You will need to have a keen interest in healthcare, be capable of working in a team, and have a caring and understanding personality and outlook to enjoy working as a nurse.

Mental Health Nursing is concerned with the skilled art of assessing the mental and emotional state of patients and clients. Mental Health nursing is about developing your own personal skills to allow you to build effective relationships with patients and clients. Mental Health nurses are insightful, perspective, comforting, supportive individuals whose primary role is in developing relationships with people with varying degrees of emotional and psychological distress. Mental Health nurses work alongside other mental health care professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists and social workers. Following qualification it is possible to specialise in a number of areas within mental health nursing, Cognitive Therapy, Behavioural Therapy, Adolescent Mental Health Nursing, Eating Disorders, Mental Health Nursing of Old Age, Mental Health Nursing, Addiction Counselling - to name but a few. It is a challenging yet rewarding job requiring you to draw upon a variety of different skills to ease the burden of emotional and psychological distress.

This programme offers you a qualification recognised in many countries. If you enjoy challenging and stimulating work, with good career prospects mental health nursing offers you a variety of opportunities in a range of areas such as clinical, management, education and research.

Ultimately, career progression is dependent on a mix of further study and work experience. In Ireland, there are a number of specialist courses and programmes available.

For further information on post registration programmes, please visit the School of Nursing and Midwifery Postgraduate website.