Leadership within justice and forensics - My elective placement with the RCN

My course requires students to arrange a four week leadership elective within an area of interest in order to facilitate their personal development as a potential future leader within the nursing profession. This blog explores how I achieved this, the value of an elective placement at the RCN and my passion for working with service users within justice and forensic healthcare.

My first experience working with prisoners was in my third-year emergency department placement. After becoming intrigued while engaging with them, I applied for a bank healthcare support worker role in the local prison. People talk about the moment in nursing where it just clicks and feels right - this was it. Part of leadership is reflecting on the kind of person you are and your strengths. I like to be challenged, variety, emergency care, and working with complex needs, so prison was the perfect fit for me.

I found working in this environment so inspiring that my assignments started to be based on prison healthcare, including my dissertation proposal. It was through writing this and networking on Twitter that I came across the RCN Professional Lead for Justice and Forensic Nursing. Dr Liz Walsh was fantastic as she welcomed my messages and discussed my ideas, including linking me up with prison nurses with similar interests. So, when I was asked to arrange my leadership elective, I thought of Liz. It was an unusual request, but I had been following her work online and thought it would be really valuable to see how different settings worked. We communicated regularly over the months and devised a schedule for my four weeks.

During my time with the RCN, I met with leaders and nursing directors from a broad spectrum of organisations, including NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, independent providers and other professional leads at the RCN. It was a rare insight and opportunity to speak to senior leaders about their thoughts on leadership, the challenges they face, their career journeys and their plans for the sector's future. It allowed me to see the bigger picture and compare my experiences at a more local level. I was able to reflect on this and notes from my interviews to consider my leadership style, values, aspirations, and areas for development.

I visited several prisons, with some medium and high secure forensic settings. It was fascinating to see different approaches to working and inspiring to see some of the individual projects these areas were working on, such as improving palliative care, incorporating physical fitness and mental health wellbeing, and supporting veterans. It was also interesting to explore Scotland's prison system and build support networks in the devolved nations.

Overall, this elective was incredibly valuable as it allowed me to gain insight and perspective of nursing leadership in an area I am very passionate about, but also to reflect on my values and consider the kind of nurse I want to be. I was able to advocate for nursing students and positively influence plans for more student placements with the RCN Professional Leads in the future. I would advise any nursing student to consider a placement like this, stay curious and approach people no matter their role or band for a conversation. You would be amazed at how rare this is, how welcoming leaders are to the proactive student and how it can really uncover the potential for great opportunities and experiences.