The purpose of this phenomenologic study was to describe the lived experiences of seven mothers who were providing home-based care for their children with feeding and/or swallowing difficulties. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and were analysed as per Colaizzi's method of inductive reduction. Results suggest that the mothers' experiences can be understood as two continuing journeys that were not mutually exclusive. The first, "Deconstruction: A journey of loss and disempowerment," comprised three essences: (1) losing the mother dream, (2) everything changes: living life on the margins, and (3) disempowered: from mother to onlooker. The second journey was "Reconstruction: Getting through the brokenness" with the essences of (4) letting go of the dream and valuing the real, (5) self-empowered: becoming the enabler, (6) facilitating the journey, and (7) the continuing journey: negotiating balance. The phenomenon of being the mother of a child with chronic feeding and/or swallowing difficulties continued to be a transformative experience in which personal growth emerged along with chronic sorrow and periodic resurgence of struggle and loss. Implications call for healthcare professionals to incorporate maternal meanings and needs in providing appropriate family-focused intervention.

Dr Petrea Cornwell, as my primary PhD supervisor, your guidance and support has been invaluable. Thank you for sharing this research journey and my passion for the research topic. Thank you also to Professor David Shum, as my co-supervisor, your positive attitude and trust in my ability to complete the research was greatly appreciated. The combination of both Speech Pathology and Applied Psychology expertise that you generously shared has been extremely valuable. I would like to acknowledge the important contribution that all of the research participants made to this research-thank you for your time and for entrusting me with your personal stories of life changing events. Finally, thank you to my family, my work colleagues, and HDR peers for your encouragement and support throughout this process.

The paired-placement model has the potential to increase student placement offers without negatively impacting on clinical service provision including occasions of service, patient or non-patient-related activities, or overall CE time spent at work.