Mental Health Nursing

University of Suffolk

Mental Health Nursing students will be encouraged to develop the skills of independent learning, critical analysis, leadership, management and decision making. Students develop the knowledge, values, understanding and skills required to care for individuals to enhance recovery from mental illness and promote mental health wellbeing. Mental health nursing means working with individuals within a close professional relationship to help them achieve self-care and independence. This is a development process for the person being cared for and requires that the nurse has the highest levels of interpersonal and intrapersonal skill.The School of Health and Sports Sciences is committed to embedding the NHS Constitution Values into everything we do; they define the behaviours and expectations of all our staff and students underpinning the work we do in the university and in the practice setting. This course offers students the opportunity to focus on the specific health needs of service users and their family/carer(s). The nature of nursing means that students will be involved in working with the variety of people who access the services provided by the health care system. This will range in both the age of the patient and for a variety of reasons, either short or longer term mental health experiences and with the associated complexity of physical, social and emotional needs. Career opportunities Mental Health Nursing students are very employable and gain a range of skills throughout their degree. Graduates can progress in to a variety of careers including those in community and hospital settings, education and research. There are numerous opportunities for continued professional development and progression to higher degree study. Personal insight and emotional maturity are essential characteristics of the qualified mental health nurse. This course aims to develop both as essentials to effective practice.