I worked on behalf of Survive, a York-based charity looking to expand their services into offering support for sex workers. My team and I took on the task of researching other organisations involved in similar work, using their experiences to help us produce a report for Survive on how they could develop their services.
During the two-week placement, my team researched support services for sex workers in a variety of ways; from using reports to interviewing people from a number of organisations in various places. At times, it was stressful trying to make sure we gathered sufficient information, but I learned to find this galvanising. We were also really well supported by our department supervisor and had the chance to share experiences with the other groups working in York. I had never taken part in this kind of work before and found the preparatory lectures in the first term very useful. With each week, they introduced another skill which would relate to the placement.
The opportunity to take part in a project such as this was one of my primary motives for studying at the Centre for Applied Human Rights. The placement is one of the things which makes the course so unique and worthwhile. For me, it was a fantastic opportunity to gain knowledge and develop practical skills, such as interviewing. The experiences and skills I took from it will no doubt be helpful in my future career. I also really enjoyed the process of planning the project and working with my fellow group members. Even the process of learning how to work together as an efficient team was an invaluable experience. Indeed, the project goes far beyond the two week-placement.
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