Bernadette Forde-Paus
Nurse Practitioner Mental Health (Prescribing)
Society generally doesn't value people with intellectual disabilities and the health sector tends to parallel the attitudes of society. All the health professional training programmes have little time dedicated to understanding people with intellectual disability.
Working with people with mental health and intellectual disabilities is one of the most rewarding and challenging areas you can work in mental health, reckons Bernadette Forde-Paus (46).
Add nurse practitioner status and the job becomes even more satisfying, says Bernadette who is one of only four mental health nurse practitioners in New Zealand.
She decided to gain nurse practitioner status in 2002 because she was attracted by the autonomy and clinical work involved and knew there was a huge need for nurse practitioner skills in the field of dual diagnosis (mental health and intellectual disabilities).
"Mental health and intellectual disability is an area of mental health that is often considered unattractive to other clinicians resulting in a lack of skilled clinicians in the country doing this kind of work." Bernadette was already working as a clinical nurse specialist in this dual role in Otago, with a psychiatrist who had limited hours allocated.
"Because of the limited psychiatric hours my work became quite autonomous. When the nurse practitioner role was established, it seemed an ideal opportunity for me to further increase my skills and expand the service I could offer."
Read more about Bernadette's role as a Nurse Practitioner.