So half way through the student experience; what are the big lessons I have learnt?

• Service users are best placed to tell us about their own lives.
• It is easy to follow the rhetoric of empowerment but to actually put it into practice is another matter especially if you are speaking from a relatively powerless student perspective to change Agency policies.
• Reflexivity in social work is paramount.
• Social work is complex and interrelated with other professions. Other professions do not have the same value base or priorities.
• The working together agenda would be brilliant...if it worked. Social workers are best placed to challenge and advocate on behalf of service users within this agenda.