We have been hosting student placements at FarmAbility for several years with huge success. The majority of students have been Occupational Therapists from Oxford Brookes University, but we have also welcomed psychology students from Reading University and the University of Westminster, as well as Learning Disability nursing students from the University of Hertfordshire.
Students on placement gain valuable hands-on experience in a non-clinical setting working with adults with autism and learning disabilities. They can strengthen their group work and one-to-one skills, practice using assessments and outcome measures, develop their confidence and independence as a practitioner, and help develop and deliver service improvement projects.
Meanwhile, we relish the opportunity to have extra pairs of hands to support the delivery of the day service, provide individual co-farmers with some extra support to boost their skills, and to bring new ideas, theories and current practice from their respective fields.
We have also linked with Occupational Therapy students from Southampton University as part of their ‘design’ module. Most recently working together to find a way for co-farmers to have more opportunities for storytelling (one of the four pillars of meaning).
Have a look at the video below to hear from one of our students about their experience of a placement at FarmAbility.
We have also enjoyed opportunities to share our learning with both Occupational Therapy students at Oxford Brookes and Social and Therapeutic Horticulture students at Coventry University, through lecturing opportunities.
To find out more, please contact us.
