessments, whilst communicating with other professionals via email. My already previously initiated time management skills have advanced by managing my own diary to ensure that I am efficiently using travel time and allocating time to bookings appropriately to ensure that I am achieving timescales for assessments and Child in Need visits as this is a profession where time is precious. Although managing time closely, I am able to prioritise and adjust times according to what is realistic and important. An example of this is not making a family feel rushed when I am working with them and allowing longer time periods when visiting families who need additional support from interpreters or prefer an imagery based approach, maintaining equality and anti-discriminatory practice. I feel that my confidence and capability has steadily grown whilst being on my final placement as my caseload is increasing and I am receiving positive feedback from children and families that I am working with as well as my Practice Educator and Team Managers who are assuring my quality of work and the fruitfulness of my experiences and opportunities.

Brief Outline of Duties:

- Complete Section 17 Children and Families Assessments.
- Complete Child in Need visits.
- Complete direct work with children in their homes, at school and in the community.
- Complete agency checks e.g GP, Police, School, Midwives, CAMHS, Probation, CYPS.
- Make referrals e.g. CAMHS, Planned Care, Wearside Women In Need, Adult services, Wear Recovery.
- Shadow and critically reflection on visits and duties throughout Section 47 Child Protection enquiries.
- Attend and chair meetings such as: Strategy Meetings, Child in Need Meetings, Public Law Outline Meetings, Initial Child Protection Conferences, Family Network Meetings and Team Signs of Safety Meetings.
- Attend and chair training sessions to continually professionally develop.
- Provide immediate relief to families by liaising with housing services and organising food parcel collection from food banks.

Achievements:
- Liquid Logic systems Training.
- SSCP Thresholds of Need Training.
- Safeguarding Children Level 2.
- Safeguarding Children Level 3.
- Awareness of Domestic Violence and Abuse Training.
- Equality and Diversity in Social Care Training.
- SSCP Neglect Toolkit Training.
- Lone Working e-learning.

- Mind of My Own Training.

In November 2021, I started a 70 day placement at Whickham Secondary School. Completing placement in a Secondary school increased my confidence in myself professionally when working with children. I was able to identify children's needs to ensure that I was being diverse and creative in the ways I captured the child's wishes and experiences. Examples of this included being able to make my sessions with children as accessible as possible by adapting my use of tools and interventions to suit them. Some children preferred to follow an agenda that they had made themselves and talk, whereas other children would like to sit and create visual Ecomaps to see just how many people and relationships that they had around them when they felt alone. Following these sessions, I would then have the opportunity to record information using the CPOMS system. This was my first experience in recording information in this job role and I felt able to practice my continual professional development and have my quality assurance monitored by seeking support and feedback from my Practice Educator and Practice Supervisor.