Abstract
Introduction
Increasing managerialism, driven in part by notions of risk, compromise the mental health nurses therapeutic engagement with clients potentially impacting their recovery. While the importance of therapeutic relationships in mental health recovery is acknowledged there is little evidence about how managerial processes encroach on this relationship.
Aim
To explore mental health nurses experience of engaging in therapeutic relationships within the current practice environment.
Method
This paper utilised an interpretive phenomenological approach, using interviews with mental health nurses.
Results
Managerial processes significantly impacted the practice of nurses who struggled to make space for therapeutic relationships within a chaotic milieu. The chaos is associated with increasing austerity within the health system; this has resulted in high staff turnover and staff shortages.
Discussion
Managerial demands dominate the practice field at the expense of therapeutic engagement between nurses and clients ultimately affecting client recovery. While nurses’ integrity means they desperately try to make space for the therapeutic work, they often become burnt out and disheartened.
Implications for practice
While nurses are often blamed for failures in the system, the structures that disable nurses in their attempts to practice therapeutically requires urgent responses, strengthening professional organisations and engaging in democratic partnerships with consumer groups.