We are proud to have our very own Registered Mental Heath Nurse, Karen, working with JustNurses as our Deputy Nurse Manager.

In honour of World Mental Health Day, to show our appreciation we interviewed Karen to find out about her experiences as an RMN over the years.

Here’s what Karen had to say…

Why did you want to become a Mental Health Nurse?
I studied Psychology at University and had planned on becoming a clinical psychologist. With minimal experience, I decided to try mental health nursing as a stepping-stone towards this. However, from walking into my first placement I knew I would never want to do anything else.

How long have you been qualified?
I have been qualified for 8 years.

Where have you worked?
I trained in Scotland and started my career in Forensics, working in a medium secure unit, which was a fantastic experience for helping to build my skills as a newly qualified nurse.
I moved back to Northern Ireland and worked in an acute mental health inpatient unit for over 5 years.
Now I am working as a Deputy Nurse Manager for JustNurses, which I am really enjoying being part of the JustNurses team.

What has been your career highlight?
This is a difficult one. It’s hard to choose just one as looking back over my career there are many occasions that stand out.
I suppose, one in particular is when I realised I had transitioned from a newly qualified nurse, feeling like I didn’t know anything to realising that all the theory and placements from University were coming together. Reflecting and recognising that I had picked up a lot more skills, knowledge and experience, really helped me to settle into my role and realise that I didn’t need to know everything there and then. It gave me the confidence to continue to learn and grow as a mental health nurse.

Why would you recommend Mental Health Nursing as a career?
I’ll try to keep this brief as there is so much that I could say here.
For me, Mental Health nursing is a challenging job but it is also a very, very rewarding one.
Being able to sit down with an individual and find out their story, their experience and what they are going through is special and unique for each person. Everyone is different and everyone has a unique experience in life, and being able to use my skills, knowledge and empathy to help really understand what someone is going through and find a way to help them work through this is a very special experience.
From my experience as a mental health nurse, I believe, there is nothing in the world like being a part of someone’s recovery journey.

We would just like to say a big heart-felt thank you to all RMN's for their hard work and dedication from all at JustNurses. You are an inspiration to us all!