Mental health nursing students can avail of clinical placements at a charity which helps young people thanks to an initiative with the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).
The TUS Department of Nursing and Healthcare has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the youth mental health charity Jigsaw which is committed to advancing young people’s mental health.
Through its work, Jigsaw develops supportive communities by providing a range of free early intervention primary care services and supports.
This MOU allows for TUS students doing the BSc (Hons) in Mental Health Nursing to experience clinical placements in the charity’s Galway, Offaly and Roscommon branches.
Though the placements, the students will become involved in community-based programmes aimed at better informing, supporting, educating and empowering young people and those around them, in places where they live, learn, work and play.
At the signing of the MOU, Anne Cooney, Clinical Allocations Manager, Department of Nursing and Healthcare, TUS, stressed the importance of the new relationship.
She said: “With a growing intake of mental health nursing students coming into TUS, it is only fitting that we are able to also increase the offering we[ can provide in terms of clinical placements. We are exciting to cement our relationship with Jigsaw and to see our students benefit from the excellent work carried out by the charity.”
Vanessa Dowling, Regional Clinical Manager, Jigsaw, stressed the importance of the collaboration with TUS and said it will expose students to the range of activities within a primary care setting, such as providing free therapy to young people aged 12 to 25.
Tonya Phillips, Lecturer, Mental Health Nursing, at TUS, highlighted the importance in increasing clinical placement in community settings.
Tonya Phillips said: “This community-based clinical placement will facilitate significant learning opportunities for students in developing their knowledge and skills through exposure to transdisciplinary co-produced approaches, which is in the spirit of the core principles of Sláintecare: the right care, at the right place, at the right time.”
Eoghan Mac Domhnaill, Service Manager, Jigsaw, said the students will also be exposed to Jigsaw’s comprehensive youth mental health programmes that are offered across communities and schools.