Work Placement Opportunities
Are you interested in completing your work placement with Barretstown?
There are a number of third level education courses that require their students to complete a work placement. Barretstown can facilitate relevant placement opportunities for students looking to make a meaningful difference in the lives of seriously ill children and their families.
Work Placement Overview
Barretstown welcomes students on placement on an annual basis.
We offer placement opportunities for both our residential on-site programmes and our off-site outreach programmes, as well as opportunities for medical students.
Camp Placement
Barretstown offers free, specially designed camps for children and their families living with a serious illness, supported behind the scenes by on site medical and nursing care.
Our placement students at camp help us to provide a fun, engaging, challenging and safe activities programme, to a wide range of ages which fulfils the aims and objectives of the therapeutic recreation model.
We have the following camp placement roles:
• Activity Leader – responsible for planning and facilitating safe, engaging activities for children up to 17 years and their families.
• Creche Leader – responsible for planning and facilitating safe and engaging activities, with a focus on young children and their families.
• Cara – responsible for ensuring camp is ready to welcome campers and their families and providing support to children of all ages in activities throughout the weekend.
Within these roles, you will provide support and encouragement to staff and volunteers and maintain a physically and emotionally safe environment for our campers.
We facilitate camps between the months of January – December each year. You can fulfil your placement by committing to one of the below seasons.
• Spring Programmes (Jan - May)
• Summer Programmes (May – August)
• Autumn Programmes (September – Dec)
Outreach Placement
The Outreach placement will be based off site of the Barretstown campus and in children’s hospitals and schools around Ireland. It is a fantastic opportunity to bring some of the Barretstown fun and excitement to children who are attending hospital appointments or are in-patients in hospital.
The placement will predominantly be based in the hospital setting working with our Hospital Outreach programme (HOP). Students will be expected to facilitate safe, fun and engaging activities for children and family members working alongside the Barretstown Outreach Team. Students will also have the opportunity to support our School Outreach Programme which involves attending a child with a serious illness’s school and helping facilitate a fun, educational programme designed to explain the illness whilst dispelling myths associated with it.
This placement is a fantastic opportunity to work in a clinical environment, however with a focus on fun, relieving boredom and anxiety in a setting that can otherwise be a stressful for children and family members. The rewards are the smiles on the children’s faces after your time spent with them and knowing that you made a genuine difference through the fun and engagement you provided.
The Outreach Team have placements opportunities all year round. We need a minimum time commitment of 2 months but can offer a variety of placement lengths of up to a year.
Apply for placement
Short Term Placement
We can facilitate 30 hour or 60 hour placements (1 or 2 family weekends) where we will sign off on hours completed volunteering with us. For these placements, you should apply through the volunteer application process, rather than through our placement application form.
We can sign off attendance to these placements, however cannot fulfil any additional paperwork requirements.
Apply for short term placement
Everything you need to know about placement
Completing your placement at Barretstown is a truly unforgettable experience – fun activities, lots of laughs and the knowledge that you are directly helping seriously ill kids and their families turn their lives around.
Accommodation, food & transport
If you are completing your placement with our camp programme, the position will require you to stay on site. Accommodation will be provided for the duration of your contract while camp is in session. Bedrooms are dorm rooms where you will stay with other staff members. Thoughtful hospitality is something we are very passionate about here at Barretstown and creating a home away from home atmosphere. Food will be provided while camp is in session by our wonderful catering team. Transportation to and from camp will be your responsibility.
For our outreach placements, accommodation, transport, and food will not be provided as you will be based off site for the duration of your placement.
Training
Training is provided at the start of your placement and is a mandatory requirement for your time with us. Supervision, guidance, and support will be provided throughout your placement.
For our camp placements, training will be provided at the start of every season. Staff training is designed to help you develop the specific knowledge and skills required for your placement.
For our outreach placements, training will be provided in advance of you attending the hospitals and schools, and then on a continual basis throughout your time with us.
Minimum age
There is a minimum age requirement of 19 years of age to complete your placement at Barretstown.
Colleges we work with
Some of the third level institutions we currently work with are DCU, MTU, Mary I, SETU, ATU and Dundalk IT.
If you are interested in doing placement with us, but your college / university is not listed, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Courses we work with
We currently work with students who study Early Childhood Education, Social Care, Adapted Sports, Sports Science and Health, Outdoor Education, Social Sciences, Occupational Therapy, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Photography or any other similar or applicable courses.
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at HR@barretstown.org
Apply for placement
Contact Us
We are always interested in expanding this programme, so if you think this is something that would work with your particular course, let us know by calling us at 045 864115 or emailing Barretstown on the below link.
Get in touch