Mental Health Nurses

Mental health nurses are essential in helping patients navigate their mental health journeys, providing emotional, health promotion and practical support. We work with people presenting with a range of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, mood disorders, psychosis and schizophrenia.

Mental health nurses work in a person-centred way to plan care and interventions. These might include accessing therapy, lifestyle changes, supporting a person to develop effective coping strategies, teaching them and family about their condition, medication options and managing unwanted side effects of medications, administering medications, referral on to other agencies for help and support, and may also provide some practical support directly.

Mental health nurses can do further training and can develop into specialist roles, such as advanced clinical practitioner.

Where we work and what we earn

Mental Health Nurses work in hospitals, Primary Health care and the voluntary sector, for example on a mental health ward or specialist unit, in the community or specialist community team.

We work as part of teams which include GPs, Psychologists, Social Workers, Psychiatrists, Occupational Therapists, Arts Therapists and Healthcare Assistants.

What we earn

£32,073 (band 5) to £64,750 (band 8a) and can earn more in senior, specialist, operational management, leadership, and director roles.

Mental Health Nurses are great at

Being caring and patient
Communication and interpersonal skills
Providing information about treatments and delivering therapeutic interventions
Building trusting relationships
Using their clinical judgement and weighing up risk
Teaching and advising (health promotion and psychoeducation)
Coordinating care and supporting people to access support
Assessing and monitoring people’s mental health and signs of relapse

How to get started

You need GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A to C) in maths and English, or equivalent qualifications such as functional skills level 2 in maths and English.
The main route is through a degree course at university. Entry requirements for these courses can vary depending on where and how you’d like to study so it’s important to check with universities. If taking the university route, you’ll need two A levels or equivalent level 3 qualifications, such as a T level or BTEC for an undergraduate degree. Some universities may ask for three A levels or equivalent. If you already have a degree, you might be able to study for a postgraduate qualification.
You can also take the nursing degree apprenticeship or nursing associate route, Student nursing associate places are usually advertised on NHS Jobs but some places are available through direct application to universities.

NHS health careers

Royal College of Nursing

UCAS

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