What made you decide to get involved?

I am so passionate abou a public health approach to mental health and wellbeing.  As an educator, I strongly feel that all nurses should be able to take a holistic approach to the care they deliver, yet often find that adult and children’s nurses feel anxious about doing so, and do not feel they have the skillset to competently talk about wellbeing. MECC is a tool kit which not only normalises mental health conversations, but gives practitioners a framework on how to do so.

In your view what is the strategic case for MECC for Mental Health?

The NHS long term plan via the NHS mental health implementation plan makes it clear that we need to radically change the way the workforce meets the mental health and wellbeing needs of the communities we serve. MECC can be a part of this.

For student nurses, MECC aligns with many of the proficiencies that all student nurses are required to achieve throughout their training.

How did you train to become a MECC for Mental Health trainer?

Online training course. Fantastic experience; very well organised and a fantastic way of practically learning the materials. Great trainer and a really motivated group of co trainees to learn alongside.

How was the experience of organising and delivering MECC for Mental Health training?

Organising the training was relatively straight forwards for me, with good support from the central MECC team when required

Can you provide a brief description of the group/s you delivered the training to? 

The training is being delivered to first year student nurses training to be adult, child and mental health nurses.  By the end of the academic year, we will have delivered this training to around 400 student nurses. All training has been delivered in person, on the university campus.

Can you provide a brief description of the training programme you delivered? 

The programme is delivered over 2 days; day one involves session preparation and module one, and then day two is modules two and three. All sessions are designed to meet the needs of students delivering any kind of nursing intervention to any population they may be working with.

How do you think the training has been received by participants?

Students are actively and enthusiastically participating in the training, and making clear links to other parts of their nurse training programme. Students report really enjoying the training, and finding the framework a useful way to think about building very brief interventions in to their every day practice.

What difference do you think MECC for Mental Health will bring to the people you trained?

I believe that by embedding MECC very early into the nurse training programme, we have a wonderful opportunity to normalise and promote mental health and wellbeing promotion as being a core part of the role of every nurse, not just mental health specialists. MECC allows us to balance our offer to students, moving away from a very physical health centric curriculum in year one. This has potential to take us closer to the idea of parity of esteem for mental health, a crucial goal for everyone in improving the health and wellbeing of the populations we serve.