Mental health at university: an expanding role for mental health nursing

摘要

In 2011, I took early retirement from the NHS at the age of 54 with no idea what was to follow, other than that I would not be going back to work as a clinical psychologist in the health service. I had succumbed to occupational burnout syndrome and needed a change. Miraculously, a year later I managed to obtain a job as professor of psychology at the University of Bolton. There were obvious areas of the psychology curriculum where I felt I could contribute, such as to the quaintly named, 'Abnormal Psychology' module. What soon became apparent to me was the large numbers of students I came across who were suffering from the whole range of mental health problems. This was not just anxiety and depression, but eating disorders, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.