The Workbook Portfolio: facilitating undergraduate student learning in the mental health clinical area

Undergraduate nursing students are confronted with a multitude of challenges during their mental health clinical placements. Many of the required skills are dissimilar to other areas of nursing and students must also develop the cognitive skills that influence the behavioural ones. However, mental health and mental health nursing are influenced and determined by a complex, and sometimes contradictory, range of external influences. Such ambiguity can be confusing for even the most experienced practitioner, let alone an undergraduate student. This article describes the use of a model that has been developed to assist the student in tackling such complex issues. The Workbook Portfolio has identifiable components that encourage the development of reflective and analytical skills. Our article explains the workings of this model in a fashion that allows other educators to utilise it to benefit students in the mental health setting.