My career in nursing: I've never looked back

Hi, my name is Rohan. I studied BSc Nursing (Mental Health) at the University of Bradford from 2019 to 2022.

I have been working as band five staff nurse in a child and adolescent mental health service (CAHMs) in-patient unit for 13–17-year-olds with complex needs for nearly two years now. I wanted to share my experiences of navigating the nursing world as a newly qualified nurse, and beyond, with you.

My lived experience really ignited a passion to pursue a degree in mental health. Thanks to my great support network, I managed to self-refer to a local service where I undertook a six-week course of cognitive behavioural therapy around depression and a further year-long course around anxiety. After this, I began to recover and make changes in my life. I cannot speak highly enough of my therapists and the skills and knowledge I learned, and the process helped me to finally understand why these patterns of behaviour manifested.

My current role and career path

In my in-patient unit nursing role, I love to act as keyworker for young people. Building trust and therapeutic relationships with them is key to successful outcomes. This can be driven by one-to-one sessions, developing care plans and completing risk assessments, supporting them to learn new coping skills, and helping them to understand themselves and why they may be encountering difficulties. Our ultimate goal is to discharge them back into the community.

The most rewarding parts of my job are getting to know the patients through playing games and listening to them, and putting a smile on their face when they're having a difficult day. I have often drawn on a quote from clinical psychologist Dr Karen Treisman for inspiration: “Every interaction can be an intervention”.

I particularly enjoy being the nurse in charge in my role, and regularly present on behalf of the nursing team at Care Programme Approaches (CPAs) and formulations. It’s a pleasure to get to work alongside an incredibly well skilled, knowledgeable and supportive team.

I recently completed training with the British Institute for Human Rights to become a human rights practice lead for my workplace. I attend monthly forums with other professionals within the trust to advocate for a more human rights-respected way of working and reduce restrictive practice for the young people in my care. We look at the implementation of training, guides and support to help colleagues work in a rights-respecting way.

Future plans and career aspirations

I hope to move into a senior nursing position, and am in the process of applying for a band six role, the natural next step in my progression. I want to gain more experience in leadership, management and service improvement projects.

I see myself moving up the nursing ladder as my career progresses and want to gain as much experience and knowledge in different areas as I can. I have a particular interest in working with autism and ADHD, and am keen to study for a Master’s degree at some point, with the aim to work as a specialist ADHD/autism nurse at band seven. I want to remain clinical for as long as I can, and then maybe step into a ward manager role when the time is right. And from there, who knows?

University experience

During my time at university, I had an excellent variety of placements. I spent time in a community mental health team, a GP practice, a residential home for end-of-life care, a specialist trauma-informed SEMH (social, emotional mental health) school for young people with complex needs and a female acute in-patient ward. I also worked part-time as a band two healthcare assistant at a medium secure forensics unit supporting patients presenting with psychosis, bipolar, personality disorders, and a wide range of other conditions.

I had a very memorable university experience; I played for the university football team and had a great time doing this alongside my studies.

While the foundation of nursing content in years one and two of a Nursing degree is very important, and I gained so many fundamental nursing skills and knowledge, my third year was particularly influential. This was the point where I really started to feel like a nurse and start gaining the experience I needed to succeed in my current role, learning about mental health, trauma and adverse childhood experiences, and how we can support and treat people struggling with these difficulties.

I really enjoyed researching motivational interviewing, techniques borrowed from my own experiences in CBT, and more recently dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), after I completed the course. I have learned how to use tools in my interactions such as non-verbal communication and positive body language, adapting tone of voice, using silence and empathy, responding with reflections, open questioning, summarising, paraphrasing and metaphors.

I was given the opportunity to return to the University of Bradford to guest lecture to around 100 third-year child and mental health nursing students about child and adolescent mental health. Coming back to university to support the current cohort of Nursing students and provide them with some insight into life as a qualified nurse was an incredible experience.

Hints and tips to support your nursing journey

I have done so many interesting things in my career so far. I’m a firm believer that you get out what you put into it, so a keenness to take on more responsibility and get involved in a variety of opportunities is crucial.

I would describe myself as someone who is extremely proactive, and I am always looking for new opportunities to gain experience and improve my practice. If there is training available for me to attend that I’m interested in, I will always put my name forward. I would recommend you do the same.

I have become much more accepting that I can’t always get it right and can learn from my mistakes. I don't dwell on them but rather use them as an opportunity to reflect and improve. Be accountable if you’ve made a mistake and seek to improve your practice and grow yourself. Nursing isn’t without its challenges and there will be days where you think, "did I really make the right choice?" But trust me when I say: a life devoted to supporting and caring for others is a life worth living.

Check out BSc Nursing (Mental Health) to follow in Rohan's footsteps and see where it could take you.