First week: Part 1

 

Introduction

Hi, thanks for reading my blog! My name is Jon West, and I’m a 3rd year undergraduate physiotherapy student at the University of Essex. I am currently on my final placement, where I will be spending five weeks with Sport for Confidence, before I finish my degree in June. I am doing this placement with two other physio students, Gab and Alana. Gab is also studying at Essex, while Alana (starting next week) is at UWE in Bristol. We will be the first physio students in the Sport for Confidence team, which is exciting, but we will need to get used to - and embrace - the uncertainty!

I had already heard of Sport for Confidence from a previous placement that I did last year. On that placement, I took part in a ‘buddy day’ where I spoke to an adult with a physical disability, to gain a deeper understanding of her lived experience. She told me that she attended Sport for Confidence and particularly enjoyed boccia.

Before starting my Sport for Confidence placement, I met Liz (my educator) and my fellow students, Gab and Alana. Liz gave us an overview of Sport for Confidence (SfC). In a nutshell, SfC is a social enterprise that deploys OT’s and coaches to utilise sport and physical activity to enhance a person’s health and wellbeing. This is very much in my area of interest. I believe that adopting the biopsychosocial model of health is the right way to help people. We need to take social and psychological factors into account. After all, people are more than just a collection of bones, muscles and nerves!

Liz sent us some videos to give us an idea of what SfC is about, and what kind of activities they do. Liz suggested that we develop a resource for inclusive climbing and snooker as part of our placement. As a keen climber, I can see the benefits of inclusive climbing, so this is something I’m really looking forward to doing.

First week: Visiting leisure centres

On Wednesday, Gab and I visited the leisure centre in Chelmsford. This is one of the centres in Essex where SfC is based. The team at Chelmsford gave us a warm welcome, and we helped out with a one-on-one gym session with a lady who has muscular dystrophy (MD). She told us that she has a type of MD called Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD). I wasn’t familiar with this type of muscular dystrophy so it was a great learning experience for me. The lady was very happy to talk to us and she was grateful for our input.

We spent some time by the swimming pool where we spoke to some of the participants, and then we took part in a basketball session. The team sport sessions are organised and run by SfC staff, but they designate some of the participants as assistant coaches. It seems to be a great confidence booster for the participants who are given the responsibility of setting up a session and organising others.

On Thursday, Gab and I visited the leisure centre in Witham. The leisure centre is smaller than the one in Chelmsford, but it is well-equipped and, like Chelmsford, boasts a swimming pool. Interestingly, the demographics are different in Witham; most of the participants are people with learning disabilities, whereas in Chelmsford it is more varied.

We took part in two dance classes which were fun but exhausting! I need to up my dancing game! At the end of the dance class, each participant took it in turns to choose their own song and dance to it. I thought this was really good, as it gave everyone a chance to shine.

We took part in the swimming pool session in Witham. The session was well attended, with about 20 participants plus carers. Many of the participants were wheelchair users, but water-based activities gave them a chance to use their whole body. One participant in the swimming session was a young man who attended with his mum, his sister and a carer. We learnt that he will only go into the pool when his mum is with him, as he is too anxious to go into the water without her. However, it is a delicate balancing act; mum has expectations that he will make a significant recovery, and she seems to put a lot of pressure on herself.

In the next part of this blog entry, I will talk about my learning points, overall thoughts and my general musings on how physios can contribute to SfC.

Stay tuned for part 2!