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Mental Health Nurses' Day is on 21 February 2022. It is an opportunity to celebrate, describe, and promote mental health nursing in the UK.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare is one of the leading mental health Trust's within England, and so as you can imagine, we hire mental health nurses on a regular basis.

Choosing to be a mental health nurse can be very rewarding, offering you the opportunity to make a difference, whilst also giving you ample of excellent employment prospects. 

 

What do they do?

Mental health nurses build effective relationships with patients who use mental health services, as well as to their relatives or carers. You could be involved in assessing, planning, implementing, promoting, and evaluating safe, creative, and effective treatment plans with other healthcare professionals. Maintaining accurate, timely, and relevant clinical records is important in this role, as is the need to maintain the safe monitoring, management, and administration of medication.

 

Where do they work?

Working as a mental health nurse offers you the opportunity to work in both inpatient or community settings, as we well as specialising in different fields of mental health. 

If you decide inpatient settings are for you, then you could be based on a psychiatric ward at Highbury Hospital or a specialist unit at the award-winning Rampton Hospital. 

Community opportunities offer you the chance to be more flexible to suit your lifestyle, and you could be working closer to or within peoples' homes. Our local mental health teams help families cope with periods of severe mental illness, bringing together a variety of other services. 

 

Who do they work with?

Mental health nurses work within multi-disciplinary teams which consits of other healthcare professionals such as GPs, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, and healthcare assistants. 

 

How do I become a mental health nurse?

To become a mental health nurse, you will need to do a degree level qualification. A minimum of five GCSEs including maths, English language or literature, and a science subject are good starting points. You will need to achieve at least grades 5/4 or above, or equivalent level 2 qualification. After, you will need to take at least two A levels in subjects such as human biology, psychology, or sociology, or an equivalent level 3 qualification such as a BTEC or apprenticeship.

Once you have completed your A levels you will need to do an approved full-time degree in nursing, or alternatively apply for a nursing degree apprenticeship. Make sure you check with the university you are interested in directly for qualification requirements.

 

Are there any skills that are important?

Academic qualifications are important, just as is the need to have skills. Communication and interpersonal skills are cruical, as well as strong judgement, and being able to teach advise and manage people. 

 

Already training to be a mental health nurse?

If you are already training to become a mental health nurse then why not consider Nottinghamshire Healthcare your first place to work once you are registered with the Nursing and Midwivery Council. There are plenty of opportunities available to you in a wide variety of settings. Take a look at our current vacancies to explore these further.