As a mental health nurse, you'll provide support to people living with various mental health conditions. This can involve helping the patient to recover from their illness or to come to terms with it in order to lead a positive life.
You can specialise in working with certain groups, such as children or older people, or in a specific area such as eating disorders. Work is often carried out in multidisciplinary teams, liaising with psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, GPs, social workers and other health professionals.
You may work with patients in a variety of settings including:
- their own homes
- community healthcare centres
- hospital outpatients’ departments
- specialist units
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- secure residential units.
As a mental health nurse, you'll need to: