Careers in mental health
nursing
By Stuart Keeling
Mental Health Practitioner
Nottinghamshire Healthcare
My Clinical Journey to date
 Staff Nurse on a twenty bed acute admissions ward.
 Clinical Lead on a Section 136 Suite whilst providing leadership to
three inpatient wards.
 Mental Health Practitioner on the Street Triage Team, assessing
people of any age whose presentation indicates they have mental
health issues - suicidal, threatening to overdose, very confused etc.
 I work regular “bank” shifts within a crisis resolution home treatment
team and within acute physical health hospitals, assessing people
who have attempted suicide, self-harmed, have overdosed etc.
 Seven articles published in the Nursing Standard to date.
 Specialist Associate with the Care Quality Commission.
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Skills Required
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Ability to understand people’s difficulties.
Excellent interpersonal skills.
Excellent communication skills.
Excellent observational skills.
Able to deal with stressful and challenging situations.
Ability to ask difficult and challenging questions.
Good team-working skills.
Good knowledge of the available support.
Genuine desire to help others in distress.
Good problem solving skills / ability to take the initiative.
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Where do mental health nurses
work?
 In many more places than you might think!
 It is often felt there are four divisions of mental health nursing,
alongside the private sector.
 For all of the four divisions the private sector has a growing number
of inpatient beds.
 Many nurses do transfer between the NHS and the private sector
during their career.
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Adult Mental Health
 Inpatient wards.
 Psychiatric intensive care units.
 Rehabilitation units.
 Section 136 suites – places of safety.
 Community mental health teams.
 Crisis resolution home treatment teams.
 Rapid response liaison psychiatry teams.
 Street triage teams.
 Perinatal psychiatry teams / inpatient units.
 Eating disorder units.
 Gender clinics for gender, identity and sexuality issues.
 Substance misuse services including in-patient and dual diagnosis.
 Disability assessments.
 Armed forces.
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Child and Adolescent Mental
Health Services
 Inpatient units.
 Psychiatric intensive care units.
 Community mental health teams.
 Crisis resolution home treatment services.
 Paediatric liaison services.
 Eating disorder services.
 Emotional health and well-being services.
 Self-harm teams.
 Substance misuse services.
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Mental Health Services For Older
People
 Inpatient dementia wards.
 Inpatient functional wards.
 Community mental health teams.
 Intensive Recovery Intervention Service
 Memory assessment services.
 Working age dementia services.
 Dementia outreach services.
 Nursing homes.
 Day units.
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Forensic Nursing
 High secure hospitals.
 Medium secure hospitals.
 Low secure hospitals.
 Community forensic mental health teams.
 Criminal justice liaison and diversion service.
 Offender healthcare - police stations / courts.
 HMP Prison – mental health/substance misuse
 Immigration centres.
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Salaries
Band 5
Band 6
Band 7
Band 8A
Band 8B
Band 8C
Band 8D
Band 9
£21-28,000 plus enhancements.
£26-35,000 plus enhancements.
£31-41,000 plus enhancements.
£39-47,000.
£46-57,000.
£55-67,000.
£65-81,000.
£77-98,000.
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Benefits of being a Mental Health
Nurse
 Helping people to make a recovery.
 Working with families, friends and carers.
 Very wide variety of clinical roles.
 Autonomy of virtually all clinical roles.
 Interesting and always challenging roles.
 Opportunities to work overseas as a nurse.
 A profession where nurses are the front-line.
 A profession which is always evolving.
 It’s most certainly not a boring desk job!
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Alternative career pathways
 Management / Leadership.
 Approved Mental Health Professional.
 Research.
 Lecturing.
 NHS111.
 Ambulance service clinician.
 Let’s Talk Well Being.
 Cognitive Behavioural Therapist.
 Private practice.
 Learning and development departments.
 Practice mentor.
 Clinical Commissioning Groups.
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Daily Challenges
 A national shortage of mental health nurses.
 The complexity of the national mental health bed state.
 Criteria rising to be admitted / sectioned.
 Larger than ideal clinical caseloads.
 Amount of time able to spend with patients.
 Working with challenging patients.
 Meeting the expectations of families.
 Access to mental health services being via physical healthcare if not
open to services.
 Working with other agencies and services.
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How to become a mental health nurse
 University full time training for three years at university – typical entry
requirements: 3 Bs at A-Level undertaking 50% theory and 50%
practical. Online application and a group interview.
 Access to nursing course – full time one year course for those
without the required grades and/or without evidence of recent
evidence.
 The Open University four year part time course allows staff working
in areas which have mental health mentors, to study whilst working.
 Return to practice courses exist for qualified mental health nurses
who have not practiced recently and have let their registration lapse.
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Questions and Answers
Please ask ANY
questions!!!!
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