Nurse launches podcast to dispel fears about psychiatric hospitals

A newly qualified mental health nurse has given patients detained in psychiatric hospital a platform to share their experiences in a bid to challenge fears and misunderstanding amongst the public.

Mr Waldron told, he felt it was important to ensure the voice of patients were heard because there were still misconceptions that meant the public were “scared of people who are in hospital”.

He said he wanted to educate the general public that mental health hospitals did not consist of “straight-jackets” and “white coats” like some people still believed.

“Patients have got fantastic stories and a fantastic life history,” said Mr Waldron, who qualified in March this year and is employed by St Andrew's Healthcare.

“And so, I thought this was a way to give them a voice through podcasts.”

Mr Waldron first came up with the idea during his studies and decided to pitch it to his employer.

He had worked for St Andrew's Healthcare as a healthcare assistant for more than 10 years before being funded by the provider to train as a nurse.

During his nurse training, Mr Waldron said he would often hear case studies of patients or have lectures from former patients.

Whilst he found their stories inspiring, he said he thought it would be “more powerful” to hear from patients who were receiving treatment under the Mental Health Act and “living it now”.

While welcoming the increased awareness around “low-level” mental health illness, such as anxiety, Mr Waldron said he felt more needed to be done to tackle stigma around more complex conditions such as psychosis as well those who were 'sectioned'.

“I think there is great work being done out there with low-level mental health, but I don’t feel we’re delving as deep with conditions like psychosis,” said Mr Waldron.

“People switch off when you go into things like psychosis.