Career change from nursing

[NattyLee]

I am a qualified Registered Mental Health nurse who took sometime out, due to burnout.
Now I am finding it difficult to get work that balances with being a mum. Most jobs offers are for 12.5 hour shifts.
In all honesty, I don't feel much enthusiasm for returning to my chosen career.
I am now contemplating alternative career choices.
Has anyone else left the NHS or similar and pivoted in their career?

Community or clinic may be your route but it’s less money due to 9-5 hours. Lots of posts are frozen atm because of cuts.

Have you thought about pastoral care worker in school/college/ uni??
most of those places need mental health workers and would suit you if you had kids as most are term time only…

have a look at the PG Dip in Social Work - you can do it through the OU and it only takes 18 months. You have the perfect experience and could do AMPH training too.

Local Authority is way less pressured and toxic than NHS…speaking from experience.

It’s probably not a good idea to move into the education sector after suffering from burnout. You end up working all hours.

Schools should 100% have mental health workers but sadly they don’t! At least not in any I’ve worked in, instead they ask TA’s or general support staff to offer mentoring with little to no training. It’s so bad!

Hey, so I was in a similar position but I am an RN Adult. I moved into Public Health and work in School Nursing, which means supporting the health needs of all school aged children from 5-19. I work office hours Monday to Friday and our trust employs RMNs, RN Paeds Nurses and Midwives. I've gone on to do my Specialist Public Health qualification, which puts me at the equivalent of a Health Visitor, but as said for 5-19 yr olds. It's a brilliant job and you manage your own workload, offering places based care. I've never learned so much, or enjoyed a job more than this. Can't recommend it enough.
The only thing that can be difficult is that there is no clinical work, but you get to work collaboratively with young people helping them to achieve and that is the most amazing reward.

I’m a RMN & worked in Secure Services for many years. I’m close to burn out like so many others. Our service user cohort has gotten more abusive & violent the past 5 years - & I feel we’re made to feel we are worthless. The constant nasty verbal abuse day in & day out is just as bad as the violence. So many secure patients tell us they only act violent & verbally abuse to us mental health nurses because ‘ they can & no-body will do anything about it’. Which is true because the police and CPS just say ‘not in the public interest’

Unpopular opinion here, but im an adult nurse and left my acute hospital role for a pip assessment position. I dont do the phone/face to face assessments, instead i do assessments for people who dont require assessments in order to get the award, liaising with MDTs to ensure i have all the evidence possible so that their claim gets processed as quickly as possible without putting them through unnecessary stressful assessments. Its genuinely doing my best for people in need. (I however, still dont make any final decisions, i just do everything in my power to ensure every piece of information they put in their claim is supported by evidence) I did interview for the phone assessments however i was transferred to this team prior to starting. The role itself is genuinely helping people who need it, and it doesnt have the negativity attached to the role i expected going into it. For various reasons i had no choice but to do this job as ive had health issues myself that made working in a clinical role virtually impossible. But im very happy in the team i am in, the hours are great, very family friendly, and the job is rewarding in a different way.

How about retraining as an Occupational therapist. Work in lots of different specialities, physical, psychiatric, forensic, paediatrics, adults, older adult mental health, housing, community. Normally office type hours.

I am sorry and deeply saddened to hear about your experience in your clinical setting.
I know how pressurised it can be on the wards, particularly forensic. Unfortunately some patients can be verbally and physically abusive toward staff.
And yet staff return the next day, it really can feel like a thankless task. And it is frustrating that police do not take it seriously. They can be dismissive of incidents that occur and say it is, 'the profession we chose'.
Needless to say, I hope you find a solution and get out of that environment soon.

Thanks for the suggestion and glad you are enjoying your job. It sounds amazing and the hours sound great too!

What about something like the EMHPs for MHST? Or a MH lead in schools?

What about doing the best interests assessors course and complete DoLS assessments?

How about applying for a corporate position in quality governance within an NHS trust? Flexible working hours and lots of progression potential for clincally qualified staff.

I left Adult Nursing for same reason and after a career break/just being mum for a while got a job as an Independent Advocate. Best decision I ever made. Manage my own case load, the work is interesting - big mix of health, mental health and social care, do my admin at home and travel to see clients but very much manage my own diary and can flex for the school run etc. No toxic management in sight, just kind people who want to support you. In a similar vain as someone already pointed out you could train to be a Best Interest Assessor if you are a reg RMN.

I left nursing 10 years ago and went into mental health charity work. I’ve worked in various roles, naturally feel like I’m ready for a change now but you could try your local mind, or IAPT type service for opportunities.

@Chaoticwitch Thanks so much for the suggestion and I will consider charitable organisations near me. And I feel very inspired!😊

@NattyLee you might find it helpful to browse the Mature Study and Retraining board - there may be threads qualifications you could add on to the one you have that might open new career doors?

Mature Study and Retraining

@TheRavenKingsDaughter I will check it out.🙂

I just wanted to chip in and say I was in a very similar position as you, days away from throwing my pin in. And someone said something at a stay and play which made me reconsider. And I'm so glad I did! A couple years on and i'm a nurse in a charity- game changer. I have so much autonomy, I'm allowed to approach my work holistically and it is very rewarding.
I'm not sure what's next for me but being in a place where I'm not completely burnt out has allowed me the capacity to re- imagine a career of my choosing.

Others options you might like- CBT trainee, coaching or therapeutic post-grad? Good luck.