Nicola shares her career journey in nursing and research as we mark Careers Week

National Careers Week takes place from 4 to 9 March 2024. Nurses make up the largest workforce group in the NHS, and nursing offers a huge diversity of roles and routes for career development.  

Nicola Armstrong is a Nurse Consultant and Patient Safety Specialist at Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT). Nicola has been working as a mental health nurse since 1999, and has developed in her nursing career through mental health research.   

She said: “I left school without the five GCSEs needed to train in nursing. At the time, I had to take a test and wait until I was 21 to train and qualify. I qualified with a diploma, and then went on to study degree, a masters, and, finally, my doctorate.” 

“I reflected on my career journey recently, and it dawned on me quite how amazing a career in nursing and research can be.” 

Nicola has always been interested in mental health research. She said: “It’s the best practice and evidence-based element I like most: why do we do what we do? Why are we making the decisions we are making?  

“I am currently involved in research looking at the use of video technology in mental health care, including staff wearing body-worn cameras.  

“My doctorate involved developing a project on young onset dementia, including the experience of six families.  

“I have also been involved in service evaluation with the RISE programme, looking the impact it has had for each cohort, and this has been a powerful piece of research.”  

RISE is an EPUT customised talent development programme. The program is aimed to improve the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) indicators and the ambition of NHS England to ensure equitable representation of BME Directors at senior positions and board level in the NHS.   

Nicola is also passionate about developing other colleagues’ careers through research. She said: “Nurses make up the largest workforce in the NHS, but we are underrepresented in research. 

“I am a Mental Health Research Champion with North Thames Mental Health Organisation, and I have received two mental health awards. One on the awards was for career development, and I received a grant which has funded another staff member in research, building on skills of our workforce in EPUT.”