Overview

Whether your background is in psychology, history or art, mental health nursing is a rewarding career with unlimited potential for doing good in the world. We don’t accept everyone on our course – we want to be sure you have the potential to succeed in this demanding job. But once you’re part of our community, we’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re happy and achieving your best. Our Mental Health course equips you with both the practical skills and the theoretical understanding of how to care for people effectively. Being in the heart of London, you’ll come across a really diverse mix of patients and situations. So when you leave King’s, you’ll be ready to take on any challenge.

Course detail

The overall aims of the course are to enable graduates to acquire advanced understanding, knowledge, skills and professional values in mental health nursing in order that they may develop, deliver, lead, evaluate and research healthcare practice. In addition, the course aims to ensure that nurses who graduate are skilled, competent, compassionate professionals who have satisfied the academic and clinical requirements and standards stipulated in the NMC standards of proficiency and the academic requirements of King’s College London for the award of a Master’s degree. Graduating students will possess the knowledge, skills and values to perform competently with a range of clients/patients and presentations, both in hospitals and in community settings. They will also develop skills in planning, leading and evaluating high quality care to clients/patients, their families and carers and to work effectively with inter-professional and inter-agency teams.

Teaching and assessment

Formal lectures account for only a small proportion of the curriculum. The aim is to acknowledge the individuality of all students. Student-centred, inclusive learning is pivotal to the philosophy of the Faculty, and teaching methods support and encourage self-development and awareness through reflection on experience. Practitioners, researchers and lecturers deliver high-quality research-based teaching. The diversity of delivery methods ensures that students have a rich, diverse and exciting experience throughout the programme. Face-to-face and on-line teaching will be complemented and supported with innovative technology so that students also experience elements of digital learning and assessment.

Career prospects

Many of our qualifying nurses go on to further study or gain employment in prominent London NHS Trusts, while others choose to work elsewhere in the UK and abroad. There are varied choices of career destinations from hospital and in-patient services, community services and teams, charity and independent sector, criminal justice system and prisons, research, teaching and management. Whatever the chosen pathway, our mental health graduates are well-prepared to face the challenges of a career in mental health and the complexities of pioneering healthcare.