Two second-year occupational therapy students undertook a role-emerging placement (REP) — their third of four professional practice placements — at a therapeutic community with no on-site occupational therapy service. A qualitative study exploring the nature of the learning on this REP shows how deep learning took place and how this enabled the students to gain a strong sense of their own developing professional knowledge and skills. This report also highlights that the students' specific occupational therapy input made a unique contribution to the community's work, a view validated by the therapeutic community's own staff.
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