2016 To Date.

                                        2016 so far at University...

Good evening! I hope your day has been good, for me I have had a day of slowing down and doing nothing. It was spent in the garden sunbathing... little to my knowledge I was burning... I am now red and just why do I never tan?!?!?! struggles. Anyway, I wanted to share a bit about my year of 2016 being a student mental health nurse.

The year started of being on placement, which I absolutely loved. This was a complete new experience for me as I had never worked on a mental health elderly ward before. I absolutely loved it, I learnt so so so much, more than I thought I would have done. I was tired and exhausted from the long hours but the work and progress I was making, and seeing others make progress makes it all worth it.

I then went back to university for a little while where I sat through numerous lectures wishing I was back out on placement. I did enjoy uni, it was good to catch up with everyone and see how far people had come. My anxiety had settled down a lot by then and only had a few set back in some sessions that were mentally and emotionally challenging for me. However with support from both lectures and peers I managed to get through them.

A few weeks after Easter I then went back onto placement. This was the big one, a real eye opener for me. I was on a mental health acute ward. (Currently still on this ward) I absolutely love it, I know I said that about my first one but this one is so much more challenging and fast paced its unreal. Being a student mental health nurse is challenging within itself. Being able to build a wall and develop strategies and ways of coping with the stress and sometimes verbal abuse is a hard thing to do. I have certainly struggled with it to this date, but over the next three years I'm sure that this will soon come to me. If anyone else out there is a nurse, its one of the most rewarding jobs, agree? Seeing patients getting better and being discharged by some of the work you do... its an amazing feeling.

During the time at placement I handed in an assignment and did an exam so in a month or so I should get the results back and boy am I nervous! My first year of university is almost over (6 more weeks!)

To anyone else there out in university doing exams or waiting for the results... good luck! You will do absolutely fine, if you've put the work in those grades will come to you... believe in yourself!

I know that this was a really quick summary of my 2016 start based around university. If you would like a more depth post on mental health nursing from a students point of view let me know, also anything about mental health (I will do my best to answer), please leave you comments and questions below because I feel like its important to talk about!

Thank you all for reading, see you all very soon.

Love
Chloe x