The course aims to help equip you with the hands-on clinical and care skills to prepare you to practise autonomously and compassionately, providing person-centred and compassionate care and support for service users to be physically safe and emotionally secure.

• You’ll spend up to 50% of your time on clinical practice placements5 in a range of healthcare environments such as within the NHS in hospitals and community placements, at private hospitals and independent care providers.
• Study and develop specialist skills in communication, comprehensive health assessment, equality and issues related to professional practice.
• All eligible students on this course can apply for a minimum payment from the Government of £5,000 per year, with additional payments for students incurring childcare costs6.

 

Why you should study this course

Mental health nursing is a values-based and very rewarding profession working with children, young people and adults of all ages with a variety of mental health problems and from numerous cultures and backgrounds. These specialist nurses are usually based in hospitals or work in the community, for example, in community services, in-patient facilities, specialist forensic mental health services, residential care and patients’ own homes.

 

This course aims to develop your knowledge of mental health, various disorders and innovative nursing care approaches. It is designed to equip you with the knowledge and competence to understand the experiences of people with mental health problems and to assist and facilitate their journey to recovery.

 

You will gain hands-on experience with real service users under supervision from qualified practitioners, spending 50% of your time on clinical practice placements5. These will take place in a range of healthcare environments within the NHS in hospitals and community placements, at private hospitals and independent care providers.

 

Placing equal value on practice and theory, undertaking 800 hours of both per year, you should study a wide range of subjects, including anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, psychology, sociology and research methods. You’ll become immersed in learning about the needs of populations, individuals, related health and nursing services with an emphasis on using research to enhance and improve services.

 

The course focuses on integrated care for people with mental health needs in a variety of settings. You should develop skills in communication, health assessment, professional practice, evidence-based practice, knowledge of public health and policy, and legal and ethical issues.

 

The collaborative curriculum, which you’ll study alongside students from our other health-related courses, has been developed in response to the need to produce professionals who are effective communicators, caring and compassionate, with good relationship-building skills. It recognises the importance of inter-professional working within the health and social care workforce.