Mental health nursing
I worked as a manager within finance for ten years before I became a mental health nurse. Throughout that time, I always had a second job in social care. When I was pregnant with my little boy, I decided I wanted something more stable so I looked at what I could use my skills for. Because I’ve always loved working with people and had the experience of being a support worker, I decided to pursue becoming a mental health nurse.
I went back to university and qualified in 2023. Initially I wanted to work in community, but I did a placement in the Iris ward, where I now work, and completely fell in love with the team and the way they cared for patients. The experience inspired me to go into inpatient settings, so when they offered me a job I jumped at the chance.
The research bug
I’ve always been good at connecting with people, understanding the deeper levels of what they are saying and spotting and solving problems. But I never connected these skills to research and couldn’t see myself as a researcher.
During university that changed. I was president of the Mental Health Society, and we created a forum for nurses to understand the different routes within nursing, one of those being research. We arranged for nursing researchers to visit and give presentations on their projects and their research journeys. Listening to those presentations is how I got a bit of a bug about research, and I started to wonder how I could be a part of that.
It was difficult because there isn’t a clear pathway for a mental health nurse to go into research. We don't have a research placement when we're studying, so we don't get that exposure. But once you see like-minded people break down those barriers, they inspire you to do the same. The nursing research presentations opened that door for me, and I thought, ‘I can do that, but I don’t know how yet.’
Getting involved
The only way I could figure out how to get involved in research was through networking and I was very lucky to find a mentor like Dr Oladayo Bifarin, Research Effectiveness Lead at Mersey Care. I met him through the Mental Health Society at university. I collaborated with him on a few projects where I helped with administrative work and collated data.
When I started working at the Trust, I continued to help researchers in whatever way I could, including accessing data, interviewing and setting up meetings. While I didn’t have a formal education into methodologies or ethics, I learned so much about research though simply asking to help.
I was empowered by being told that you don't have to be the person who does the writing. You can be the person who engages with the participants, who organises interviews or creates networks. To be involved in research you don’t have to do every part of it.
People often think research is this big, overwhelming thing, but when you break it down, all of us can take part in one way or another.
The Research Development programme
Oladayo continued guiding me through my research journey and involved me in Count Me In. This aims to widen service user and carer participation in research, and I became a Count Me In champion.
He also introduced me to the Nursing, Midwives and Allied Health Professions Research and Innovation Forum where I learned about different funding schemes, including the Research Development Programme which I applied for and happily got accepted!
The programme starts in October 2025 and will give me the fundamentals of research. I will explore potential improvements within my field such as self-harm pathways, ward culture and diversity.
Nurses’ role in research
My long-term research goal is to showcase the benefits of nurses having hybrid roles including clinical work and research. I love working in a clinical setting and I don't want to go into a role that isn’t patient facing, but I still want to pursue research. Nurses are so often burnt out and not able to follow their passions and I think making research more accessible to them would be hugely beneficial.
Being face to face with patients is vital for research. You need to see what’s going on to make real improvements and that’s why nurses getting involved in research is so important. We are the eyes and ears of the NHS and understand what needs to be changed, but it’s very difficult to make those changes if you’re not included in things like research.
My advice to anyone hoping to get involved in research is reach out. Speak to your research development team, ask for contacts that can give advice and guidance. I’m a research champion so a lot of people come to me. It’s important to have someone there to be an advocate and point people in the right direction. Many nurses won’t have time to read about opportunities, so being able to have a quick chat with someone is so helpful.
Everybody has ideas of improvement, and everybody can be a researcher. We all do it already as part of our job, we all engage with people and try to solve problems so it's just taking that next step.
Find out more about getting started in research by completing the e-learning module ‘Making space for research’.
