Australia is expected to be 60 per cent shy of its mental health nurse requirements by 2030.
It is well-understood Australia’s healthcare system is facing a significant, ongoing staffing shortage – which is deepening for workers with experience in treating mental health issues.
The recent National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing found an estimated one in five (21 per cent) Australians aged 16–85 had experienced a mental disorder in the previous 12 months, and 44 per cent had experienced a mental disorder during their lifetime.
This places high demand on Australia’s mental health nurses – a burden set to grow heavier in the coming years with the Department of Health estimating Australia’s mental health nursing workforce will be 60 per cent short of requirements by 2030.
To help address this, Edith Cowan University (ECU) offers several postgraduate mental health courses to best equip nurses and midwives with the skills and experience needed to negotiate the often-complex mental health challenges faced in their workplace.
This includes a Graduate Diploma of Mental Health (Nursing), which the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (ACMHN) recently awarded full accreditation for the next five years.
The ACMHN uses a meticulous accreditation process to ensure education providers meet the standards for the profession and the criteria required in the national framework.
It makes ECU one of just four Australian universities – and the only Western Australian university – to offer an ACMHN-accredited course.
ECU School of Nursing and Midwifery Executive Dean Professor Karen Strickland said the program provided healthcare professionals with contemporary and evidence-based approaches to delivering mental health nursing care.
"Our students gain an appreciation of the historical context of mental health care and develop a range of assessment and intervention skills that can be applied in a variety of mental health settings," she said.
"They also have a choice of elective units offering the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in a range of specialised mental health care contexts.
"The key aspect of this course is it enables students to best support people with mental illness in the community, which we know will be a growing need in the years to come."
