Video transcript

I was always the person who was getting into trouble talking to patients in my general nurse training. Sitting on the bed, talking to patients. So for me, on that first day it was back to that being able to talk and engage with people and work through the issues they were having at that time.

I really wanted to work initially with families and young people and when I got the opportunity to do a placement and work in Mental Health, there was so much more opportunity to work with people at different levels.

I hadn’t thought about Mental Health at all – it was not on the horizon or radar until I had my first lecture in Mental Health and it was a eureka moment – I just loved it.

I found that initially you get confronted with certain aspects of reality that, for me, never knew existed.

Compared to general nursing it’s completely different. In general nursing, it's very task oriented like I'm going to go in and give this antibiotic and do this shower whereas in Mental Health it’s more about talking and more personal which is why I got into nursing because I love talking to people.

Working with families, working with kids, working with people with dual-diagnosis, conduct disorder, there's more in-depth therapeutic roles – there's a whole range of speciality areas that people can work in. That’s one of the rewards of working in Mental Health – it’s very diverse.

You get support from supervisors and managers and discipline seniors. All of that has been incredibly helpful in finding my place in the organisation and system and developing my skills as a professional.

I had a really good colleague who was a mentor and another social worker. She really supported me through that process. We did a lot of joint work in seeing families and patients in the hospital.

Just that engagement I had with patients on the ward, that just confirmed to me that it was the right choice.