Dr Dan Warrender

Me too Charlie. I've a girl and a boy, and I think the world can send them a variety of different messages around who they are or should be. I'll try to equip them with a critical mind that can reject and ignore stories about themselves which are misplaced. We're all vulnerable to it!

Hello my friend! I like to be all encompassing, so broad as people like to be with that conversation title. I tend to think about societal expectations of strength, fearlessness and success, whereas many men in the world feel just as lost as everyone else. I always looked at Arnie, and felt inferior

Commando (1985) with discussion on men's mental health - Buy tickets Screening of Commando at Dundee Contemporary Arts, hosted by Mental Health in Movies.

The 40th anniversary of 'Commando' (1985), shown in Dundee, for 2 quid, with proceeds going to charity, and a facilitated discussion on men's mental health following the film? 30th November 12pm, all of your dreams come true. www.citizenticket.com/events/scott...

Important all UK nurses feedback. As a mental health nurse, I feel the NMC has no vision for the field, and would be happy to let it silently die. It is difficult for me to donate to a cause which I do not believe supports the work I do #MHDeservesBetter
www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/con...

Working ethically with risk of suicide in mental health care: the ‘holding jelly’ analogy | Request PDF Request PDF | Working ethically with risk of suicide in mental health care: the ‘holding jelly’ analogy | In this comment piece, the author uses the analogy of jelly to understand the complexity of wo...

Also on researchgate: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Spaghettification and the Conceptual Black Hole of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Qualitative Discussion Around Competing Meanings Given to the Diagnosis and Their Potential Consequences This paper explores competing meanings which may arise through receiving a diagnosis of “borderline personality disorder,” discussing how this may impact a person’s treatment and their sense of sel...

The 'conceptual black hole of borderline personality disorder': how can BPD be not real mental illness but too unstable for therapy, described as not personality disorder but treated as only personality disorder, and also, borderline of what? Open access: doi.org/10.1080/0161...

"We intervene to prevent suicide, yet in doing so might restrict an individual's valued freedoms in some very complex ways. These consequences need to be considered as risks in themselves". A short comment piece to provoke thought and attention on relationships, not just risk.

Looking forward to this. Delighted to be invited by peers in Malta.

Two billion humans are doing something bizarre right now: sleeping | Aeon Essays It is our biggest blind spot, a bizarre experience that befalls us every day, and can’t be explained by our need for rest

Sleep is very strange… @aeon.co aeon.co/essays/two-b...

Great to hear Karen! Hope they all get something from it.

Hello Bluesky. No one ever seems to see (or maybe they just don't care about) my posts. Is it because I don't use hashtags? #PsychiatricDiagnosis #BPD #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #IdentityDisturbance

Spaghettification and the Conceptual Black Hole of Borderline Personality Disorder: A Qualitative Discussion Around Competing Meanings Given to the Diagnosis and Their Potential Consequences This paper explores competing meanings which may arise through receiving a diagnosis of “borderline personality disorder,” discussing how this may impact a person’s treatment and their sense of sel...

The 'conceptual black hole of borderline personality disorder': how can BPD be not real mental illness but too unstable for therapy, described as not personality disorder but treated as only personality disorder, and also, borderline of what? Open access: doi.org/10.1080/0161...

Philosophy Bites Podcast Top philosophers interviewed on bite-sized topics

The Philosophy Bites podcast has had nearly 50 million unique episode downloads so far… philosophybites.com

It would indeed be interesting to know any future considerations by the @newsnmc.bsky.social from evidence such as this.

How Do Mental Health Nursing Students in the United Kingdom Experience Assessment Against the NMC Generic Standards of Proficiency? A Cross‐Field Comparison In 2018 the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) moved from field-specific to generic standards of proficiency in training all four fields of nursing practice. Some educators claim these proficie...

Kenwright et al: "MH nursing students reported the lowest levels of practice confidence... barriers to achieving proficiencies...exclusion of field-specific knowledge and skills, which devalued and threatened their professional identity". #MHDeservesBetter doi.org/10.1111/inm....

YouTube video by Healthcare Improvement Scotland Thoughtful & ethical approaches to risk for people with a diagnosis of personality disorder

Enjoyed talking to mental health staff in Perth today, discussing the action/consequences model and the ethics of responding to risk when working with people diagnosed with 'personality disorder'. Anyone interested can see more from this webinar: youtu.be/sC3CVq10XCM?...

As an @rcn.org.uk member I get the @nursingstandard.bsky.social through the post each month. Claims to be your 'essential nursing journal', yet there is often little to no content around mental health. As a mental health nurse, that is what is essential.

Mental health nursing and the theory‐practice gap: Civil war and intellectual self‐injury Click on the article title to read more.

In the past two weeks separate people have emailed me to say how much this resonated with them. When nurse education becomes futile. From late 2021, but still one of the best things I've written, and may resonate with you if you haven't seen it:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The model of-- work yourself into the ground & then recharge with some 'wellbeing' activities, is a con. It just serves the machine.

It's not too much to ask to have meaningful work, connection with colleagues, a sense of belonging & congruence with your values. And workplaces that support this.

The despondency is real. Something is needed but there is perhaps a localised UK shift. The RCN indicate others beyond them have a view on this matter & in my belief ignore they have become the other (questions of whether they can be trusted on MH nursing). -perhaps a new union will fill the void.

Yes! 🙂

YouTube video by Dan Warrender Dan Warrender - Debate Opening - RCN Congress 2022 - Matter for Discussion: Future Nurse Standards

I was at an RCN Mental Health Forum listening event this evening, and there is still a lot of discontent around mental health nurse education. I raised this issue at RCN congress in 2022, but it seems little has changed:
youtu.be/xYwmZYthm5M?...

Hard agree. The profession is lost.

I saw a theme from a patient focus group was "we are signposted to death". I thought yeah that's awful, & then thought tbh our service does that too. We try to be helpful & find out what's going on for people but then sometimes the outcome is that a person's needs are best met in another service 1/4

#booksky

Response to Government press release on emergency mental health departments Mental Health Deserves Better were asked to provide comment on the UK Government’s press release, boost to mental health services from thousands of extra staff, which covers additional staffi…

Full response here regarding the press release on 'boost to mental health services' including new emergency mental health departments. The bits that didn't make it into the Nursing Times:
mentalhealthdeservesbetter.wordpress.com/2025/07/03/r... #MentalHealth #NursingandMidwiferyCouncil #Nursing

Something we do well in Clinical Psychology is to have regular clinical supervision. It is just standard, normal, it's not 'if there's time' or a luxury. I see some of what nursing & medical colleagues work with every day & it amazes me they don't have reliable access to the same...

A pet-peeve of mine for mental health nursing. Involved in so much of the 'dirty work' of mental health care in terms of legal authority over people, nurses holding power, detentions, restraints etc - such closeness with such messy power dynamics, yet thinking about it all is seen as a luxury.

I'll still be living in Scotland, and still interested in the field of 'personality disorder', so I'll be around, but my shift is over. (4/4)