Peer support was a dominant theme in this category irrespective of placement location.
While students universally agreed that they experienced excellent off-site pastoral support
from the University’s academic staff, most stated they did need to avail themselves of it due
to the excellent level of on-site support they received from their respective mentors and most
importantly their student peers. Student support of each other was described to be of most
benefit for pastoral care – students reported leaning heavily on the other students they were
placed with, especially when off shift via constant debriefing and sharing of experiences.
This was consistent across all participants, captured by one student who reported that the
“…single-most valuable thing was … the group reflections that we participated in.”