Mental Health Nurse

The Mental Health Nurse is responsible for assessment, nursing diagnosis, development and implementation of a care plan, and evaluation of mental health nursing care. The Mental Health Nurse will provide crisis intervention and counselling and life skills programming to clients in the mental health clinic.  The Mental Health Nurse will act as a member of health care team working in the Mental Health Service Delivery, which includes: Psycho Social Services (PSS), Mental Health Services (MHS) or the Operational Trauma Stress and Support Centers (OTSSC).  The Mental Health Nurse will receive clients through self-referrals, referrals from other health care providers, or referrals from clients’ family, friends or supervisor.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Follow all applicable Health Information and Records Management documentation standards
• May be required to travel or perform some tasks via tele-health, audio or video conferencing
• May be required to participate in or present at a working group, committee, board or attend court proceedings
• Must operate within a collaborative practice and interdisciplinary care environment that supports continuity of care
• May be required, on occasion, to provide clinical preceptorship to approved trainees and or Clinical Supervision of Unlicensed HCPs
• Will participate in quality assurance and quality improvement activities as members of the clinical community including, but not limited to, clinical audits, peer review, chart audits, morbidity and mortality rounds, utilization reviews
• May be required, on occasion, to deliver instruction in an area of expertise to support teaching activities that the Department has initiated or agreed to support
• May be required, on occasion, to support research activities that the Department has initiated or agreed to support
• Participate in ongoing internal and/or external continuing education activities
• Participate in quality activities and continuous improvement initiatives
• Participates in proactive Health & Safety activities while performing all duties.
• Maintains confidentiality of client and corporate information

TASKS

The required tasks include the following:

• Perform within the defined scope of practice in accordance with the regulatory organization in the province of work;
• Conduct bio-psychosocial assessments;
• Develop individualized treatment plans with the patient;
• Provide direct client care and interventions based on the prescribed treatment plan consistent with psychiatric illness and diagnosis in the diagnostic and statistics manual of mental health disorders version V (DSM-V);
• Monitor client progress and evaluate the treatment plan; revise the treatment plan based on the clients’ progress;
• Provide supportive counselling that is evidence-based and corresponds with professional best practices such as cognitive behavioral therapy, solution focused therapy, strengths perspectives, and motivational therapy;
• Teach relaxation training, as well as, stress and anger management to individuals and groups;
• Provide support and health education for members, their support networks and others associated with their care;
• Monitor medications for therapeutic responses and provide client education on medications including purpose, proper administration, intended effects and side effects;
• Provide brief interventions to clients in acute distress and ensure the client has full access to internal and external health care services;
• Participate in inter-disciplinary team meetings related to clinical care and service delivery by presenting clients’ case and providing status updates;
• Perform all administrative tasks associated with delivery of clinical care such as scheduling appointments, identifying resources, and arranging case conferences;
• Document client interactions in the information system and personal health records in accordance with relevant health services policies and standards and with the provincial regulatory organization’s standards of practice for nurses related to documentation;
• Provide recommendations to the client’s primary care provider on employment limitations based on the clinical interpretation of the client’s health status;
• Communicate and liaise with other health care professionals and service agencies;
• Design or revise PowerPoint presentations for psycho-educational sessions such as anger or stress management and relaxation;
• Distribute local outreach material such as mental health awareness materiel; and other associated tasks relevant to this occupational group

QUALIFICATIONS

Registered Nurse Diploma or Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing from a recognized college or university with either a certificate in Mental Health Nursing or certification in Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing from the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA);

Registered Nurse license from the provincial or territorial professional college or association in the province of practice; and a Certificate of Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Provider or equivalent such as Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation/Automated External Defibrillator (CPR/AED) Level C. Annual recertification is required.

The Mental Health Nurse must have, as a minimum, 3 years of experience within the last 5 years in nursing practice performing a variety of mental health nursing activities such as supportive psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, counselling, and crisis intervention or management in an adult community setting to clients suffering from mental illnesses or psycho-social difficulties.