Survive and Thrive on Placement is an honest, practical guide for student nurses who feel overwhelmed, different, or unsure whether they belong.

Written especially for mature students, career changers, international nurses, student parents, and anyone studying nursing in the UK, this book offers the kind of support many students wish they had before stepping onto placement.

Alona writes from lived experience as a mature, immigrant, single-mum nursing student who studied in English as her second language while working part-time at a blood donation centre. Now a qualified recovery nurse in the UK, she shares the real lessons her placements taught her - from the stroke ward, surgical ward and community nursing to oncology, theatres, angiography, ITU and recovery.

This is not a textbook. It is a warm, honest companion for the student nurse who has cried in the car, doubted herself in uniform, and still turned up the next day.

Inside, you'll find practical advice on:

managing imposter syndrome on placement

working with difficult mentors

surviving emotionally heavy shifts

studying in a second language

balancing placement, work, parenting and real life

keeping up with documentation and portfolio admin

finding confidence as a mature or international student

preparing for life as a newly qualified nurse

With personal stories, practical tips, and gentle encouragement throughout, Survive and Thrive on Placement reminds student nurses that they do not need to be perfect to become safe, compassionate and capable.

This book is for every student nurse who feels behind, exhausted, out of place, or quietly terrified - and needs someone to say: you are not failing, you are learning.