MENTAL-HEALTH NURSES WORKING PURPOSEFULLY WITH PEOPLE WITH SERIOUS AND ENDURING MENTAL-ILLNESS - AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

There has been a world-wide refocus on people with serious and endurin g mental health problems. This has provided major challenges for all t hose involved in mental health care, as the last two decades have prod uced radical changes in service delivery and a range of new interventi ons. Mental health nurses are playing a central role as community base d clinical case managers and are beginning to use a range of psychosoc ial interventions. They are also revitalizing skills in the more tradi tional areas of medication management and residential care. In additio n, there are growing problems of substance abuse and violence which ne ed to be addressed. Mental health nursing is responding in this new er a by various training initiatives. However, these programmes need rapi d expansion as mental health nurses will continue to play a key role i n the services of the future and therefore need these new skills.