mental health/ psychiatric nursing advice

[snowbiehamham]

I'm in my 40s and considering training as a mental nurse. One thing stopping me is I have a back problem called spondylolisthesis. This means being on my feet and walking a lot causes me back pain and heavy lifting is not advised. I used to work in a shop standing for ages and it was painful and not suitable for me. I also suffer from chronic insomnia. I'm hoping someone here does this job and can tell me if this will be an issue.

I’m not sure if you’ve done mental health work before? But it includes dealing with high risk patients in some areas, I’ve worked on inpatients where a table has been thrown at me for apparent reason and smashed. It was a near miss. I’ve also had to have training in restraint (always a last resort but it is done), stopping people trying to hurting themselves etc.. you have to act quickly and fast sometimes, especially when emergencies happen. Community is nicer but lots of travel, managing crisis in people’s homes and lots of writing up/ paper work heavy. I think it would good if you could bank HCA at your local trust? See if it’s manageable. You might be better looking at training as a psychological well-being practitioner. They are always looking near me and have trainee roles. I am hoping to leave MH and do council work.

• for no apparent reason!

I was literally just talking to another patient, it was horrid and there wasn’t any support after.

Thanks that is helpful. It does sound extremely challenging and I am a sensitive person so it actually sounds maybe not that good a job for me. Not surprised you want to leave! I may give bank HCA a try though.