Examining current challenges and future potential in mental health nurse education

Debates around mental health nursing practice and mental health nurse education have been ongoing for more than 30 years and have intensified since the publication of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s standards of proficiency and standards for preregistration education. This article discusses concerns regarding increasingly generic nursing curricula in higher education and the harmful effects of genericism on the education of future mental health nurses – and consequently on mental health practice. The authors argue that growing genericism will result in a reduction in the scope and effectiveness of what nurses can bring to service users. They call for educators, practitioners and regulators to develop mental health nursing curricula that will enable students to develop the mental health nursing skills required to support service users on their journey to recovery.