Nursing - Mental Health

Open up a varied and rewarding career for yourself. One-quarter of the population will experience a mental health problem at some point. As a specialist nurse, your skills and support will make a real difference in many people’s lives.

Following our 'Outstanding' rating in 2013, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) performed its annual monitoring event earlier this year (Nursing and Midwifery Council Annual Monitoring Report, March 2014.

Mental health nursing is a challenging but rewarding field. As a qualified nurse you’ll identify people’s needs before planning and providing care. You’ll work with your clients, encouraging them to believe that recovery from mental health problems is possible.

Our course mixes classroom learning with practical placements. We’ll consider the experiences of people with mental health issues from different age groups, cultures, belief systems and ethnicities. We’ll also look at the experiences of carers and care-givers; and learn how the law – including human rights legislation – affects the management of mental health.

Biological, psychological and social factors can all have an impact on mental health and illness. Our understanding of causes and ‘triggers’ is changing all the time, so we’ll keep up to date with the latest knowledge – as well as the different interventions used to help people. Since mental health nursing is very much about connecting with people, you’ll also enhance your ‘softer’ communication and people skills.

We’re dedicated to the continual improvement of every aspect of healthcare and delivering the values set out in the NHS Constitution.

Most mental health nurses work in the community, but some provide in-patient care. Either way, it’s standard practice to work as part of a team of health and care professionals. As part of your studies, you’ll develop your teamworking skills and gain practical experience in mental health settings, both in the community and in hospital. While on placements, you’ll work shifts and will need to arrange your own transport.

Our course is funded by the NHS so you won’t pay any tuition fees, and you may even receive a bursary.

All our nursing courses are approved by the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). On successful completion, you’ll be eligible to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Equality, Diversity and Spirituality in Nursing

Anglia Ruskin University, our partner institutions and NHS Trusts value culture and diversity in all its courses. Culture and diversity is therefore integral in our BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing program, where we uphold and explore the NHS values in a variety of settings. Visit our equality and diversity page for more information. We along with our partner institutions and NHS Trusts also embrace your spiritual needs and would actively encourage you to observe the essential practices associated with your particular faith. This includes, prayer, dress, and the carrying or wearing of spiritual symbols.

The protection of patients and clients is paramount. For this reason a uniform will be provided, which adheres to all NHS Trust uniform policy in relation to health and safety, infection control and the NMC code. If you have concerns that these requirements may impact upon your personal spiritual beliefs then please speak to your admission tutor, who will advise you accordingly.

For further information or to simply to discuss these and other spiritual matters please contact the multi denominational Chaplaincy staff at nigel.cooper@anglia.ac.uk(Cambridge and Peterborough) and tony.cant@anglia.ac.uk (Chelmsford). You can also find them on Facebook.