Mental Health Nursing

Good mental health is as important as good physical health, however one in four people will experience mental ill health at some point in their life. Working with people, their relatives and carers at what can be the most challenging and vulnerable times, mental health nurses use their communication, interpersonal and therapeutic skills to build trusting, positive and person-centred relationships. 

On this course, you'll develop the knowledge and skills to deliver compassionate and culturally informed mental health care in a diverse range of settings, including hospitals, people’s homes, schools, the community and secure services, working in partnership with other professionals to positively influence the mental health outcomes of the people you care for.

You’ll build your knowledge and skills of therapeutic interventions and the pharmacological management of disease, including the safe administration of medication.

You’ll learn and practise your clinical skills in a safe and controlled environment through teaching sessions in dedicated facilities, including clinical suites, simulated clinical environments and replicated community settings, supported by virtual reality software and digital health technologies.

Through shared learning opportunities and collaboration with students from related disciplines, you’ll develop your ability to appreciate the contribution other healthcare professionals make to people’s care and health outcomes. Service users and carers will also contribute to your learning through their lived experience of health and social care services.

Placements

In each year of the programme, you will spend 50% of the time on campus studying theory and clinical skills in the safe environment of our simulation suites and 50% in real-world practice, on placement in healthcare settings with local NHS trusts or in private or voluntary organisations.

Practice placement blocks are 37.5 hours per week and there are two 10-week blocks in each year of the programme. During this time, you’ll be supported by experienced practice supervisors and assessors who will provide tailored feedback and you’ll complete an online portfolio to monitor your progress and achievements while on placement.

Why study with us?

• Innovative Nursing degree co-designed by academic experts in partnership with clinical practice partners, service users and carers.
• Aligned to the principles and values of the NHS Constitution.
• Interprofessional learning opportunities embedded throughout the course.
• Access to outstanding facilities including clinical suites, simulated clinical environments and replicated community settings.
• Personalised learning experience, including smaller class sizes and individualised support.

You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

Our Nursing curriculum incorporates five key themes, which you will study with increasing complexity over the three years of your degree.

• Evidence-based Practice​
• Person-centred Care​
• Biopsychosocial Sciences of Health and Illness ​
• Professional and Applied Practice​
• Pharmacology, Medicines Management and Optimisation

Modules by Year

Year 1

Core modules (students are required to take):

• Fundamentals of Contemporary Nursing Care
• Practice 1
• Psychosocial Concepts of Health and Wellbeing
• Communication and Relationship Skills for Person-centred and Holistic Care
• Practice 2

Year 2

Core modules (students are required to take):

• Developing Competence in Contemporary Mental Health Nursing Care
• Practice 3
• Promoting Health and Wellbeing across the Lifespan
• Evidence-based Practice and Informed Decision Making
• Practice 4

Year 3

Core modules (students are required to take):

• Leading and Coordinating Contemporary Mental Health Nursing Care​
• Practice 5​
• Managing Complex Care Needs in Mental Health Nursing​
• ​Preparation for Professional Registration​
• Practice 6

At Leeds Trinity we aim to provide an excellent student experience and provide you with the tools and support to help you achieve your academic, personal and professional potential.

Our Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy delivers excellence by providing the framework for:

• high quality teaching
• an engaging and inclusive approach to learning, assessment and achievement
• a clear structure through which you progress in your academic studies, your personal development and towards professional-level employment or further study.

We have a strong reputation for developing student employability, supporting your development towards graduate employment, with relevant skills embedded throughout your programme of study.

We endeavour to develop curiosity, confidence, courage, ambition and aspiration in all students through the key themes in our Learning and Teaching Strategy:

• Student Involvement and Engagement
• Inclusion
• Integrated Programme and Assessment Experience
• Digital Literacy and Skills
• Employability and Enterprise

To help you achieve your potential we emphasise learning as a collaborative process, with a range of student-led and real-world activities. This approach ensures that you fully engage in shaping your own learning, developing your critical thinking and reflective skills so that you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and use the extensive learning support system we offer to shape your own development.

We believe the secret to great learning and teaching is simple: it is about creating an inclusive learning experience that allows all students to thrive through:

• Personalised support
• Expert lecturers
• Strong connections with employers
• An international outlook
• Understanding how to use tools and technology to support learning and development

Programme delivery

Your time on campus, learning through in-person teaching, is at the heart of your academic experience and the way we deliver our programmes. This is supported and further enhanced by additional engagement activities and opportunities provided online and through digital teaching materials. This blended approach seeks to ensure a positive learning and teaching student experience.

Your programme of study has been carefully designed around a three-phase model of delivery:

1. Preparation: You will be given clear tasks to support you in preparing for live teaching. This could include watching a short-pre-recorded lecture, reading a paper or text chapter or preparing other material for use in class.
2.  Live: All your live teaching will be designed around active learning, providing you with valuable opportunities to build on preparation tasks, interact with staff and peers, and surface any misunderstandings.
3. Post: Follow-up activities will include opportunities for you to check understanding, for staff to receive feedback from you and your peers to inform subsequent sessions, and for you to apply learning to new situations or context.

Preparation, Live and Post teaching and learning and the digital materials used will vary by course, but will be designed to help you structure your learning, take a full and active part in your course, and apply and test your developing knowledge and skills.

Assessment

A variety of assessment methods are used, matched to the learning outcomes for your programme, allowing you to apply and demonstrate the full range of knowledge and skills that you have developed.

For more details on specific assessment methods for this course contact hello@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.

The following information is designed to give you a general overview of the qualifications we accept. If you are taking qualifications that are not included below, including the recently introduced T Levels, please contact our Admissions Office who will be happy to advise you.

Please note, it is a Nursing and Midwifery Council requirement that applicants must be 18 years old by the course start date.

UCAS tariff points

Applicants can meet the required tariff points from a range of qualifications of which at least two must be Level 3 qualifications equivalent to A Level. General Studies is excluded.

We accept a broad range of qualifications such as A Levels, BTECs, OCR, CACHE qualifications and T levels. You must have a qualification in a relevant subject i.e. Health, Science or Social Science.

Access to HE Diplomas are accepted and must be in a relevant subject such as Health Professions, Health Science, Nursing and Midwifery, etc.

You can use the UCAS tariff calculator to work out your predicted or achieved points and you can contact our Admissions Office if you need further advice about your qualifications.

We also accept the Level 3 Senior Healthcare Support Worker Apprenticeship with an End Point Assessment grade of Distinction.

GCSE requirements

Key Skills, Functional Skills, BTEC level 2 and the Certificate in Adult Numeracy/Literacy are accepted in place of GCSEs.

English Language requirements

If English is not your first language and you have not been educated in the UK, you will need an IELTS academic score of 7.0 with a minimum of 7.0 in reading, listening and speaking and 6.5 in writing to meet NMC requirements. 

Recognition of prior learning

You may also be able to access the course through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

The Nursing and Midwifery Council can allow entry through recognition of prior learning. You will need to be able to map this to the Standards of Proficiency for registered nurses and programme outcomes, up to a maximum of 50% of the course. If you are a registered nurse, this may be mapped to more than 50%.

Any modules you wish to be considered during this process must come from another Nursing and Midwifery Council approved nursing programme. You must complete the relevant mapping documents to apply via the Recognition of Prior Learning route.

Please contact the Admissions team is you would like to discuss your prior learning.

Please note that entry via RPL is not available for January 2024 entry.

Additional entry requirements

For entry onto this course, you will need to meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council's (2018) requirements for selection. This includes completion of a declaration of Health and Character, Occupational Health, satisfactory interview and a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Occupation Health Screening

All places are offered subject to satisfactory occupational health screening. This will involve completing an occupational health questionnaire and attendance if required at a medical appointment.  Occupational health screening and assessment will consider your health and wellbeing and your fitness to study and practice. Progress on the course is dependent on your continued fitness.  All offers of places are made subject to satisfactory health clearance and an agreement to undergo appropriate blood tests and immunisations. The health screening comprises the completion of a detailed health questionnaire by the applicant, failure to return this form before the start of the course may result in the offer of a place being withdrawn.

DBS requirements

Applicants who are offered a place and accept will be contacted regarding the DBS application, which will be completed via an external company. This is because you may be required to work with children or vulnerable adults on your clinical placements.

As DBS checks can only cover time spent in the UK, applicants who have spent time outside the UK may need to obtain overseas police check of some kind from the country/countries in which you are now living or have lived. This means a police or criminal records background check from outside the UK; these will be called something different according to the country.

If you have lived or are living outside the UK, this condition applies regardless of your nationality or fee status. Broadly speaking, applicants included are:

• Non-UK applicants (including residents of Republic of Ireland and other EU countries, as well as overseas applicants). This applies even if you are not currently resident in your country of origin but have lived there recently.
• UK applicants living abroad now or who have lived abroad recently. This requirement is in addition to your UK DBS check, not an alternative to it.

Interview information

As part of the selection process, we interview short-listed candidates prior to making offers, clinical staff from the practice learning environment and service users and carers will be part of the interview panel.  The interview will assess your problem solving and communication skills and your values aligned with those of the NHS Constitution, in accordance with Value Based Recruitment (Health Education England, Value Based Recruitment Framework, October 2014).

References

All applications should be supported by a second reference in addition to that supplied on your UCAS form. You will be asked to supply this second reference as a condition of your offer.

Personal statement

Your personal statement is an important part of the shortlisting process, as it helps us to assess your interest in undertaking a pre-registration nursing programme. It also enables you to highlight relevant work experience (employment or voluntary) and the transferable skills which you will bring to our nursing programme.

UK Home Students:

Tuition fees cost £9,250 a year for this course in 2023/2024.

Part-time tuition fees will be prorated accordingly to the number of credits you're studying.

Depending on government policy, tuition fees may change in future years.

Living costs, e.g. accommodation, travel, food, will also need to be taken into consideration.

Leeds Trinity offers a range of bursaries and scholarships to help support students while you study.

International Students, including EU Students:

Visit our webpage for international students.

Part-time study is not available for international students on a Student Route Visa. 

NHS Learning Support Fund

A non-repayable training grant of £5,000 and extra payments worth up to £3,000 are available to eligible home students for each year of study. Read more about the NHS Learning Support Fund on the NHS Business Services Authority website.

Additional costs

We advise students that there may be additional course costs in addition to annual tuition fees:

• Recommended and required reading lists will be provided at the start of your course. All the books and e-books are available from our Library to borrow but you may choose to purchase your own.
• On some courses there may be additional costs, such as field trips, equipment, accreditations, that may be part-funded by the University. More details will be provided at the start of the course.
• You'll need to include placement/s travel and associated costs too, however the University will contribute a standard amount towards your total expenditure.
• The University provides students with a £6 printing credit each academic year which can be topped up either on campus or online.

Applications for this course are not yet open.

Graduate opportunities

Providing you with the opportunity to develop the professional skills and experience you need to launch your career is at the heart of everything we do at Leeds Trinity University.

On successful completion of the Mental Health Nursing degree, you will be eligible to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to practise as a nurse (on the relevant part of the register) in the UK. The vocational nature of this degree means most graduates progress quickly into employment within their chosen field of Nursing. 

Mental health nursing careers exist within NHS Trusts on a variety of wards, including acute care, forensic, Accident and Emergency liaison, child and adolescent mental health services, and within community teams and primary care as a mental health specialist practitioner. You could also consider a career witin local authority, private hospitals, the voluntary and independent sector, charitable organisations, the pharmaceutical industry, the armed forces, the prison service, research and education or specialist practice, many of which offer opportunities to work either in the UK or overseas.

After you graduate, Careers and Placements will help you as you pursue your chosen career through our mentoring scheme, support with CV and interview preparation and access to graduate employability events.

To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit:

Careers