In today's episode, we will be tackling the question of whether mental health nursing students are being given adequate preparation and training in mental health.

In this insightful discussion, I talk with Dan Warrender about the challenges and concerns surrounding mental health nurse education. 

He highlights the impact of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's future nurse standards, emphasizing the lack of protection and inadequate focus on mental health nursing. 

The conversation serves as a rallying call for increased support, advocacy, and collaboration to enhance mental health care and ensure a more specialized and empathetic nursing workforce.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

Dan talks about how he had worked with people clinically where their perspective after getting a diagnosis is that there's something wrong with them as a human being.

Dan stresses the significance of self-awareness and proper therapeutic training in preparing mental health nurses for their demanding roles. 

Unique challenges in terms of student wellbeing that Dan sees around mental health nursing. 

• Mental health nursing has much more complexity around that and not just talking to people about their thoughts and feelings.
• The practice education document across the United Kingdom has been shaped in a way that probably suits adult nursing, and does not provide enough room for the specialist training required for MH nursing.

He expresses concerns about the potential toll on students' well-being when entering uncertain and complex clinical environments. 

Additionally, Dan raises crucial points about the need for nurses to advocate for their patients and the potential repercussions of not being adequately prepared. 

He sheds light on the grassroots movement "Mental Health Deserves Better," which aims to promote change and improvement in mental health nurse education. 

Today’s guest: 

Dan Warrender is a mental health nurse, lecturer, and mentalisation-based treatment practitioner, and is currently undertaking a Ph.D. exploring experiences of crisis intervention for people diagnosed with ‘borderline personality disorder’. 

He is a member of the executive group for the Scottish Personality Disorder Network and has contributed to best practice statements locally and nationally. Topics of his writing, speaking, and interest include ‘personality disorder’, the limitations of psychiatric diagnosis, trauma-informed care, ethics, risk, and the identity and education of mental health nurses.

Further to an MA in Philosophy and a working background in learning difficulties, Dan qualified as a mental health nurse from Robert Gordon University in September 2011, and chose to work in acute mental health. Gaining a place on the Early Clinical Career Fellowship (ECCF) 2012, he completed an MSc Nursing, undertaking primary research and disseminating this nationally and internationally. He is currently undertaking a PhD exploring peoples experiences of crisis intervention for people with a diagnosis of ‘borderline personality disorder’.

As well as his teaching and research interests, Dan is a registered Mentalization Based Therapist with the British Psychoanalytic Council and continues to practice this within the NHS, as well as providing clinical supervision for mental health staff. He has also been involved with strategic groups regarding the care of people diagnosed with ‘personality disorders’, and is an active member of the Scottish Personality Disorders Network Executive Group. Dan has been critical of the lack of autonomy for the ideological direction of mental health nursing within the nursing profession, speaking at the Royal College of Nursing congress 2022, and being selected as the keynote speaker for Mental Health Nurse Academics UK 2022, presenting "Ghost or phoenix: the disappearance or rise of mental health nursing".

Connect with Dan Warrender here:

Email: d.r.warrender2@rgu.ac.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-warrender 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dan_warrender 

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