Course Title: Therapeutic Initiatives in Mental Health

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Therapeutic Initiatives in Mental Health

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

NURS2118

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

150H Health Sciences

Distance / Correspondence or Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013

NURS2118

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

150H Health Sciences

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015,
Sem 1 2016

NURS2118

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

173H School of Health and Biomed

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2017,
Sem 1 2018,
Sem 1 2019,
Sem 1 2020,
Sem 1 2021,
Sem 1 2022,
Sem 1 2023,
Sem 1 2024

Course Coordinator: Julie Waddingham

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925

Course Coordinator Email: julie.waddingham@rmit.edu.au


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Assumed Knowledge

To be eligible to undertake this course you must be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency as a Division One Registered Nurse.


Course Description

This course addresses the use of psychotherapeutic interventions within mental health settings and the delivery of trauma informed care. The course will equip you with advanced knowledge and skills to undertake counselling with individuals experiencing mental illness and their families. Particular attention will be given to the application of motivational interviewing principles when working with consumers experiencing difficulties with adherence to medication. The course will also examine the use of cognitive behavioural strategies with consumers experiencing various mental health disorders.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the development of the Program Learning Outcomes for GD158 Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing in the following way:

PLO 2: The Mental Health Nurse practices within a professional and ethical nursing framework.
PLO 3: The Mental Health Nurse develops a therapeutic relationship that is respectful of the individual’s choices, experiences and circumstances. This involves building on strengths, holding hope and enhancing resilience to promote recovery.
PLO 8: The Mental Health Nurse’s practice incorporates and reflects common law requirements, relevant statutes and the nursing profession’s code of conduct and ethics. The Mental Health Nurse integrates international, national, local and state policies and guidelines with professional Standards and competencies.


On successful completion of this course you should be able to:

  1. Explore the significance and advantages of utilising psychotherapeutic approaches within mental health as well as delivery of trauma informed care.
  2. Critically examine the use of motivational interviewing when working with people experiencing a mental illness. 
  3. Examine the use of various psychotherapeutic approaches when working with people and their families experiencing a mental illness.
  4. Evaluate the application of psychotherapy within mental health settings.  
  5.  Identify the role and the skills required by mental health nurses when providing psychotherapeutic interventions to consumers living with a mental illness. 


Overview of Learning Activities

Learning activities you will undertake during this course include a mixture of recorded lectures, online tutorials with class discussion and self-directed learning exercises including reading of academic literature and online learning materials.

The assessment items associated with this course will comprise formative and summative elements and incorporate a variety of assessment modes. Your formative assessment will take the form of a multiple-choice question quiz. The summative assessments will take the form of two written pieces of work requiring reflection and application on learning and practice undertaken during the course.


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course. 

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task 1: Participation in the Tutorials / Lectorials
Weighting 10%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 3, 4 & 5 

Assessment Task 2: Written Essay
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2 & 3 

Assessment Task 3: Written Essay
Weighting 50%
This assessment task supports CLOs 3, 4 & 5 

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.