Dr Ann Mitchell

I have contributed extensively to mental health nursing both as a practitioner and a nurse educationist. Initially trained as a registered nurse, I progressed to become a specialist in community mental health nursing.  A key achievement in that role was to develop a service for individuals with mental health problems within a rural General Practitioner surgery. An interest in nurse education led me to take up a position as an educationalist where I delivered a community mental health study programme for mental health nurses within a School of Nursing. The role expanded to include the management of undergraduate courses and post graduate modules as a senior lecturer at University College Northampton. During this time I obtained a BSc (Hons) and MA in Women’s studies in addition to Diplomas in Management Studies. I also demonstrated clinical mental health practice as well as managerial skills when I accepted a secondment in managing a community mental health team for a local Trust and implementing clinical governance principles.

Since joining  the Open University in 2005, I have contributed to modules in mental health nursing, health policy, teaching and assessment. This led to the acceptance of a challenging leadership role of co-qualification director for the BSc Hons nursing pre-registration degree for adult and mental health nursing. This national programme serves England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales by educating health care support workers to become registered graduate nurses. I also have a growing international repurtation in the field of mental health nursing capacity building. I was invited to facilitate and teach child and adolescent mental health interventions and women and mental health at international universities including Turku Polytechnic, Finland and Ain Shams University, Cairo. More recently in 2018 I was asked to present a paper on mental health issues affecting individuals in Guyana at the 30th Anniversary celebration of the 'Association of Guyanese Nurses and Allied Professionals in the UK' at the Guyana High Commission, London. I am now co-editor for the Action Research Journal that covers a range of health related topics with the focus on action research methodology and change management.     

My keen interest in research stemmed from the completion of undergraduate and post graduate degrees. I later undertook my PhD with Guyanese women who had Type 2 Diabetes living in England because I wanted to study a hard to reach group which in this context was Guyanese. The PhD was awarded by the University of Surrey in 2015.  

Awards 

Received a merit award for lead role in managing annual monitoring regional visit for the mental health branch of the nursing programme in 2008 and more recently in 2017 a merit award in recognition of the extra work put in on behalf of the nursing discipline and going the extra mile award. 

Supervised a Master's student's dissertation who received a Mary Seacole award for her research study in 2004. 

Membership Committess 

• 2000 - 2016   Trustee and treasurer for International  Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 
• 1986 - present Member of the Royal college of Nursing 
• 2018 - present Member of the Association of Guyanese Nurses and Allied Professionals (AGNAP)

Books

Walsh, M., Mitchell, A., Millar, E., Rowe, J., Greenhalgh, L., Langridge, E., and Chaloner, R. (2011) Health and Social care Level 2 Diploma Handbook, Collins Education.

Walsh, M., Mitchell, A., Millar E., Rowe, J., Greenhalgh, L., Langridge, E., and Chaloner, R. (2011) Health and Social care Level 3 Diploma Handbook, Collins Education

Walsh, M., Millar ,E., Rowe, J., and Mitchell, A (2012) Health and Social Care Level 2 Dementia Care Award and Certificate. Collins Education.

Walsh, M., Millar ,E., Rowe, J., and Mitchell, A (2012) Health and Social Care Level 3 Dementia Care Award and Certificate. Collins Education.

Rowe, J., and Mitchell A. (2013) Key Concepts in Health. Collins Education.

Articles

Mitchell A (2001): ‘Development of new courses for primary care nurses’, Journal of Primary Care Mental Health, 5 (2), pp.24–27

Mitchell A (2002) ‘Stigma: discrimination, ethnicity and gender issues’ in E. Armstrong (ed.) The Guide to Mental Health for Nurses in Primary Care, Radcliffe Medical Press, pp.105–14

Rowe, J., and Mitchell A. (2013) Key Concepts in Health. Collins Education

Mitchell , A., Rowe, R., and Counihan S. (2013) On line Forums: implications for mental

Health Nurses. The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice. Vol 8. (3) pp.

60-65.

Mitchell, H. A, Allan H, Koch T (2017)  Guyanese expatriate women ask: “Is it a

touch of sugar?”, Action Research pp. 1-14