Behavioural psychotherapy training for nurses in Australia: a trainee's view

The training and outcomes for a mental health nurse, who completed a 6-month nurse behavioural psychotherapy course at Flinders Medical Centre (Bedford Park, South Australia) is described. Completion of this course enabled the nurse to work mainly with pathological gamblers as a trainee nurse behaviour therapist. Her experience demonstrates that with appropriate training and supervision, mental health nurses are able to increase their knowledge base in specialist areas and gain skills in therapies that will allow them to work autonomously with clients. A brief description of the training, outcome of patient case management and skills acquisition achieved through training is presented.