BSc (Hons) - Mental Health Nursing
Mental health nurses provide support and care for vulnerable individuals across all stages of life. Our Mental Health Nursing degree combines essential nursing values with contemporary knowledge, communication and interpersonal skills to help you start your dream career in mental health nursing.
Upon completing this course, you will be eligible to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, enabling you to practise as a mental health nurse. This degree opens doors to diverse career opportunities in settings such as inpatient and community services, and specialist centres of excellence like eating disorders, memory assessment, drug and alcohol, and forensic and prison services.
If you have completed an FdSc Nursing Associate programme, you can enter directly into the second year of this degree, allowing you to qualify as a mental health nurse in just two years.
Course Overview
You will spend 50% of your time in clinical practice-based placements, working alongside experienced professionals. This hands-on experience will help you develop the skills and confidence to support individuals with a wide variety of mental health conditions. Placements will be across the sector including both NHS and private/voluntary- sector provision.
In your second year, you will have the opportunity to arrange an enrichment placement that provides you with the opportunity to develop your learning which could involve national or international work. For those studying at our Lancaster campus, placements can be arranged with placement providers such as the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, Lancashire and South Cumbria Foundation Trust, and University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay.
The other 50% of your studies will involve academic learning. You will explore the fundamental principles of nursing, with a particular focus on mental health nursing. This includes understanding the biological, psychological, social, cultural, legal, ethical, and political aspects of 21st-century healthcare.
You'll engage in taught sessions, discussions, lectures, workshops, conferences, and hear from guest speakers and experts by experience. You'll also develop your clinical skills through scenario-based experiences in mock hospital wards, computerised simulations and our interactive immersive room.
On this course you will...
- Work alongside individuals experiencing mental illness, long-term conditions, and significant psychological wellbeing concerns, providing time and support to help them recover.
- Use high-quality simulation facilities alongside your practice experience and academic lectures.
- Undertake placements in a wide variety of settings, covering child, adult and older people nursing, within both inner-city and rural locations.
- Learn from experienced practitioners with clinical experience in a wide range of clinical backgrounds and academic interests.
- Hear first-hand accounts of stories in healthcare from individual lived experiences.
- Achieve a professional qualification as a registered mental health nurse, alongside a varied experience of practice areas with which you can consider your future career options.
What our students and graduates say
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My tutors are amazing! They take time to get to know all their students personally, take an interest in us and then support us with our own ambitions. They are so invested in us and so supportive, it would be hard not to form a strong bond with them.
Catherine Hind, Mental Health Nursing
Nominated for the RCNi Andrew Parker award for Student Nurse of the year, as well as the Student Nursing Times Awards 'Most Inspirational Student Nurse of the Year', Catherine proved to everyone what an extraordinary person she is.
Experience Cumbria
Location
Carlisle - Fusehill Street Campus
The Fusehill Street campus has been the setting of life-saving treatments since World War I. Now, it's home to world changers, life-savers, crime fighters, and entrepreneurs with access to high-quality facilities and innovative thinking.
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Lancaster Campus
Lancaster is the Red Rose heartland, a student haven full of history and culture. With iconic stone architecture, parkland, and a caring community, this is the place to get involved. The campus houses top-quality facilities tailored to the needs of life-savers, world changers, and future leaders.
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