I was relaxed on my journey to Wexford and not as nervous as I thought I was going to be, I arrived and my practice teacher met me: Reflective Practice Assignment, NUI, Ireland

I was relaxed on my journey to Wexford and not as nervous as I thought I was going to be, I arrived and my practice teacher met me, she bought me a coffee and scone and I felt at ease. During the day I gained knowledge and more awareness about the process of the probation service and my role as a student probation officer, I was fascinated by cases and I also had one or two shocking factors how I prejudged, A key moment for me was when she spoke about a “lifer” and shadowing an interview with a sex offender.

I thought I prepared myself before I commenced placement as I was told by my practice Tutor beforehand that I was going to be working with sex offenders, however, I never heard of a lifer involved in community probation, So I asked my Practice Teacher, what was a lifer? She described to me what a lifer meant “that a Lifer is someone on probation for life, after completing a life
sentence in prison for killing someone”. I paused, said, “Oh okay I wasn’t aware of that” I felt a little awkward as I didn’t want to come across as judgemental, as my core values are to respect others, don’t prejudge or bias.

However, I could not help my anxious feeling, I wanted to ask more about this case for example, what did he do? Why would he do this? How do you know he won’t do it again? he is free-living amongst us. But then I refocused and listened to my Practice Teacher, who spoke so nicely of him, which made me see how nonjudgmental she was as a person, and how building a relationship with someone just proves, people can change.