Anyone a mental health nurse and dislike your job? Please help!

[cupcakesmakeyouhappy]

I'm a mature student who decided after a divorce would go back to school and prove I was more than what I was made to feel. I chose nursing because I consider myself to have all the values a nurse shoud have. I chose mental health as I have experienced it from a young age (family).
I'm 18 months in and really do not enjoy the academic side and not enjoyed any placements. I'm disappointed in myself as it's what I chose but expected different. So not only am i trying to meet deadlines, work and be a single mum the end career prospects don't really keep me motivated. Also all I hear is the pressures of nursing now. Too much is expected. People are leaving the profession.
I have nothing to fall back on as I was a stay at home mum. It's like I have no choice. I would look a failure if I gave up now. I'd be letting my dc's down. It's making me so so unhappy. I have been to the doctor recently and been prescribed anti depressants.

Can you speak to someone at your uni. I am not a nurse but retrained in similar and in mental health. It is very challenging and if you feel in your gut it's not for you then I would get out now. Working in mental health is hard and i didn't last 5 minutes in the NHS.

Having said all that it MAY be that it's just the pressure of the course/academic work/being a SP which is clouding your judgement. Maybe when you qualify and only have to think about the working side it will be easier. You could also decide to finish the course and then have a degree you could use to get other jobs. You wouldn't need to work in the NHS as a nurse, you could go into 3rd sector or private?

P.s I also retrained as a mature student and was expecting it to be a wondrous experience but it wasn't! It was hard and I'm still not sure it was the right thing. I also did the beating myself up about letting people down, being an example to my children etc etc. But being happy and mentally well is the best example you can set!

I am a RMN and have never been out of a job in 20 years. Nurses are in demand. It is oressured and you feel at breaking point sometimes but it's so worthwhile. Lots of my friends in all other jobs accounting, PR etc all feel the same.

RMN is so transferable too. You will never regret doing it

Hi OP,

I'm an RMN, qualified in 2014 and worked as a CPN and as an assesser in the community.

I definitely have moments of hating my job, and wasn't particularly enamoured with my training. But I have to say working as a CPN was very rewarding, I really liked the autonomy of managing your own caseload, and I always hated the wards and the odd staff dynamics that often accompanied them!

One good thing about MH nursing is that there are many different careers within it, as well as developing specialist skills such as CBT/DBT in order to become a bit more niche in your practice, you could move out of clinical practice into teaching/research etc.

However if there is nothing about your training that you have enjoyed so far, perhaps it's worth meeting with your tutor to discuss what sort of opportunities there are that might be more suited to your skills/ambitions? There is usually an elective in your third year so you could potentially explore a more offbeat placement? Or perhaps it's about having a frank discussion with uni about your expectations vs reality? They may be able to help you make a decision either way.

I sympathise with the pressures of doing it as a mature student though, sounds like you've got a ton of pressure that is probably making the course seem like another added stress.

Earless - thanks for your reply. You perservered then? Well done! I dont like the student experience at all. Working in mental health is so challenging and I question if it will always have an effect on my own mh.
Mrsfloss - thanks for you reply. I know there is a massive demand. I also know part of that reason is because people are leaving. I wish I could be more positive. I know people feel the pressures in all positions within work. I feel it's a massive responsibility to take on. I'm not sure I have that in me.
Flipfloper- Hi, thanks for your reply. I'm glad you enjoy your role as a cpn. I have do e some community placements and see how it's so different to the wards. I have spoken to my personal tutor and another lecturer and the uni councillor. All very supportive. Asking if I wanted to extend assignments etc. Encouraging me to ask for foamy support (I don't have any). The thing is I can't tell them I'm not enjoying it. I can't tell them the reasons why. They offered me the place at uni. I have questioned over and over if it's the work load that's clouding my judgement. I brush myself off and start again. It doesnt get better. Now I'm on anti depressants. Feel anxious at uni. Not wanting to go to my acute ward placement in 2 weeks time. Desperately searching for jobs.

What placements have you had so far?
I ask because mine were all community based until the last two. I really couldn't see myself working in the community.
Is there anything about it that you like?
What makes you passionate about mental health. Look back at your personal statement.
I was a single parent when I started, it was incredibly hard!

Little - thankyou for your reply. I have had acute, community o/a and adult, dementia and worked bank shifts on other wards.
I feel it's a huge responsibility.
I went into it as my brother suffered badly with his my and tried to take his life. Now I understand it more, I feel he has pd as he has many attachment issues and suffered a trauma. I suffered pnd and it had a massive knock on effect. I hated thinking people suffered in silence, still do but I can't change that. My experience it's made me see nursing completely differently. It's a thankless job in mh. I'm sorry if I'm being negative but I'm trying to be honest here.
Anything I like. No, unfortunately. I love beig in a position to help people. I want people to believe they are enough. I like to instill positivity (I know at the moment I'm being completely the oposite) but I can't make that difference. Some people do t want to change and some people can't.
Please Op can you tell me what you like about it? I'm intrigued.

Cup everything you say is absolutely true and some people can still work in that system and still feel they make a difference but I couldn't. Personally I'm not resilient enough and I know it. I've also had my own MH issues and believe that makes me very empathetic but it also means I would burn out instantly!

There are other jobs less stressful where you can help/make a difference to people. No job, absolutely NO job is worth your own mental health suffering.

Earless- tjis is exactly what im co cerned about. Is it making me worse. Will that co tinue even after the study. You mentioned you are trained in mental health? Can I ask what you do? You started for the nhs and then what happened?

I think mental health is one of those things that once you find your niche is truly rewarding. I qualified in 2014 and knew from the get go that I wasn't quite ready for community (huge caseloads in my area) so went to work a split role on an acute ward and an elderly ward. I soon realised that I wasn't a fan of the band aid that is the acute mental health service, it was all about fire fighting and I'd get awful anxiety attacks on the way into work.
I then went to work in low secure forensics where I now work on the rehab ward. I know I'm a rehab nurse, I get to do proper therapeutic work and see people actually recover in such a way they need never come back into services which is the complete opposite of acute nursing.
Maybe you just haven't found your niche (I recommend forensics by the way, even on the acute side it's very fulfilling and not remotely as scary as most people seem to think it is).

I'm PM'd you Cup.

I've

Thanks Earless :) I have replied but it's not showing my message. Did you recieve it?

Yes I've replied! They always disappear when you send them for some reason!

Hi cupcakes.
Sorry to hear you aren't enjoying your course, I didn't want to read and run.
I have been following with interest as I've just applied for a nursing access course with a view to completing a degree after. I'm unsure about this path myself as have read lots of the job is basically restraining people and sedating them? I don't know how true that is though.
I'm also really interested in counselling and psychology but can't quite decide where I see myself going.
I hope you manage to come to a decision, fingers crossed you get to where you want to go (even if that's not as a RMN). Try not to worry about anyone else feeling let down. At the end of the day this is your career, your future. Focus on yourself. If you feel you would be unhappy or struggle with your own mental health then it's perhaps not the right path for you.

Everyone hates placement, we all did. It's quite different when you are qualified and used to the job.
The academic side of it can also be a pain but nothing worthwhile is easy. Keep going and you will be surprised how different it all is when you have qualified.
It's hard work being a student. I did my degree in a different part of the NHS at 45 and hated it all but love the job now I'm qualified and I did nursing for years before this.
Work hard, go with the flow. I think the NHS is a wonderful career and I'm very well paid some years in and comfortably off. There will always be moaners out there telling you how awful the NHS is but it really isn't.

Moaningmummyoftwo - Hiya and thanks for the reply. I am really sorry to put such negative comments. I hope I haven't put you off.
It's not all about restraints and sedation but this obviously does happen. It's not what I thought it was going to be. Im finding it all quite heavy and having an effect on my mh, this is why I posted. Please don't let this effect your decision.
Thankyou for your support and kind words :
Irritated - thanks for your reply. Really? People in my cohort enjoy it. Iv lost interest, I can't help it, I just feel it's to heavy. Too much responsibility. Glad you are happy though :)

I'm unsure about this path myself as have read lots of the job is basically restraining people and sedating them? I don't know how true that is though.

This most certainly isn't true. Admittedly on acute wards or psychiatric intensive care you do more of the hands on restraint but it is a last resort for very unwell people who are a danger together people or themselves and we always use the lowest possible restraint. There is an element of medicating people until they are well enough for discharge and then hope they get adequate community follow up. Mental health services are woefully underfunded and the professionals that work in them do the best we can with what we have.

Having said that the reason I love forensics is because it's one of the few areas that is pretty well funded (in comparison to other mh services) and the level of risk the service users pose means that there is less of a time scale for their treatment. We have people for years sometimes which means we can do really good therapeutic work that isn't possible elsewhere.

So please don't be put off if it interests you. And again I highly recommend forensics if you're interested in therapy type work.

Thank you for coming back to me and confirming that isn't the case. Certainly makes me feel a lot better.

Formerly, that's a really interesting avenue and I will certainly look at it as I progress though should I jump in and go for it.

Sorry I didn't mean to hijack your thread

Cupcakes, I really hope you are happy, whatever decision you make. Be certain to make it for yourself though, not based on anyone else's thoughts or opinions.

Thankyou :) good luck to you in your journey too.