Nursing
Mental health nursing is a profession that calls for qualities that are difficult to quantify but essential in practice: genuine empathy, the ability to remain calm and present in distressing situations, and the capacity to hold hope for people who may have lost it for themselves. Mental health nurses are the largest single group of mental health professionals in the NHS, working in acute wards, community mental health teams, crisis services, forensic settings and beyond. At the University of Portsmouth, this three-year full-time degree leads to registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as a mental health nurse, combining academic learning with extensive clinical placements throughout the programme.
A year abroad is also available within the programme structure.
You will develop the clinical and therapeutic skills needed to assess, plan and provide care for people experiencing the full range of mental health conditions, working within the frameworks of recovery-oriented and trauma-informed practice. The programme covers mental health law, pharmacology and medication management, psychosocial interventions, safeguarding and the ethical dimensions of working in a field where autonomy, capacity and risk require constant careful judgement. Portsmouth's programme values empathy and compassion as professional capacities that can be developed and sustained rather than innate qualities, and the clinical placements develop both your competence and your professional identity in real NHS and community settings.
A typical entry tariff of around 104 points is expected.
Graduates register as mental health nurses and enter the workforce in settings ranging from acute psychiatry to community mental health, CAMHS, forensic services, eating disorder units and liaison psychiatry. The profession offers extensive career development, including specialist practice, nurse prescribing, management, education and advanced clinical roles. The sustained and growing demand for mental health services in the UK means that mental health nurses are consistently needed and valued.