Nursing (Mental Health) BSc(Hons)

Course structure

You’ll share at least one module with students from other nursing fields, and some sessions with other disciplines, allowing you to benefit from intraprofessional collaboration. You will also benefit from service users contributing to your learning through shared stories and membership of the Mental Health Nursing Special Interest Group.

In each year of the degree, you will engage with both theory and practice learning. The degree alternates between academic terms and blocks of practice. Theory sessions in academic terms take place at the university. You will attend Monday to Friday with independent study days. Practice placement blocks are up to 32 hours per week and between five and 14 weeks long.

As a student on this course you’ll also get to participate in Schwartz Rounds - hour-long sessions where students come together to listen to stories and share reflections in a supportive and confidential environment. The sessions offer the opportunity to reflect on the emotional aspects of clinical practice and are designed to support students and recent graduates working in complex settings.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Areas of study

The course acknowledges the socio-political and cultural context for people and so works to build social capital and towards social justice.

Learning is constructed through commitment and attention to scientific endeavour using an evidence base, whilst valuing dialogue, reading, enquiry, curiosity, and critical thinking.

Our course content is co-constructed with service users, our practice partners, other students, lecturers, and the wider academic community.

It is important to nurture an environment where students feel safe to ask questions, safe to contribute and safe to challenge the status quo.

We promote inclusivity and respect diversity through considering mental health and illness across the lifespan and intersections of age, gender, gender assignment, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, disability, neurodiversity, religious beliefs, spirituality and relationship status.

Using both critical reflection and reflexivity you'll be encouraged to explore a range of theoretical positions such as biomedicine, recovery and trauma informed approaches, anti-oppressive practices, de-colonisation, peer support, service user movement, psychological theories, an inequalities imagination, feminist, poststructuralist and critical social theories.

Recognising that patients come first in everything the NHS does, and the values of the NHS constitution – respect, dignity, compassion and working together for service users – are embedded in our curriculum.

Year 1

In year 1 you will explore the nature of nursing and the understanding of 'self', developing clinical and communication skills which are assessed in both the university and practice settings.

You will also take part in the Alzheimer's Society's award-winning Time for Dementia programme, following a family's dementia journey over an 18-month period.

Modules

• Nursing Assessment in Partnership with People

  This module will enable you to undertake a holistic nursing assessment of a person in terms of their mental, physical, social and spiritual needs. You’ll learn the importance of completing an assessment in partnership with the person, taking into account their circumstances, characteristics and preferences.

  You will also gain an understanding of the role of the nurse in assessing the person’s needs as a member of the multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

• Planning Nursing Care in Partnership with People

  This module will enable you to plan nursing care based on the information gained from a holistic nursing assessment. You’ll learn the importance of identifying priorities in the mental, physical, social and spiritual needs of the person and formulating a plan of care in partnership with the person and the multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

• Human Biology for Nursing

  This module will enable you to explore human biology in relation to the health, well-being and illness of a person across the lifespan. You’ll develop an understanding of how human biology and altered physiology underpins your developing nursing practice.

• Practice Learning for Nursing Year 1

  This practice assessment of the course is divided into three parts. This module comprises part one, which will enable you to begin developing the knowledge, skills and values required for nursing practice.

  You will integrate learning from your placement and at university in order to meet the Future Nurse: Standards of proficiency for registered nurses (Nursing and Midwifery Council [NMC] 2018).

Year 2

You will continue to build your professional practice skills and knowledge of 'self' in relation to others across different mental health settings.

Year 2 explores different theories and concepts that underpin mental health nursing practice that include biological, humanistic approaches, social and psychological theories and their impact on the service user and carer experience. The contribution of theories and concepts to Future Nurse (NMC 2018) standards and current mental health nursing practice is also explored.

Study will also look at long-term conditions, mental health and health promotion with a practice module offering opportunities for service user-led sessions, mental health care planning and safety planning simulations.

Modules

• Quality Improvement Using Evidence-Based Nursing Practice
• Nursing to Promote Health and Prevent Illness
• Approaches to Nursing Adults with Long-term Health Conditions
• Key Theories and Concepts Underpinning Mental Health Nursing
• Practice Learning for Mental Health Nursing Year 2

Final year

In the final year you will continue to specialise in the field of mental health nursing and will focus on the ‘self’ in relation to supporting more complex service user needs, as well as gaining an understanding of clinical supervision, working in groups and organisational cultures.

You will explore and apply a range of therapeutic approaches and undertake experiential learning in mindfulness, compassionate mind training, motivational interviewing, immersive dementia simulations, working with distressed behaviours, advanced care planning and safety planning. You will also build on management and leadership skills as you prepare to enter professional practice.

Modules

• Contemporary and Future Nursing Practice
• Leading and Managing Nursing Care and Effective Teams
• Therapeutic Interventions in Mental Health Nursing
• Enhanced Practice in Mental Health Nursing
• Practice Learning for Mental Health Nursing Year 3

Facilities

Placements

Our flexible approach to practice-based learning, and excellent links with local healthcare Trusts, enable us to offer clinical practice in hospital and community settings, working alongside multi-professional teams.

You will spend 50% of the course (2,300 hours) studying theory which requires attendance in lectures and the other 50% (2,300 hours) on placement. You must accumulate 4,600 hours in total over the three years before you can register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Practice placements are up to 32 hours per week, and you will be supported by a Practice Supervisor and Practice Assessor. 

Clinical placements take place across Sussex and Surrey and include community teams who work with mental health recovery, in-patient mental health services, older adults both in the community and on inpatient wards and in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

You may also gain some placement experiences in other services such as substance misuse, forensic services, police liaison and diversion, A+E liaison and prison healthcare. There is also the possibility of a quality improvement/ research placement and a two to four week international placement.

It is currently possible to claim back excess travel costs - this is reviewed each year by the NHS.

A day on placement can be between 07:00 and 22:00, and includes some weekends and some nights.

Supporting you

You will receive lots of support throughout your mental health nursing degree. During your degree you'll have access to: 

• personal tutor
• practice liaison lecturers
• practice supervisors and practice assessors in clinical practice
• academic assessors 
• peer learning
• student support and guidance
• welfare.

Nursing Society
Our student-run Nursing Society provides support for all nursing students at every stage of their degree.

The society facilitates group learning and extracurricular lectures from speakers across the multidisciplinary team.

Study abroad

Course fees

Additional funding support

UK students studying nursing, midwifery and some allied health professions subjects receive a non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 each academic year. Find out more on the NHS website.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2023–24.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at Brighton