Mental Health Awareness course for Nurses

This introductory session aims to raise awareness of mental health issues with healthcare staff. It is designed to give a broad overview of what encompasses mental illness whilst highlighting the link between mental and physical health diagnoses. It also provides some simple guidance on how best to care for someone with mental health difficulties. More detailed profession-specific learning sessions will be contained in later modules within this series.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Explain how common mental illness is in the general population
• Describe the breadth (or range) of mental health diagnoses and presentations
• Explain the concept of parity of esteem
• Identify sources of support for an individual with a mental health diagnosis or learning disability
• Describe principles which healthcare workers can incorporate into their clinical practice to improve interactions with patients with mental health needs

This session uses self assessments that help you check what you have learnt. You do not have to use them and your answers are not seen by anyone else.