CQUniversity Unit Profile.

Two in five adult Australians have experienced mental illness in their lifetime, including substance use disorder, affecting the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023). Therefore, all registered nurses will encounter people with mental health issues. This unit introduces you to mental health as a national health priority, including the importance of assessing the mental health of people with physical health issues and the physical health of people with mental health issues. You will also develop strategies to support people experiencing stress and distress in various health settings. Finally, you explore recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and culturally safe approaches to providing care to people with mental illness, including relevant legal, ethical and professional frameworks and self-care strategies.

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from SUTE

I wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank Steve Haines for his incredible support and leadership throughout our placement and this unit. Your dedication to preparing us both mentally and professionally made such a difference, especially during my mental health placement. I truly appreciate the time, care, and encouragement you provided to ensure we felt ready and confident in our roles. I am also deeply grateful for how you stood up for me and continuously advocated for our wellbeing and learning experiences. It meant more than I can express to know that you genuinely cared about our growth and success. and a huge thanks to all the unit coordinators for yout ongoing support and guidance throughout this unit. Your collective effort has created an environment where we could learn, reflect, and thrive. Thank you again for everything you've done to support and inspire us. Your compassion and professionalism have left a lasting impact.

Unit Coordinators will continue to apply diverse teaching, learning and assessment philosophies and methods aligned with Pedagogy, Andragogy, Bloom's taxonomy framework, Benner's concept relating to stages of clinical competence and principles of equality, diversity and inclusion. Unit Coordinators will also continue to underpin their educationalist practice with recognised educational and mental health nursing theories and practice skills; Australian College of Mental Health Nursing (ACMHN) Standards of Practice and Scope of Practice; NMBA Standards and Codes; ICN Code of Ethics and the CQUniversity Values (Engagement, Can do approach, Openness, Leadership, Inclusiveness).

Feedback from SUTE

Such a great unit. Enjoyed it experiencing another side of nursing, that really brings out the caring and compassionate qualities. I loved this unit and it was so informative, I have learnt so much over this term. The unit coordinators were amazing and I could not ask for a better layout or structure. It is disappointing that there is a possibility of removing Mental Health PEP, as it plays such a vital role in all aspects of nursing. Mental health is encountered in the community, medical wards, surgical wards, emergency departments, and almost every other area of practice. Removing it would take away essential experience that nurses need when caring for individuals experiencing mental health challenges.

Unit Coordinators will continue to apply diverse teaching, learning and assessment philosophies and methods aligned with pedagogy, andragogy, Bloom's taxonomy framework, Benner's concept relating to stages of clinical competence and principles of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Feedback from Email

Good afternoon awesome Mental Health lecturers, I have just completed a 2-day residential school for Mental Health in Rockhampton and wanted to provide some feedback as I know it is valued. I very rarely provide feedback as I worry it may be interpreted in a wrong way and disadvantage me in my studies, if it is not necessarily “good” feedback. In these past 2 days I have had the honour of learning from Shunil, who confirmed for me that Mental Health is the type of care I want to specialise in. 3 years ago I completed my Diploma of Nursing and ever since, I have known Mental Health is my passion (which Shunil may of picked up on). Shunil over these past 2 days helped me see things in a new light, previously when disclosing that Mental Health is my interest I have been told “it’s a waste” and “you will lose all your clinical skills if you go into that speciality” which made me have a lot of self doubt. In saying this, I now see that this isn’t the case and it is still very much an important part of nursing. Shunil valued everyone’s inputs, thought processes, ideas and emotions in all aspects of his teaching. I never felt uncomfortable or like I wasn’t heard, Mental Health can be quite a touchy subject and he ensured to check in often to ensure no one felt offended. I want to thank you Shunil for this, for hearing us and giving us a space to have open and honest communication. I hope to one day learn again from you.

Unit Coordinators will continue to apply evidence-informed diverse teaching, learning and assessment philosophies and methods that are person-centred/student­ focused and culturally sensitive to enhance individual students' motivation, commitment and ability to complete all the unit assessments and meet the set learning outcomes.

Feedback from SUTE

I feel happy thinking about mental health unit, I didn't feel pressure of any kind. I learned new things without any fear of passing or failing the unit. Emails from the unit coordinators were so humble and personalised. I felt valued. Thank you for taking care of our mental health as well. Appreciate your efforts. The Unit Coordinators have been so supportive and made this unit a valuable experience for me. They are RNs that I will remember throughout my career as they helped inspire me. The mental health placement was my most impactful placement by far and has changed my future aspirations.

Mental health nurse academics will continue to ensure their practice is humanistic, trauma-informed, recovery orientated, culturally sensitive and aligns with evidence-informed distinct mental health nursing philosophy to prepare graduate nurses with scope-specific mental health nursing theoretical knowledge and practice skills.