The pastoral care of students relates to those aspects of the students experience which are not directly related to problems occuring in the academic or practice areas of study.
They relate more particularly to the students social and emotional wellbeing.
Support from mentors is thus limited to the areas of ordinary human concern.
On a more pragmatic level, Mentors should be aware that they are authorised to award compassionate leave to students of up to three days. This authority should be used in extreme circumstances such as sudden bereavement or loss. Students given compassionate leave should be reminded that they must report to the UCS academic services office within those three days to update UCS on their situation and to agree action for the immediate future. UCS will keep the placement area informed of the situation regarding that student.
Any Mentor sending a student on compassionate leave should report the fact to their line manager and to UCS giving their reasons for taking that action.
For less extreme circumstances, students can be directed to any of the following as it seems appropriate:
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Their Personal Tutor
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The Clinical Practice Facilitator
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Student support services at UCS
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Student Union representatives
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The Multi-Faith Chaplaincy at UCS
If the mentor believes that the social/pastoral issue affecting the student is such that the student cannot safely remain in the practice environment then they should immediately remove the student from direct client contact and report that action to their line manager.
The Mentor, manager and UCS can then work together to develop a strategy to support the student.
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