The independence of facilitating the iCafe groups, choosing topics each week, creating presentations and liaising with care home staff, SLTs and our participants and their family made me feel like a "real" SLT’.

I grew fond of the iCafe members and will miss it! The positive impact it has made has been so eye-opening for me in terms of telehealth.

Hearing about the members' feedback of our sessions and how much it has helped them. I came into this placement lacking confidence in working with adult populations, and the fact that I was able to make a lasting impact means a lot to me.

Definitely the humour. The group I worked with always made me laugh each week. It helped me to understand just because somebody has gone through a life-changing experience, it doesn't take away their personality - they still can be witty and joke along with the rest of us. It was emotional saying goodbye to the group. I will miss them a lot. I thank the Aphasia iCafe for this wonderful opportunity and experience.

Something that will stay with me is the memory of the service users growing to feel more comfortable with me as a facilitator and felt that they were able to open up about their strokes and the effects that it had on them. it was really lovely to observe service users offering each other support and advice based on their experiences, since they are all at different stages of their stroke recovery.

Definitely the positive interactions with each of the group members, sharing stories and seeing them enjoy the sessions. I had never previously worked with individuals with aphasia, so it was really valuable to hear the group members open up about their personal experiences, how aphasia has affected them and how it has inspired their outlook on life.

Engaging with adults as I had little experience in this beforehand. It has been really interesting to work with individuals with Aphasia and dysarthria. Gaining an insight to lived experience of patients faced with communication difficulties. Observing their compensatory strategies was very beneficial to my learning. Also, to see the bond the group has formed and how they care/support each other.