Supporting mental wellbeing

Mental health problems are estimated to be experienced by 1 in 4 of the UK population (House of Commons Library, 2018). Although these range from mild to severe, it is concerning that there are 4500 suicides in England each year; this is the leading cause of death in young people, as highlighted when the first cross-government suicide prevention plan was launched in January (Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), 2019a). Mental health and wellbeing are of particular interest to those involved with pre-registration nurse education because of increasing levels of mental ill-health in student populations generally (Universities UK, 2015; 2019) and in healthcare students in particular. The NHS Staff and Learners' Mental Wellbeing Commission has just published a comprehensive report that makes recommendations to better support undergraduate healthcare students (Health Education England (HEE), 2019).