Caring for Minds: Nurses at the Heart of Mental Health
Mental health matters to all of us. With over one billion people worldwide living with a mental health condition, it's clear this is one of the defining health challenges of our time. Mental health conditions affect people across every age, background, and income level, no one is immune.
In Australia, one in five Australians live with a mental health condition, with only 3.4 million seeking professional help. And, the support system is under pressure. A 2023 report from the National Mental Health Commission revealed a 32 percent workforce shortage, with just 97 mental health nurses per 100,000 people.
Despite these challenges, mental health nurses continue to show up, in hospitals, schools, prisons, aged care and beyond, making a profound difference in people’s lives. In 2023, over 26,000 nurses worked in mental health settings across Australia, bringing compassion, and expertise to the front lines.
At the centre of the Monash Nursing and Midwifery’s mental health nursing specialisation are mental health nurse academics who bring diverse, real-world experience into the classroom.
Senior Lecturer Dr Brent Hayward’s path into mental health nursing wasn’t planned; it was the last spot in a graduate program, and he took it. That chance decision sparked a career defined by purpose and impact. He began working in adult acute mental health, then moved into community outreach, supporting people experiencing homelessness and young people navigating early psychosis.
His deep commitment to inclusion led him to work in a state-wide mental health service for individuals with intellectual disabilities. From there, he stepped into government, helping regulate disability services within the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.
Brent later joined the Department of Education, where he helped shape schoolwide positive behaviour support systems. At the same time, he continued to provide frontline care as a nurse in a school for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a testament to his hands-on dedication and belief in achieving better outcomes for children.
“Don’t listen to people who say mental health is not real nursing,” he said. “We’re skilled at managing situations that evolve quickly, not just medical situations, but situations where you don’t know what the person is going to say or do next. Mental health nurses aim to keep things calm, find solutions and empower people to take action themselves. It is important to remember that humans have emotions; they’re normal and can sometimes overwhelm people.”
Deputy Director of Education (Quality) Alison Hansen’s journey into mental health nursing began at the powerful crossroad of justice and care - forensic mental health. She spent the early part of her career working with women in a high-secure hospital, many of whom faced complex challenges involving serious mental illness and offending behaviours. With compassion and determination, Alison played a vital role in supporting their recovery and rehabilitation, helping them rebuild their lives with dignity and hope. Her career spans a range of clinical roles, including serving as an Implementation Officer for the Mental Health Act (2014), where she helped shape the delivery and understanding of mental health care.
Alison believes mental health nurses have a vital role to play in contributing to reducing the stigma around mental illness “Mental health nurses have a massive role in reducing stigma and educating others about mental illness and related experiences,” she said. “Language is critical, and can have a huge impact on perpetuating stigma. Using the correct language when referring to people and their experiences helps reduce stigma and its perpetuation. We can be the best advocates and a voice for people when there may be times that their voice is not being heard.”
Lecturer Sam Scott’s passion for mental health nursing was sparked while working with older adults as a nurse. She saw first-hand the gaps in care and was driven to find better ways to meet their mental health needs and completed a Graduate Diploma in Nursing, specialising in mental health. Drawn to the holistic and person-centred nature of mental health nursing, she embraced the opportunity to move beyond the traditional medical model and explore more meaningful, human ways to support wellbeing. Her focus remains on older adults, a population Sam continues to advocate for with empathy, expertise, and unwavering commitment.
“I’ve sometimes seen my colleagues find it challenging to work with people with mental health issues, especially if they haven’t had the right training,” she said. “As mental health nurses, we can contribute to reducing mental health stigma by sharing stories of our experiences and challenging and educating our colleagues when needed.”
The School’s Master of Advanced Clinical Nursing offers registered nurses the chance to develop advanced and specialist knowledge of working with people with mental illness, as well as advance to more senior professional roles. Taught by academic staff like Brent, Alison and Sam, students benefit from their knowledge, insights and skills in supporting recovery, addressing stigma, and discrimination. Students reflect on mental health nursing identity and leadership, learn advanced assessment and safety planning and person-centred approaches to mental and physical health support.
Whilst a stand alone mental health unit is not a specific requirement of accredited undergraduate nursing programs in Australia, Monash Nursing and Midwifery offers their students a dedicated undergraduate unit in mental health.This year nearly 50 Monash Nursing and Midwifery graduates obtained jobs in mental health services.
Postgraduate mental health nursing scholarships are available to eligible Victorian nurses working in public mental health and wellbeing services. The scholarship can be used to fund postgraduate mental health nursing study at Monash University.
Mental health nurse and alumna Zoe said that she loved studying the mental health unit. “The simulated learning opportunities were fun and valuable, not as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be, and helped improve my clinical practice”
World Mental Health Day, we stand together to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and champion the essential role of mental health nurses. Discover more about the Master of Advanced Clinical Nursing.
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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