By Zsa-Zsa Bowie Wilson<\/p>\n
Working in mental health is often a far cry from what people expect, says Queensland nurse Todd Bagshaw. <\/p>\n
"One in five people deal with a mental illness at some point in their life so the reality is you’re dealing with normal people," he explains. <\/p>\n
Todd, who has been a nurse for 20 years, has spent the last 15 years working at the mental health unit at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane.<\/p>\n
"I really enjoy the people contact and making a situation for someone more tolerable or getting another person though the recovery process and seeing them later on living well and successfully – it’s rewarding." <\/p>\n
A typical day for Todd kicks off with him doing a round of the hospital followed by seeing patients who have been referred to the unit by their GP or other doctors. <\/p>\n
This morning he has just assessed a lady with depression and worked out with the team of psychiatrists how they can help her best.<\/p>\n
"Some patients come in for a short time and go back to community treatment with their GP and a psychiatrist. Long term patients may need psychiatric intensive care and then move to the community care ward where they can be rehabbed to go back into the community."<\/p>\n
Todd decided to specialise in mental health while nursing at The Royal Adelaide Hospital in South Australia.<\/p>\n
"I was working in emergency, during a time when a lot of psychiatric areas were closing, and we didn’t know how to look after the psych patients who were coming in."<\/p>\n
He moved to Glenside hospital to specialise in psychiatry before relocating to Queensland to take up a role in the mental health unit at The Prince Charles Hospital.<\/p>\n
"As a mental health nurse you need to have a good understanding of psychiatry, medication and counselling skills. You also need to remain calm at all times and be a good communicator and listener as psychiatry is all about finding out how people think," he explained.<\/p>\n
"A great deal of common sense is also important. You need to pull out the issues without making things too complicated."<\/p>\n
The Prince Charles hospital is holding a mental health careers and information session on the 19th June at the Kedron-Wavell services club in Chermside, Brisbane. For more information call 07 3139 4920<\/p>\n
CareerOne.com.au<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Zsa-Zsa Bowie Wilson Working in mental health is often a far cry from what people expect, says Queensland nurse Todd Bagshaw. "One in five people deal with a mental illness at some point in their life so the reality is you’re dealing with normal people," he explains. Todd, who has been a nurse for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n