WHAT IS A MENTAL HEALTH NURSE?

Mental Health Nurses work with people experiencing mental health difficulties across the lifespan. At the core of mental health nursing is the ability to establish trusting therapeutic relationships with service users and with their families and carers. As a Mental Health Nurse you would care for people affected by a range of mental health difficulties, for example: anxiety; depression; eating disorders; psychological trauma; psychosis, and dementia. Mental Health nurses support individuals and their families in a wide variety of settings, including in their own homes; GP practices; primary care facilities; specialist nursing homes; hospitals (both general and mental health); prisons; and forensic mental health units. Whatever your client group, you will use professional expertise, skills and knowledge to promote recovery and positive mental health.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

Our Mental Health Nursing course adopts a person-centred approach to enable you to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to provide safe and effective nursing care. It will enable you, upon successful completion, to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to practise as a Registered Mental Health Nurse in a range of diverse health and social care settings. The Mental Health Nursing course at the University of Wolverhampton is delivered by subject experts with extensive clinical experience and you will be supported to achieve a high clinical, professional and academic standard, we are also proud of our relationships with our partner organisations which were recently commended by the NMC.

Nursing is a demanding vocation which requires compassion, commitment, creativity and resilience, along with an ability to work independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Mental Health Nursing, especially, requires a warm and empathic approach to help build trusting therapeutic relationships with people who are sometimes reluctant to engage. This course will develop your knowledge, skills and confidence as a practitioner working in partnership with service users and carers in a variety of settings. The course promotes personal resilience and critical thinking, and supports you to advocate on behalf of service users and carers and to provide effective evidence-based interventions and continuous service improvement.

Potential Career Paths

Successful completion of the BNurs (Hons) Mental Health Nursing will lead to registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and will then open up the prospect of many jobs in clinical practice, hospital or community settings, research, teaching or managerial roles.

Mental Health nurses work in a variety of diverse settings caring for children, adolescents, adults of working age and older people who are experiencing mental health problems. Mental health nurses work alongside many other professionals including social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and GPs to plan and deliver person – centred care. Registered Nurses continue to study after they have qualified, often in a specialist area, as they develop their career path within the UK or working abroad.