Mental health nursing

[Arabiannights01]

I wasn't sure where to post this but it seems that my partner and I may be parting ways and I would really like to change career to Mental Health Nursing.

Can anybody advise as to how challenging this might be with a toddler? I am thinking of him as I consider this and I think it will be best in the long-run.

Also, if anyone can advise where I can get help with a personal statement that would be great.

Thank you from a very stressed our first - time Mummy.

Mental health nurse here.

Do you have relevant experience? If not, could you try a few bank shifts as a HCA on a mental health ward to see if you like it or not. It's not a career for everyone so it's worth knowing what the job is about.

Training wise, it takes 3 years (possibly 4 years if you don't meet the entry requirements and need to do an access course first). Bear in mind training will involve doing different placements and therefore an every changing schedule, including possible early starts, late evenings and night shifts, so you need to have a fairly flexible childcare arrangements. On top of that you will have to go into Uni and write essays etc so will need to find the time to do that. There's also no training bursary anymore so would you be able to manage financially?

Once qualified it can be reasonably family friendly if you work in the community and so 'sensible' hours, but ward based work is a lot more shift based and will include bank holidays, Christmas, nights etc so would be harder with a toddler especially if your partner isn't on the scene.

It's a varied and interesting career though, but can be very stressful at times, so it's worth thinking through carefully.

Hello OP you may want to get this moved to a thread with more traffic as this one is used by university lecturers to discuss work matters.

Thanks so much KitKat, you have given me a lot to think about.

I should be ok with DS's father being able to help with childcare and financially but I'll look into it as much as I can.