ICN endorses new WHO training programme on improving mental health
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) congratulates the World Health Organization (WHO) on the development of its online QualityRights e-training programme on mental health, recovery and community inclusion course. ICN supports this work and is pleased to say that it meets the standard for accredited nursing continuing education points.
ICN President Dr Pamela Cipriano said: “Training nurses to better support the mental health and wellbeing of the people they care for can make an enormous difference to an individual’s quality of life. This targeted training programme is easy to access and members of the nursing family who complete it will also gain personal benefits from the lessons they learn. It is very timely because we know that world’s nurses and care workers continue to suffer distress from the pandemic. I encourage nurses everywhere to take the time to complete this programme for the good of their patients and for their own mental health and well-being.”
The course, which is available in 11 languages, covers a full range of issues including taking care of one’s own mental health, supporting friends, family and colleagues with their mental health, and tackling stigma, discrimination, abuse and coercion in mental health services.
Nurses and nursing students who complete the entire course will receive 24 International Continuing Nursing Education Credits (ICNECs), acknowledging their completion of 24 hours of continuing professional development study: No application to ICN is required.
ICNEC points constitute evidence of continuing professional development and may be used as part of a nurse’s professional profile or portfolio as proof of the nurse’s continued competency, and required for registration, re-licensure and career advancement.
WHO Chief Nurse Elizabeth Iro said: “I encourage all nurses and midwives to take up the quality rights e-training on mental health. This will go a long way in providing people you work with and care for with choice and information about treatment options; offering alternatives to seclusion and restraint; and promotion of recovery, hope and community inclusion.”
ICN’s Chief Nurse, Michelle Acorn said, “I am urging as many as possible of the world’s 28 million-strong nursing family to get involved in this programme, which gives individual nurses and other healthcare workers the tools to protect their own mental health as well as tackling issues such as stigma, discrimination and abuse which have been highlighted in a number of significant reports this week including ICN’s own Mental Health report.
During the global launch of WHO’s QualityRights e-training in April 2022, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros said: “WHO’s QualityRights e-training provides essential knowledge and skills needed to build responsive mental health services. It provides a new perspective, understanding and guidance on how to look after one’s own mental health, and how to support others. Stigma and discrimination must be replaced with hope, acceptance and inclusion. Coercive practices, violence and neglect must no longer be tolerated.”
WHO says it has an ambitious target for the global rollout of the QualityRights e-training with the aim of training at least five million learners by the end of 2024, affecting the lives of 500 million people with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities.
The WHO QualityRights e-training is available free of charge here.
Download the press release here