Nursing personal statement example (5)

Reading time: 3 minutes
Price: Free download
Published: 27th October 2019
Word count: 787 words
File format: Text

I would like to study Nursing at University because I feel it will lead me into a career that I’ve always wanted to do as well as giving me the chance helping people’s mental well-being. It would give me the opportunity to study something that I am very interested in. One of the areas I am most interested in is mental health nursing, a career that needs patience and empathy, and which could be especially rewarding in terms of the help I could give. Having family who have mainly had careers in the care industry, I know how it important it is for me to follow in their footsteps to help others.

My career plans are centered in the future of the NHS. I would like to go into a working friendly community of nursing working for the NHS Mental Health Nursing would satisfy me helping others with their needs and seeing them to better health.

Currently I am a support worker for adults with learning difficulties. I have been doing this since September 2017. I have worked with service users with autism, many with mental health problems such as: Bipolar, OCD, General Anxiety Disorder, Depression, Schizophrenia, ADHD and Dementia. I have worked with service users between the age of 17 to 65. Out of the 14 individuals, 8 have Epilepsy. I am very interested in helping people with additional needs as I feel as though it’s a career path I want to carry on to university to do a Mental Health Nursing. This inspired me to carry out a career in Mental Health nursing, as I would like to learn more about health care and develop my knowledge and practical skills to qualify me to be able to practice as a nurse. I have done an official accredited first aid course, introduction to Autism and Mental Health, Manual Handling, PICA, Epilepsy, PRO-AcT SCiP – and many others.

During the time I have been doing my access course it has shown me new insights to how life changes for example my understanding of mental illness is that it is a very diverse area of study. It can vary not just between different cases; it can also differentiate to various degrees in someone suffering from one condition. I believe the role of the mental health nurse is to help the patient understand their condition, to reassure and to respond to personal needs with relevant treatment to improve their quality of life. I’m aware of the importance of treating people in a non-judgmental manner and to respect equality and respect, I know this from working in health sector as a support worker and completing my care certificate. As a support worker we attend meetings with the Mental Health team and liaise with them to make sure we do everything to improve our service user’s way of life. This is also another reason why I would like to have a career in nursing, seeing what the nurses do and how interesting and rewarding their jobs must be.

Next summer I am going to the USA to work as a camp counsellor before I go to university. I have chosen specifically to work with children and adults with specific needs. The reason why I have chosen to do this is get a different aspect on caring for additional needs in a different country. I would like to get more experience abroad and prepare myself for university. In 2016 when I left secondary school, I completed NCS. During this time, we spent time in Cornwall doing water-based sports such as kayaking, surfing and many others. The second week we spent time planning and organising a British 40s Party and raised money for them to have more sensory equipment. We had a band we put together to play

old war time classics such as Vera Lynn and many others, I played the guitar as I have been playing guitar since I was 10 years old. When I was 9 years old my mum passed away, I felt as though I needed an escape route to distract me from my emotions, therefore I spent a lot of time learning to play the guitar. My mental health was all over the place as a teenager and when I played guitar it was so rewarding to achieve something when I learnt a new song or when I wrote my emotions down on paper and added chords to create a song that helped me get off all the worries off my chest. I would love to help others understand how I helped myself get through hard times. As I’ve been working with adults with learning difficulties, I have used my guitar to play songs to provide active participation when they sing along.

13th November 2018

Why this example works — strengths and ways to improve

This statement has genuine raw material: ongoing support work, mental health team liaison, an access course and a personal relationship with music. Its weakness is that evidence is mostly listed rather than examined. Conditions, ages and training courses are named without showing what you did or learned, and frequent grammatical slips and repeated motivation claims undermine clarity.

Subject motivation

a career that needs patience and empathy, and which could be especially rewarding

Your interest in mental health nursing is clear, but the reasons stay general: rewarding, helping people, family tradition. The strongest motivation, watching nurses during team meetings, appears late and briefly. Explaining one specific moment that made mental health nursing, rather than care generally, feel right would sharpen this.

Academic preparation

my understanding of mental illness is that it is a very diverse area of study

Mentioning your access course is valuable, but you give no modules, assignments or ideas you studied. The point about variation within one condition is promising. Link it to a topic you researched or an example from work so the reader sees academic engagement, not a broad observation.

Evidence and reflection

I have used my guitar to play songs to provide active participation

This is your most distinctive evidence, joining personal experience to practice. Yet it closes the statement without reflection. What did you notice about service users' engagement, mood or communication? Similarly, the training list (PICA, PRO-AcT SCiP) needs one example of applying a skill to become meaningful.

Relevant experience

Currently I am a support worker for adults with learning difficulties

Sustained support work since 2017 is strong, directly relevant experience. However, you list diagnoses, age ranges and epilepsy numbers instead of describing your responsibilities or a situation you handled. One concrete account of supporting someone, or of liaising with the mental health team, would show far more than the catalogue does.

Credibility and voice

When I was 9 years old my mum passed away

This passage is honest and gives the statement a personal voice; using music to manage difficult emotions is a credible insight. It reads as sincere rather than exploited. Bringing it closer to your nursing reasoning, with care over boundaries, would integrate it instead of leaving it as a separate story.

Structure and format

I would like to go into a working friendly community of nursing working

Sentences like this are hard to follow, and errors recur ('how it important', 'chance helping'). The second paragraph adds little. Motivation is restated several times, while NCS kayaking detail takes space. There is no concluding paragraph, and the date appears to be part of the original archived text.

What you’ve done well

Long-term, current support work with adults with complex needs gives you real practical grounding.
Your reflection on learning guitar after bereavement offers an authentic personal link to mental wellbeing and to your work with service users.

How this draft could improve

Replace the lists of diagnoses and courses with one or two specific incidents, explaining what you did, what you learned and how it shapes your view of mental health nursing.
Proofread carefully for grammar and repetition, cutting the second paragraph and shortening the NCS activities.
Add a brief conclusion connecting your work, access study and music to the kind of nurse you hope to become.

Write your nursing and advanced nursing practice personal statement · £4.99 →