I was delighted to be allocated the bursary by the PNA to attend the 2023 Horatio Congress “Reuniting mental health nurses” in March this year. The event brought together European Mental Health Nurses in a beautiful location on the Maltese coast in St. Julian’s. It is the first event I attended which focused primarily on Mental Health Nursing, leading to a great variety of talks and presentations of interest. The level of innovation in care in different organisations was inspiring – cold water swimming for depression in Finland, hearing about the wonderful work on the PARC project in Ireland, to name a few. It was a great opportunity to make links with new colleagues and reignite old acquaintances. Attending the event has inspired and empowered me professionally on what is possible in the field of Mental Health Nursing.

I presented a poster on research we completed on service user experience of a new remote care service developed within St. Patrick’s Mental Health Service [SPMHS]. This was important and timely research to conduct on a new and innovative service, particularly given the vast and rapid changes to mental health service delivery since the COVID-19 pandemic. The research has ensured that the voice of the service user is central to further developments and adjustments to the current service. This person-centred and rights-based approach to care is in line with organisational policy at SPMHS and I was glad to see that it was also a central theme of the conference having attended Dr. Michelle Funk’s presentation and the many other speakers who shared a similar perspective.  

Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the Psychiatric Nurses Association and St. Patrick’s Mental Health Service for supporting me to attend and present our service user research on the Homecare Service at the 2023 Horatio Congress in Malta.