Forensic Nursing

Forensic mental health nurses have been integral in the delivery of care within the NFMHS since their introduction to the service in 1992. Nurses are required to be registered or eligible to be registered as registered psychiatric nurses (RPN) with the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland under the Nurses & Midwifery Act 2011 (NMBI). 

As a RPN you will be asked to care for individuals with complex mental health needs to promote their wellbeing & physical health and to enable the individual to understand their mental health conditions & harmful behaviour. Your role is essential in working with the patient to facilitate their learning how to manage their symptoms & risk and be aware of what can exacerbate their mental health condition. Your role will include developing a therapeutic engagement with the individual & their family along the continuum of their referral to the NFMHS, their admission and after their discharge to the community.

The role is varied and interesting and the RPN will require a range of skills such as mental health promotion & prevention, mental health assessment and interventions, medication management, advocacy and primary health care. In addition the service needs RPNs with specialist or advanced knowledge of areas such as counseling, psychosocial skills, offending behaviour, addiction, vocational & education and psychotherapy.

Every patient is provided a named nurse and associate nurse who will deliver a cognitive-behavioural psycho-social assessment & intervention package including social problem-solving, structured approaches to risk assessment and management and coping strategies.

The NFMHS is a specialist placement for the BSc Psychiatric Nursing and HDip in Mental Health Nursing. We have a centre for nurse education in conjunction with the HSE Office of Nursing & Midwifery Service Development and collaborate with TCD in the delivery of an MSc in Forensic Mental Health. We have an active induction, continued professional development and research portfolio.