Overview
There’s never been a better time to train as a nurse! Not only is public appreciation for nurses growing, so is the funding. You can now apply for a £5000 grant that you won’t need to pay back! Mental Health Nursing has been confirmed as a shortage group which means you will be eligible to apply for an additional £1000. There is also an extra £3000 funding available depending on your personal circumstances.
As many as one in three people in the UK have issues with their mental health at some stage of their life. Nurses who specialise in mental health, a complex and demanding area, work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients with mental illnesses.
As a mental health nurse, you focus on the therapeutic relationship with those with mental ill health, and with their families. You provide the support and treatment to meet their physical, psychological, social, mental and spiritual care needs. More than anything else, mental health nursing requires empathy, to care about the people you are working with.
Unlike many of the older, traditional nursing schools, at Essex you receive a fresh, contemporary and relevant nurse education programme, integrated into a University that is one of the UK’s top ten research institutions. You work with local organisations to ensure that you gain the best experience possible during your time with us, and studying alongside other health professionals means that you also have the opportunity to gain expert knowledge from them.
There are four main types of pre-registration nursing degree – child, learning disabilities, adult and mental health. At Essex we specialise in adult and mental health nursing courses, as well as offering CPD courses for those who already have professional registration. For a full list of our undergraduate, postgraduate taught, and research nursing courses, take a look at our subject pages.
The cost of required uniform will be fully covered by the school.
Our expert staff
A unique feature of our School is that many of our staff work with local NHS Trusts and other local agencies, which enhances our grasp of the contemporary links between academic research, the major issues of the day and practice.
We specialise in applied, multidisciplinary research that addresses issues of national and international concern to health and social care policy and practice and related fields. We also host the NIHR Research Design Service for the East of England.
Specialist facilities
The School of Health and Social Care is located at two sites; in the Kimmy Eldridge building at our Colchester campus and in the Gateway Building at our Southend campus.
We have purpose-built nursing skills labs in both our Colchester and Southend campuses. We offer excellent physical and online resources in terms of libraries, computer labs, datasets, archives and other research materials.
Your future
Successful completion of our BSc Nursing (Mental Health) Work-Based Learning, leads to eligibility to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) on the Professional Register as a “Registered Mental Health Nurse” allowing you to practise as a nurse in the UK.
97% of our School of Health and Social Care students are in employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2020).
Why we’re great
- We’re in the top 10 for overall student satisfaction for Mental Health Nursing in the National Student Survey (2021).
- We’ll nurture you, so upon successful completion of the course you’ll be a highly skilled, knowledgeable practitioner who is sought after by employers.
- Much of your study is spent in a variety of clinical settings, working alongside nurses and other professionals.
Structure
Course structure
Our Nursing programmes consist of three terms per year. This structure adopts a developmental approach to the mastering of nursing skills and development of knowledge and understanding. It has a 50:50 split between theory and practice which means that for 50% of your programme, you undertake clinical practice by working with nurses in a variety of settings. Service user-centred care planning emphasises the holistic nature of health and illness. Alongside this experience, you are given the opportunity to rehearse practical skills in a controlled environment further preparing you for working in the practice environment.
As you undertake a significant part of your programme in placement areas we work in partnership with the NHS and the independent health and social care sector across Essex where you will spend your placement hours so that you gain the best clinical learning experiences. Whilst on placement you will have a mentor allocated to you and contact with a member of the academic team linked to that placement. You will work shift patterns whilst in placement equivalent to a 37.5 hour week. This includes early shifts, late shifts, night shifts, weekend and bank holiday working.
Attendance at all parts of this programme is compulsory (as are the modules you study) and must be evidenced in order to register as a nurse.
These carefully selected modules will give you the chance to explore, question, and create powerful ideas. Picked to give you an extensive and in-depth education, they’ll equip you with the specialist knowledge, vital transferrable skills, and the confidence to make a genuine difference to the world around you.
We’re reactive, we’re pioneering, we never stand still, so modules might change from year to year in response to new developments and innovation. Those listed below show how a typical course might look, but more detail on course structure, including details of all optional modules, is available on our Programme Specification.
Teaching and learning disclaimer
Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.
The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.
Teaching
- Lectures inform you of the most important topics, with classes allowing you to consolidate your learning through discussion
- We work closely in partnership with the NHS and the independent health sector to provide placement opportunities
- Modules have their own accompanying webpages on Moodle where you can download relevant readings, power-points, podcasts and YouTube clips, and contribute to online discussions
Assessment
- You will be assessed through presentations, coursework and assessments of practical settings
- You will also undertake two written exams, one in year one and the other in year two