Mental Health Nursing Practice BSc (Hons)

Deliver restorative interventions to those experiencing mental distress and illness. Develop interpersonal therapeutic skills to promote recovery and positive mental wellbeing. Graduate ready to deliver effective and sincere person-centred care as a mental health nurse.

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Overview

The BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing Practice degree will allow you to learn how to deliver compassionate and restorative care to those experiencing mental distress and illness. As a critical thinker, you'll deliver effective and sincere person-centred care based upon a contemporary evidence-base, which will be administered and applied within a spectrum of clinical skills to include physical health monitoring and promotion, and interpersonal therapeutic skills to promote recovery and positive mental wellbeing.

As a mental health nurse, you'll be competent and confident in working with and supporting a ‘whole-systems’ evidenced approach in diverse settings, ensuring the mental wellbeing of families and carers with a relative experiencing mental distress. Partnership working with multi-professionals and services will ensure the very best care and outcomes are reached for those experiencing mental illness.

A combination of practice placements with our NHS partner Trusts and on-campus learning using our interactive facilities alongside our Patient, Carer and Public Involvement (PCPI) participants will give you the chance to develop your skills and experience.

On successful completion of this mental health nursing course, you'll be eligible to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a registered mental health nurse.

Why us?

Our Nursing and Midwifery courses are in the UK top 30 for student satisfaction (Complete University Guide 2025)
Our Nursing courses are 1st in the North East for teaching quality (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, 2025)
Undertake a range of clinical placements by taking advantage of our strong links with regional NHS partner Trusts. Work on real-life cases in a real working environment in practices and community settings throughout the North East.
A nursing degree will make you highly employable and you can work anywhere in the world as your degree will be accepted both nationally and internationally
A distinctive partnership with 251 Medical Squadron, the local military base, provides our trainee mental health nurses with innovative experiences to develop leadership and collaborative skills via simulated trauma days and team building events
The Mental Health Nursing degree has been developed in collaboration with two local NHS healthcare providers – Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Foundation Trust (CNTW), and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust (TEWV) – who've directly informed the content of the curriculum

Our Mental Health Nursing courses are 1st in the North East for teaching satisfaction (Guardian University Guide, 2025)
Benefit from superb, forward-thinking facilities; our Living Lab offers an interactive simulated environment and equipment where you can effectively apply your learning.
We have a unique relationship with our Patient, Carer and Public Involvement participants who actively support our courses. You'll have the chance to practise your learning on real patients and receive feedback to aid your development.
Have opportunities to collaborate in an interprofessional learning capacity with other healthcare courses including Pharmacy, Paramedic Science, and Medicine
The starting salary for mental health nurses in the NHS is band 5 and experienced senior nurses who've achieved additional qualifications can progress to band 8 and beyond
You'll be taught by expert practitioners with first-hand experience of nursing

Course structure

We use various methods of teaching on the BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing Practice course including:

Problem-based learning
Seminar groups and interactive workshop sessions
Inter-professional experiential learning
Consolidation sessions
The role of simulation in the development of competence
Webcasts
Clinical skills sessions
Patient and professional contact
Inter-professional learning
Self-directed study
The University of Sunderland Virtual Learning Environment
The Nurse Navigator System.

Assessment methods on this mental health nursing degree include written reports, essays, examinations, oral presentations, portfolios, clinical reflection diaries, competency logs, patient care plans, and case studies.

Spending time on clinical placements in a range of settings under the supervision of registered practitioners will give you the chance to practise what you learn in a real-life setting, giving you a taste of what to expect as a qualified nurse.

Course modules

Year 1 (national level 4):

Critical Enquiry for Nursing Practice (10 credits)

Develop the required skills for evidence-based practice in mental health nursing. Gain insight into engagement with learning styles, teaching methods and the assessment process. Practise using source materials for the purpose of referencing and citation.

Bio-psychosocial Principles of Health and Wellbeing (20 credits)

Learn through a systems-based approach to anatomy and physiology, psychology and microbiology using patient journeys as illustrations to enhance learning. Explore human health and wellbeing in the context of public health and symptoms of disease. Learn to communicate complex medical terminology to both colleagues and patients in an understandable manner. Develop your understanding of the physiological processes, anatomical and cognitive structures of the human body. Explore overarching themes in anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, and neurology.

Foundations of Mental Health Nursing Practice (30 credits)

Explore the core skills of mental health nursing and take a holistic view of the individual focusing on health promotion, comprehensive assessment and the application of evidence-based practice. Understand models of reflective practice to support professional development while building effective relationships with clients and others involved in the provision of healthcare. Focus on core elements that reflect the competence, professionalism and underpinning knowledge which characterise a high-quality nursing workforce. Gain psychomotor skills to perform essential nursing practice through interactive clinical sessions with PCPIs. Explore the consequences of negligence in a risk-free environment through simulated experience.

Practice Placement 1 (60 credits)

Apply theoretical components to clinical practice. Study models of reflective practice together with an overview of interprofessional working. Gain experience and insight into lived patient experience. Understand the importance of respecting an individual’s autonomy and right to make decisions about their own health and wellbeing.

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

Year 2 (national level 5):

Application of Evidence Based Practice for Nurses (20 credits)

Develop an understanding of the key issues related to healthcare practice informed by the best available evidence to support shared decision making. Gain critical appraisal skills and debate how best available evidence can be integrated into healthcare practice and policy. Debate the ethical issues that underpin best practice including consent and risk management. Use a range of research methods and explore their merits and appropriate use. Explore the nature of clinical judgment and research integration.

Holistic Nursing for Altered Physiology to Promote Wellbeing (40 credits)

Gain knowledge of major pathological and physiological changes in the human body, occurring as a result of common diseases and disease processes. Explore the manifestations, impacts and interventions of illness and disease. Build on your knowledge of physical and human sciences and explore altered pathological and physiological change. Use a range of teaching and learning strategies to explore the impact of these changes and define the implications for nursing practice. Study co-morbidity and medico pharmaceutical treatments and modalities in order to enhance wellbeing and recovery, within the context of ethical and professional frameworks.

Practice Placement 2 (60 credits)

Develop knowledge and the application of mental health nursing practice interventions to provide evidence-based, safe, and compassionate physical and psychological care. Effectively assess, plan and implement care and demonstrate a range of mental health nursing interventions. Develop skills and knowledge to formulate a nursing plan of care and undertake observations and clinical interventions with less direct supervision.

Year 3 (national level 6):

Dissertation (40 credits)

Explore the evidence base of mental health nursing practice and the range and hierarchy of evidence for particular healthcare issues. Select a particular area in your field of mental health nursing and develop your ability to make informed use of published research and other sources of evidence to apply findings to enhance your practice. Enable your production of an independent, negotiated project that analyses an aspect of your discipline.

Leadership and Interprofessional Learning (20 credits)

Develop your knowledge of self-awareness, improving healthcare and working with others. Gain an understanding of key leadership theories and models. Explore your application to healthcare and reflect on your personal strengths along with areas for development. Examine the role of service improvement techniques and consider roles and responsibilities of all professionals alongside the values of team work in interprofessional care. Explore carer and user perspectives in interprofessional care settings to illuminate personal experiences of interprofessional care. Study ethical issues in the context of interprofessional working to gain insight into challenges faced from a variety of viewpoints. Study the impact of information technology, healthcare informatics and issues in transcultural healthcare provision.

Practice Placement 3 (60 credits)

Develop your knowledge and application of mental health nursing to practice within a range of clinical settings. Study care provision across the human lifespan including the health and wellbeing continuum. Learn biological, psychological and sociological theory in the context of person-centred care. Focus on individuals with complex health needs with emphasis on the concept of co-morbidity and the implications for care this entails. Explore pharmacological principles and concordance.

More about BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing Practice at Sunderland

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Helen McArdle House is based on our City Campus and has benefitted from a multi-million pound investment in modern facilities in recent years.

Many of our healthcare courses are taught here, including Nursing, Paramedic Science, and Healthcare Sciences.

The building is made up of a variety of teaching and learning spaces, including mock hospital wards, OSCE suites, the Patient Diagnostic Suite, Mental Health and Wellbeing Suite, and seminar and IT classrooms.

A lot of academic staff offices are based here, with an open-door policy in place.

View our AccessAble accessibility guide for Helen McArdle House.
Helen McArdle House
The Living Lab boasts a unique immersive simulation room, that allows participants to experience a range of simulated scenarios in a safe environment. The space is designed to make scenarios feel as close to reality as possible, to enable students to practise their clinical skills safely. An adjacent debrief room allows groups to observe the scenario in the immersive suite through a live stream (projected onto TV screens) and provide peer feedback and group discussion following the completion of the scenario.

View our AccessAble accessibility guide for Fleming Building.
Immersive Suite
Immersive Suite 360
The University boasts a collection of more than 430,000 books in total, with many more titles available through the inter-library loan service. There are nearly 9,000 journal titles, mostly in electronic format. Each year the University invests around £1 million in new resources. As a student, you will have access to a huge range of online databases such as:

British National Formulary:
Compiled with the advice of clinical experts, the British National Formulary (BNF) provides up-to-date guidance on prescribing, dispensing and administering medicines.

The British Pharmacopoeia:
The British Pharmacopoeia (BP) is the authoritative collection of quality standards for UK medicines and is an essential reference for anyone involved in pharmaceutical R&D, manufacture, testing and regulation.

CINAHL:
CINAHL with Full Text is the world’s most comprehensive source of full text for nursing and allied health journals, providing full text for more than 600 journals indexed in CINAHL.

The Cochrane Library:
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making.

PubMed Central:
PubMed Central is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 25 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles and includes links to full text articles and other related resources.

ScienceDirect:
ScienceDirect is a leading full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters covering physical sciences, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities.
Library Services - pharmacy, health and wellbeing
The Mental Health Ward is designed to feel like a real Mental Health Ward, with bedrooms, a day room, seclusion room and treatment room, and is suitable to run a range of mental health scenarios.

View our AccessAble accessibility guides for Helen McArdle House.
Mental Health Ward
Mental Health Ward 360
Mock Hospital Ward 360
OSCE Suite 360
There are a range of simulation manikins used across most of our healthcare courses, giving you the opportunity to apply your training in a realistic, yet safe, setting.

Our manikins range from various SimMan patient simulators (SimMan 3G, SimMan ALS, Sim Junior and Sim Baby to name a few) to CAE Apollo and Caesar manikins, to anatomically realistic SimBodies and lower-fidelity simulation manikins.

SimMan and Apollo manikins can demonstrate realistic physiological behaviour, including blood pressure, a pulse, drug recognition technology (in SimMan 3G), and each model can be pre-programmed with various medical scenarios.
Simulation Technology
The John Dawson Sciences Complex is based on our City Campus. It has benefitted from a multi-million-pound investment in modern facilities in recent years and continues to develop as our health sciences offer grows.

It is the central hub for many of our health sciences courses and is made up of a variety of teaching and learning spaces, including labs, problem-based learning classrooms, and facilities that encourage interprofessional learning. A lot of academic staff offices are based here, with an open-door policy in place.
The John Dawson Sciences Complex
Map and directions

Facilities

The University of Sunderland offers modern and well-equipped facilities at The John Dawson Sciences Complex.

Entry requirements

Our typical offer is:

Qualification	Minimum grade
High School Diploma along with one of the following at the required grade: SAT I and SAT II, ACT or Advanced Placement	GPA 3.0 or above and: Sat score of 1100/1600 from SATs AP (Grades 3+ in at least 2 subjects) ACT (score of 26+)

If you don't meet our standard entry requirements, you can take one of the foundation pathways at our partners ONCAMPUS Sunderland. Find out more information and whether your course is eligible on our ONCAMPUS page.

If your qualification is not listed above, please contact the Student Administration team at studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk for further advice.

Please note, we don't accept General Studies AS or A Level and you must show evidence of recent academic study within the last five years at entry level.

Our admissions policy uses a range of flexible options to support you to study with us. This may include a reduced offer of up to 16 UCAS tariff points, (or equivalent). Find out if you are eligible.

We also require GCSE mathematics and English language or equivalent at grade C or above, or maths and English language functional skills level 2. If you've studied for a GCSE which has a numerical grade, you'll need to achieve a grade 4 or above.

Your completed application form will be reviewed by our Admissions team to ensure that you have the required entry qualifications. If you meet these requirements, your application will be individually assessed by the Mental Health Nursing Practice Admissions Tutor and, if successful, you'll be shortlisted for interview.

The selection process will include a multiple mini interview (MMI), which will assess you on your values, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL)

This is available to applicants who meet the course-specific APL requirements. It may apply to applicants who wish to transfer their NMC-approved nursing studies from another university where they've achieved 120 credits at Level 4 and a minimum of 675 placement hours. The APL entry route is also available to Nursing Associates who are aiming to become a registered nurse.

If you're interested in the APL route, please contact the nursing admissions tutors for further information by emailing nursing.admissions@sunderland.ac.uk.

Fitness to practise

Medical assessments of your mental and physical health and disclosure of criminal convictions apply to all nursing courses and are based on current NMC requirements. Nurses are registered healthcare professionals and the ability to practise safely, effectively, and professionally is essential, so all applicants are required to follow our fitness to practise procedures. This means you're required to complete the following:

A health declaration form. Here, you must demonstrate that you're of good health, good character, and can satisfactorily pass occupational health screening. In addition, you'll be required to attend an Occupational Health Assessment with an NHS Trust. The University will, taking into account current NMC regulations, make any reasonable adjustments if required. Please refer to the HEOPS nursing student fitness standards.
A self-declaration form about your conduct
Obtain an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. The cost of the DBS check is covered by the University.

Instructions on how you complete these checks will be sent to you once you hold a conditional firm offer with us. These forms are then reviewed alongside your application, and you must meet both the academic and fitness to practise requirements before you'll be given an unconditional offer. If you're successful, you'll also need to complete an annual declaration form to confirm you're fit and there are no changes to your DBS.

We require international applicants to meet the equivalent UK entry requirements and IELTS with a minimum of 6.5 in each element with an overall score of 7. To be eligible for an interview, you must currently have attained an overall IELTS score of at least 7 with 6.5 in each element.

Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.

Fees and finance

The annual, full-time fee for this course is:

£9,535 if you are from the UK*/Europe
£16,500 if you are an international student

*Undergraduate fees are set according to rules from Government in line with forecast inflation. The fee for your first year of study for 2025/26 will be £9,535. You will pay tuition fees for every year of study. Fees may increase every year based on the Retail Price Index.

Read more about EU fees and funding in our Help and Advice article.

A non-repayable grant of £5,000 and extra payments worth up to £3,000 is available to eligible home students for each year of study. Read more about the Training Grant on The NHS Business Services Authority website.

If you currently serve (or have recently served) within the Armed Forces, then the Ministry of Defence's ELCAS scheme may be able to help cover your funding for this course. Read more about funding for Armed Forces personnel.

Take a look at the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

Career ready

Nursing degrees make you highly employable, and job opportunities are flexible both within the NHS and community settings, and in the UK and overseas. Successful completion of this mental health nursing course will enable you to apply for graduate jobs available within the NHS, voluntary, and private sector services in the UK.

Find out more about where a career in nursing could take you.

Mental health nursing jobs

One in four adults will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives and you could be part of the next workforce making an impact. Mental health nurses are the largest professional group, providing care in a variety of settings. As key workers, mental health nurses work in a range of complex and rewarding roles in hospitals, GP surgeries, prisons, schools, or within patients' homes. There's also the option to work in private healthcare or for mental health charities, as well as in the armed forces.

Upon qualifying with your mental health nursing degree, and should you work for the NHS, you'd start at band 5 with a salary of £29,970. You'd then have the opportunity for career progression to more advanced roles such as an Approved Clinician, which can sit within bands 8b/8c, with the potential of earning a salary of £62,215 or £74,290.

Placements

At all levels of this mental health nursing course, you'll undertake unpaid clinical placements in hospitals and the community. These occur in blocks of varying duration:

Year 1 – two nine week long placement blocks (18 weeks in total)
Year 2 – three seven week long placement blocks (21 weeks in total)
Year 3 – two blocks, which are nine and 16 weeks long (25 weeks in total).

Your first placement will take place in the first term, after ten weeks of teaching.

Placements can take place at any of our partner trusts: Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Foundation Trust, and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust.

During your mental health nursing placements, you'll be assigned Practice Assessors and Practice Supervisors who will directly assess and supervise you, as well as act as a means of support and guidance.

As you may be expected to travel long distances, start your shift in the early hours, or finish your shift late at night, you could be entitled to Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE) which allows you to make a retrospective claim for excess travel costs and/or expenses for temporary accommodation near to the location of your placement. Find out more about the NHS Learning Support Fund.

Meet the students

The staff are some of the most well-educated people I have had the privilege of learning from.

Adam Bell
Studying has been hard work, but I've had fun, learned a lot, and made memories I'll never forget.

Jack Watson
The lecturers are knowledgeable about their course and they're always there to help.

Jonathon Swales
The support and encouragement that you get from staff is second to none.

Nichola Laidler

Nursing FAQs

Do I need work experience?
We appreciate that it is not possible to obtain work experience in the health or caring environment. As an alternative we would recommend that you investigate the field of nursing you are interested in through online resources, professional body websites and healthcare organisations so you can demonstrate a clear understanding of the role.

What should I include in my personal statement?
Your personal statement provides a unique opportunity to express your personal qualities and attributes related to a rewarding career in nursing. The statement should include a clear articulation of:

Rationale for your choice of career
How your personality lends itself to a career as a nurse
Evidence of investigation of nursing as a career that demonstrates insight of the role
What attracts you to the profession
Personal qualities and transferable skills that may contribute to success in the course and profession
What sports/activities you enjoy and what skills you have developed

For more advice on your personal statement please read our article on how to write a personal statement when you have no work experience.

What does a nursing interview involve?
Our interviews consist of an individual interview and group activity. For advice on how to prepare, please read our article on how to prepare for interviews for healthcare degrees. Interviews start in late November and will run until the summer.

How many weeks holiday is there each year?
You will have seven weeks of holiday per year, with two weeks off at Christmas. The remaining five weeks is spread across the rest of the academic year. The timings of the holidays will vary over the three years and we do try, where possible, to align some of these to the school holidays. You are unable to take holiday outside of these set times, but you will be provided with a three year plan on enrolment.

How far will I have to travel for my placements?
As part of the interview process, you'll be asked to rank your preferred Trusts, and your Trust will be confirmed once you start the course. Please note it is not possible to guarantee your first choice. We would recommend that prior to your interview, you consider your preferred Trust. All your placements will then take place in various locations within that trust so the travel distance will vary.

How long are the placement shifts?
Your standard working week will be around 37.5 hours on a shift pattern which can include nights, early starts, evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Shifts can be anywhere between 7-12 hours and the pattern can vary between trusts. Your shifts will be confirmed four weeks prior to starting your placement. It's not possible to fit placements around school hours and holidays.

Related courses

Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

View Programme Specifications for the Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing.

Page last updated: 17 January 2025

We aim to provide clear, accurate and timely information to prospective and current students. We continuously review and enhance course content in consultation with our students and the information provided on our website is the latest available. If you have received an offer from us to start a course, we will communicate any important changes to you in writing. We will always seek to ensure that our prospective students are fully aware of the basis on which they are accepting an offer.