Holistic overview of mental health for nurses in a practice setting

All nurses play an important role in supporting mental health as part of holistic care provision. This book is designed to help students and novice clinicians to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to care for people across a wide range of specialist and non-specialist practice settings.

Written by a highly experienced team of mental health nursing experts, the book covers all the common mental health conditions nurses are likely to encounter in practice. It provides essential information on assessing for and identifying people experiencing mental illness as well as how to provide appropriate responses, support and referral, across the numerous contexts in which nurses work.

Fully updated and expanded, the sixth edition includes a wealth of lived experience perspectives designed to provide a critical perspective and a way of thinking about the issues more deeply, building empathy and understanding.

Key Features

• High-quality, evidence-based content developed specifically to meet the learning needs of students and novice clinicians in Australia and New Zealand
• Describes the foundational principles and core mental health skills required by all nurses
• Covers generalist health settings - content is relevant for nursing students across their curriculum
• Focuses on mental health not mental illness - an emphasis on recovery-oriented practice, trauma informed-car, and the value of building therapeutic relationships
• Articulates and demonstrates the expert knowledge and skills of mental health nurses and includes information on professional self-care for all nurses
• Covers how to assess, manage and treat the major mental health problems people commonly experience
• Provides scenarios for mental health screening, assessment, referral and support across a range of clinical settings
• Key points, anecdotes, critical thinking exercises, tables and references in every chapter support learning
• Online resources for nurses in the workplace, including videos and clinical scenarios
• Commentaries by experts by Lived Experience in all chapters – understand what’s helpful and what’s not.

New to this edition

• New First Peoples chapters from both New Zealand and Australia – how to provide cultural safety
• New chapter on preparing for mental health clinical placements
• More content on suicide
• More content on the impact of trauma, adverse childhood events on mental health and addictions