Empowering mental health nurses: how psychosocial interventions are changing practice

For mental health nurses, psychosocial interventions (PSI) aren’t just helpful – they can be an essential tool to improve patient outcomes.

But what exactly are they? And how is the RCN helping nurses put them into practice?

“PSI is a collaborative approach of working with patients and their families (or social network) to support identifying psychological and social aspects of mental health,” says Jo May, an associate nurse consultant in PSI.

“Through understanding this, coping strategies can be developed, using evidence-based practice which supports recovery and improves quality of life.”

Jo’s journey into mental health nursing began more than 20 years ago at Broadmoor, where she started as a health care assistant.

“Working with the patients there ignited my passion to complete my nurse training, to enhance the support I could provide,” she says.

Since then, she’s worked in community mental health, children’s services and as a dual diagnosis nurse.

For the last decade she’s been involved in early psychosis intervention and is one of the facilitators of the RCN’s PSI programme, an 18-day course spread over nine months that equips nurses with practical, evidence-based skills to support their patients.

PSI is at the heart of everything we should be doing as mental health nurses

Jo says the shift to degree-based nurse training in the early 2000s left a gap in specialist mental health education.

“While achieving parity of esteem between mental and physical health is vital, it’s unintentionally led to reduced prioritisation of specific mental health interventions.

“This course fills that gap and empowers nursing staff to lead within a specific framework.”

Clear pathways

With around 1.7 million people currently in the UK waiting for community-based therapy such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, PSI is a way to ensure people can receive help sooner, before reaching crisis point.

For nursing staff, it’s a way to build on their continuing professional development, using methods with proven positive results.

“PSI allows nurses to be confident in their setting, whether acute, schools, prisons or community,” says Jo.

If a patient is already under the care of a psychiatrist or psychologist, mental health nurses are an essential cog to oversee cases and manage risk.

With the right training, they’re able to intervene, providing comprehensive care for those who need it. 

Evidence-based framework

Launched in 2023 as a two-year pilot commissioned by NHS England, the RCN’s PSI course has already trained more than 150 nurses across several NHS trusts.

Delivered through a mix of face-to-face and online learning, the RCN plans to continue the training, expanding it to those who work in other settings such as independent health and social care, schools and prisons.

We can give nurses the tools to work with families

The course isn’t a replacement for traditional psychological therapy or psychiatric treatments, but a way for mental health nurses to use standardised pragmatic frameworks and interventions, wherever and whenever a patient requires support.

These skills pave the way and bridge the gap while they wait, often in long queues, for formal clinic-based therapy.

“The earlier nurses can intervene with therapies if a patient presents with a concern, the less likely the chance someone will go into crisis,” says Jo.

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“As nursing staff, we’re not trained psychologists or social workers; we can’t fix everything in someone’s life,” says Jo. “But, we can give mental health nurses the tools to enable patients and their families to work together using evidence-based techniques such as embedding cognitive behavioural therapy approaches, motivational interviewing and other interventions to find solutions."