Mental Health Nurses’ Day, celebrated on 21 February, encourages mental health nurses across the UK to raise awareness of their work and inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
Hephzibah Chinta trained as a nurse in India and lectured there for several years before moving to Chelmsford in 2022 as part of an international recruitment programme at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT).
In India, there is no undergraduate nursing degree specific to mental health but trainee nurses will instead work in a variety of settings. While on placement in a mental healthcare unit, Hephzibah was inspired to specialise in mental health nursing:
“It was an interaction with a patient that made me want to purse my career in mental health nursing. She was a challenging patient to work with, often rude to staff, which made me nervous as a student nurse.
“I made an effort to speak to her while attending to her needs. She didn’t engage initially, but as days passed we established a therapeutic relationship.
“One day she opened up about her strained family relationships and situation. I began to understand that she was not a difficult patient, but just needed someone to listen to her without judgement.
“My placement came to an end, and on my last day she was tearful and thanked me for the care and for listening to her.”
This experience shaped Hephzibah’s career path and approach to delivering care: “I learned that listening to someone can make a lot of difference in their life. What we do and how we show we care matters. It can be hard for someone to open up and sometimes people don’t know how to explain how they’re feeling. In mental health nursing, being a supportive listener makes all the difference.”
Hephzibah then went on to complete a masters’ degree in mental health nursing in India, before moving to Essex. EPUT’s International Recruitment team supported her throughout the process of moving and completing her qualifications to become both a Registered General Nurse and Mental Health Nurse in the UK.
She now works at the Christopher Unit, a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit in Chelmsford. Here, she provides intensive care for people who are experiencing a mental health crisis. Now 12 years in to her nursing career, Hephzibah has touched many more lives and continues to be passionate about mental health.
She said: “I enjoy seeing my patients overcome their barriers and recovering, which can be extremely rewarding. Offering care for people with mental health issues is sometimes challenging, but at the end of the day it gives me satisfaction and a sense of fulfilment.”
The difference Hephzibah makes has been noticed by colleagues and patients alike – in May 2023 she was named ‘International Nurse of the Year’, chosen from more than 200 international nurses across the Trust.
This Mental Health Nurses Day, Hephzibah encourages others to pursue a career in mental health nursing:
“Being a mental health nurse gives you the chance to make a difference. You get to provide care to people in need. It also offers a high degree of flexibility and a career with excellent employment prospects.
“Nursing is a noble profession, and being a mental health nurse is really great, unique and honourable.”
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