11 May 2026

Mental Health Awareness Week - In conversation with Rian West

Can you introduce yourself?rian west.png

My name is Rian West and I am a Speciality Clinical Educator in Mental Health.

Can you give us a quick overview of your career history?

I studied Mental Health Nursing at The University of Manchester, graduating with a First-Class Honours degree. My dissertation, which explored Music Therapy as an intervention for challenging behaviours in patients with dementia, was later published.

Throughout my career, I have worked across NHS trusts in both the North West and North East of England in a variety of roles, including staff nurse positions on acute wards, Community Mental Health Practitioner roles, and most recently as Team Manager for the Older Persons Community Mental Health Team in North Tyneside.

Working across different areas of mental health nursing has given me a broad understanding of patient care and helped develop my passion for delivering truly holistic, recovery-focused and trauma-informed care. I strongly believe in creating personalised care plans that recognise patients as experts in their own care, alongside their carers and loved ones.

Overview of your current role/what a typical day looks like for you?

I am currently seconded into the role of Speciality Clinical Educator, with a focus on ETOC (Enhanced Therapeutic Observations and Care) for patients with mental health needs within non-mental health settings.

My role involves developing and delivering mental health training to both substantive and bank staff, as well as supporting learning through the Health and Care Academy.

Alongside this, I lead the ETOC Quality Improvement programme. As part of this work, I have:

  • Developed an ETOC Mental Health Assessment and Care Plan for use in acute settings, launching in June.
  • Created an acute ward-specific behavioural monitoring framework, CARE-BEST, which will be piloted on identified wards from 11 May and has also been submitted for publication.
  • Written two ETOC policies and updated a further two policies.
  • Hosted an NHS England site visit where the ETOC programme was benchmarked and reviewed, receiving extremely positive feedback and an invitation to present the work at national ETOC forums.

I also sit on several working groups, including the “We Are Active” campaign, which allows me to identify opportunities to embed therapeutic interventions more widely across services.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

One of the most rewarding aspects of my role has been learning about nursing within acute hospital settings and gaining a first-hand understanding of the pressures faced by busy wards.

Coming from a mental health nursing background, I had not previously experienced the unique challenges of acute medical environments. This insight became the inspiration behind developing the CARE-BEST behavioural monitoring framework — a psychologically informed approach designed specifically for acute settings, allowing staff to complete assessments quickly while improving consistency, communication and measurable outcomes.

What motivates me most is the opportunity to improve safety, consistency and quality of care for patients who are at risk of self-harm or experiencing mental health difficulties in non-mental health settings.

The programme aims to:

  • Improve assessment and implementation of ETOC for mental health patients to achieve parity with existing falls-related ETOC processes by December 2026 across NHCFT.
  • Reduce health inequalities by improving staff knowledge and confidence in supporting mental health patients in acute settings.
  • Improve patient safety outcomes through reducing incidents of self-harm during inpatient admissions.
  • Improve patient experience by ensuring the right level of care is provided at the right time.
  • Improve staff experience through clearer processes, training and support.

We have already made strong progress in building the foundations for this work, and the next phase focuses on embedding these improvements and demonstrating measurable impact.

What do you like to do to wind down outside of work?

Outside of work, most of my time is spent with my two young children, taking them to their various sporting activities. I have a very keen gymnast and an equally enthusiastic footballer, so life is certainly busy — but I love seeing them enjoy the things they are passionate about.

I’m also a big fan of musical theatre and enjoy trips to the theatre whenever I can. Hamilton is a particular favourite — I’ve seen it live four times and have probably watched it close to twenty times on Disney+!

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