Celebrating Mental Health Nurses Day
Date added: 21 February 2024
“Helping people on their individual roads to recovery and to live happy and healthy lives in the community” – the words of KMPT Community Psychiatric nurse Kelly McCone on remembering why she wanted to be a mental health nurse.
This Mental Health Nurses Day, we are joining the nation to celebrate the work of this group of healthcare professionals and promote his unique, remarkable and impactful profession.
A member of Thanet Community Mental Health Team, Kelly began working with the Trust in 2000, as a trainee mental health nurse on Sevenscore Ward. Mother of two, Kelly cared for older people with dementia before nursing younger adults and then transferring to community nursing.
With her transferable skills and a wealth of experience, Kelly was thrilled when the Trust facilitated her taking a degree in Applied Health on a part-time basis while on maternity leave in 2013.
Reflecting on her vocation, Kelly credits not only KMPT for supporting her continuous professional development but also, and most importantly, her colleagues from both in-patient and community settings. Learning, sharing and teaching clinical and life skills with colleagues and service users continues to be a particular source of pride and personal and professional fulfilment.
The rewards and challenges of being a mental health nurse have a common theme for Kelly: the responsibility of caring for people. Being an integral part of a person’s recovery can be as tough as it is fulfilling. Sometimes, like all nurses and health care professionals, Kelly can’t help but think about some of our most vulnerable and unwell service users before and after a shift. However, this admirable quality is surpassed by the elation she feels when they start to get better and can be supported to live independently in the community.
Kelly’s favourite memory from working at KMPT is when a 10-strong Woodchurch Ward team organised and took part in a sponsored walk to raise funds to buy more plants and boost facilities in a new ward garden. Despite scorching temperatures, the contingent trekked the coastal path from Margate to Herne Bay and collected almost £1,000. Staff and service users alike benefitted from spending time in a garden they created together.
As Kelly looks forward to continuing her career at KMPT, we are #KMPTProud of her, and to support Mental Health Nurses Day. As a trust, we are committed to promoting working in mental health as a fantastic career choice for people of all ages and backgrounds who can help us make every day a better day for our service users, staff and communities.
