Changing digs and coming out of my cave... for a wee while atleast :)

gallygirl

I think you can't see the wood for the trees at the moment (maybe it's that protective headwear you bought ).

Sort out the bursary issue first. If you can't afford to study then no point worrying over hypothetical choices.

Calm down woman .

skint_spice

Does this help any? http://www.saas.gov.uk/full_time/nmsb/funding_available.htm

suse*

I don't anything about working in the nhs but in my industry it is better to have a broad knowledge then specialise later. Just as it will stand you in good stead and make it easier to learn more later.

I guess the other thing you could do is pretend you have the qualification you are looking at, then go look on job websites for that job to see what they ask for. Does it look like there is a difference in salary or anything between people who did the longer course, or what qualifications are they asking for.

Could you find someone who does the job already, and see how they did it and what they think now, as to which way is better.

Butti

I think you look at what jobs are available and where they are first. I could see you working in mental health...and not just because you'd have great empathy!!!

beanielou

As skint says look on SAAS website.

HelenDaveKids

Like you have already noted, as a MH nurse you can work in MH, as a general nurse you can work anywhere (including MH).

elantan

gallygirl wrote: »

I think you can't see the wood for the trees at the moment (maybe it's that protective headwear you bought ).

Sort out the bursary issue first. If you can't afford to study then no point worrying over hypothetical choices.

Calm down woman .

i know what you mean with this... but apparently i was meant to have applied for this course way back in October :eek: the next cut off date is January and if i havnt applied by then then i will have no chance of getting in in September ... so i kinda have to decide very soon and write my personal statement, i also want my personal statement to be leading towards the subject i am going to study so i need to gear it towards that .. as you say it is all mute if i cant afford to go ... but i would hate it that i could afford to go and then didnt have the statement done right in time ... i have till jan 10th to get it in order and i wont be able to phone till jan 6th ...

skint_spice wrote: »

Does this help any? http://www.saas.gov.uk/full_time/nmsb/funding_available.htm

it certainly does thanks ... i think i deff looked at the english one ... i blame the fact i did it on my phone whilst working night shift ... thats a good excuse surely ?

elantan

suse* wrote: »

I don't anything about working in the nhs but in my industry it is better to have a broad knowledge then specialise later. Just as it will stand you in good stead and make it easier to learn more later.

This makes perfect sense ... i think with doing general i will get a firm grounding for what i need to learn, then learning the mental health after will hopefully add to my skill set

I guess the other thing you could do is pretend you have the qualification you are looking at, then go look on job websites for that job to see what they ask for. Does it look like there is a difference in salary or anything between people who did the longer course, or what qualifications are they asking for.

brilliant idea and i did this ... was very interesting results ... more mental health jobs than i expected but most deff a lot more general nursing jobs... i also noted that the mental health jobs were mainly challenging behaviour, i've done my fair share of that and quite frankly i aint going back there unless i have no choice ... it certainly helped me decided ... thanks very much for the idea

Could you find someone who does the job already, and see how they did it and what they think now, as to which way is better.

i have a few friends that are nurses and i come across nurses every week in my job, so i have spoken to a few now ... funnily enough though i havnt spoke to any nurse that has done both general and mental health ... only one or the other ... all nurses though have gripes and things they are happy with which is always a good thing to hear

Butti wrote: »

I think you look at what jobs are available and where they are first. I could see you working in mental health...and not just because you'd have great empathy!!!

]

i could see me in mental health as well Butti tbh ... i do think i would enjoy it and be good at it ... but i think i have settled on the general first then the mental health late

elantan

thanks everyone for the input ... i have batted the ideas back and forth and i think i have decided to apply for the general nursing at this stage, with a view to go back for mental health at a later stage, i think i would like to work in mental health eventually but i'm gonna be honest i dont want to do challenging behaviour again, i have done more than my fair share of that and whilst yes i can accept that at certain times whilst doing a nurses job there will be challenging behaviour that i will have to deal with ... to go looking for it is not for me ...

thanks very much to a poster ( who shall remain nameless but she knows who she is) i think i will get the bursary ... and if i do it will be the £540 a month which does bring the studying back into the game ... i will however need to organise my finances etc so that i can afford to study.

money wise, oh where do i begin with that ... we have spent so much money ... however it stops from the 31st December and all of next year will be used to get ourselves out of the hole we are currently falling into

with this in mind i have done a rough draft of money ... on a basic wage we are £300 a month short ... so with going to uni i will be £ 650 a month short ... so right now i have to concentrate on getting the £300 a month so that i can plan for going to uni ... with this in mind it will be affecting my over payments to the mortgage this year ... but i will deff still be paying something

i have 50 odd hours of overtime for next month so that should give me £200 odd towards the £300 so i need to save just shy of £100 to pay the bills for next month and i need to try and save some money towards the uni fund ...

so with this in mind it's back to ebaying, book selling, meal planning and cutting back every way we can.

i am also endeavouring to do a Paleo/ primal 365 challenge which will not be easy ... but i am hoping to get in control of my sugar addiction ... i am also reintroducing my sugar shuffles, this really helped last year and i kept it up for a while ... so i am going to try and keep it up all year this time

elantan

wages have just arrived so i have put the 20% extra money into my pension, paid off the council tax and have enough to manage through till mr El gets paid ... that is as long as we dont spend like we have been doing

also paid a wee sneaky £30 to the mortgage