Biography: Hi, I’m Stuart. I’m a mental health nurse from the UK. I’m also a trainer in mental health and/or social care related topics. You can Email me on stuart.sorensen@googlemail.com My clinical experience has covered various aspects of mental health and social care with a variety of populations. However my main interests are in working with people diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychotic states, dementias, personality disorder and those who harm themselves. I believe that it is never enough to simply write people off as ‘difficult’, ‘unco-operative’ or ‘manipulative’ and much of my training relates to helping workers to find effective ways to engage and work with people who have complex needs. As well as mental health-related interests I have a passion for helping workers in all areas of health and social care to find the balance between fulfilling their duty of care and at the same time respecting the service-user’s right to take risks and to determine their own life choices. This isn’t quite so difficult a balance to strike as many people seem to think but it does require a little thought on occasion. I didn’t always intend to be a nurse. As a boy and young man I really intended to be an actor and director. However I quickly learned that I wasn’t good enough. A succession of low paid jobs to fund my theatrical dreams as well as a couple of stints of homelessness led me to realise that whatever the ‘X’ factor might be – I certainly didn’t have it. So I began considering three different alternatives. One was salesmanship – but that wasn’t really for me. Another was a career in the church but again it wasn’t really the career for me and the other option was social and health care. I got a job in the hostel I lived in and that led me into a succession of care assistant jobs until eventually I applied for and began my nurse training in the West Midlands. Since then I’ve literally never looked back. I have found my true vocation and cannot imagine myself ever leaving mental health and social care again. I’ve been a registered nurse since 1995 and I love it. I’m happy to have the best of both worlds as a nurse in clinical practice who also regularly gets to swan off around the UK delivering training. Marvellous! Contact me on 07872 102626 to arrange training at your convenience.