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More placement support needed.
I appreciate that the pandemic has made things difficult for everyone and I believe Chrysalis did a great job of moving our teaching online and providing supplementary materials. My issue is the lack of support with finding a placement. I have felt somewhat abandoned throughout my final year of studying and I don't feel the support to find a placement has been adequate. It was already difficult for students in Northern Ireland to source placements prior to the pandemic; over the last year, it has been nigh on impossible. I spent 8 months attempting to acquire a placement and being constantly told no, with very little support from Chrysalis despite reaching out on various occasions to say that I was having difficulties. At one point, I considered quitting the course. I finally managed to acquire a placement which will be conducted online and, another three months, after acquiring this I am only just getting started with clients. I feel I have been placed at a huge disadvantage to my classmates, as they are all now far ahead of me in terms of practice hours and I am looking at needing an extension to be able to complete the required hours. On top of this, I have now been told that I will need to complete a percentage of face-to-face hours in order to achieve my qualification. Which leaves me right back at square one trying to find another placement, but now also having to compete with students in the year below. I feel Chrysalis need to offer more help to students when it comes to finding placements, as this has been and continues to be a source of immense stress.