Mrs Louise Howard

About

I qualified as an RMN in 1999 after graduating from King's College with a BSc (Hons) Nursing and began my career working within acute admissions. During this time I developed an interest and skills in Psychosocial Interventions and became a Lecturer-Practitioner for PSI at Kingston University with a particular interest in supporting nurses to deliver PSI within acute environments.

In 2006 my clinical role changed and I became a Physical health lead within my employing MH Trust and had responsibilities for promoting physical health care and developing local smoking cessation services for clients with SMI working in collaboration with a local PCT. I then moved into the community and worked as a primary care liaison nurse within a CMHT again with a focus for improving joined up working and access for service users to primary care and physical health checks.

I joined  Kingston University in 2009 as a Senior Lecturer and have supported the delivery of education across Pre and Post registration courses with a focus on physical health care, PSI,  Family intervention and leadership. I have been involved in the National initiatives and steering committees to develop the role of the mental health nurse in improving physical health outcomes of people with serious mental illness and have published and  presented Nationally to  other practitioners on this subject. 

I  am an experienced Nurse Educator with a passion for Teaching and learning and supporting our diverse students to achieve both in their studies and in practice.  I  am the Professional lead for Mental health nursing and have previously been the  Course Leader for the MSc Nursing. 

Academic responsibilities

Associate Professor Mental Health Nursing

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Nursing studies
  • MSc Professional Healthcare Education
  • Registered Nurse; Part 13
  • NMC registered Lecturer/Practice Educator
  • Senior Fellow Health Education Academy

Teaching and learning

Teaching Awards:

Highly Commended Kingston University Rose Award (2016). Howard, L. Holland, E. & Silver, K. - Collaborative Teaching Innovation with Sutton Carer's Centre. June 2016.

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

Research Grants

2016 - 2016 Kingston University Faculty Small research grant- An exploration of mental health nurses student's attitudes towards physical health care Findings unpublished but internally reported for curriculum development

Conference or Workshop ItemOoms, A., Howard, L., Crighton, E., Ryan, N., Price, J.E., Francois, J., Gale, J. & Chandler, K. (2022, October). Nursing Students' Experiences of their Clinical Placement during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United Kingdom. Poster presented at the 8th International Nurse Education Conference 2022, Sitges, Spain.

Ooms, A, Chandler, K, Chavrimootoo, D, Crighton, E, Francois,, Gale, J, Howard, L, Inch, J, Nash, T, Price, J and Ryan, N (2020) Clinical placement experiences of nursing students during COVID-19. In: Kingston University Festival of Research; 29 Jun - 10 Jul 2020, Kingston, U.K. [Held online]. (Unpublished)

Stroumpouki, D. & Howard, L. (2019): Developing evidence based practice in nursing students – embedding the critical thinking toolkit. In:  Kingston University: Festival of learning. Kingston: 27 June 2019.

Wason, H.  & Howard, L. (2018) Embedding critical thinking in curricula using a collaborative learning, teaching and assessment approach. In: SEDA (Staff and Educational Development Association) 23rd Annual Conference Educational Initiative. Birmingham: 15-16 November 2018.

Howard, L. (2018) Smoking cessation in mental health settings. Janssen Cilag Mental Health Nursing Roadshows; Berkshire: 20 June 2018.

Howard, L. (2018) Physical Health in Mental Health.  Janssen Cilag Mental Health Nursing Roadshows; London: 13 June 2018.

Holland, E., Howard, L. & Silver K. (2016). The Triangle Care in Education-Building on partnerships. In: Carers UK National Conference. Manchester: 28 April 2016.

Gamble C., Smith G., L Howard & Sin J. (2014). Symposium-Co- creating care with people and their families affected by psychosis: the endorsement of benchmark standard IN: International society for psychological and Social approaches for psychosis (ISPS), Residential Conference. Leicester: 17 -18 September 2014.

Howard, L.  (2012).  A nurse's perspective on implementing the PHC Tool In: Rethink Physical Health Check Tool. In: Rethink PHC Parliamentary Launch, Westminster: October 2012.

Howard, L. (2011). Addressing Physical health needs; The role of the MHN. In: Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (2011). Physical health Conference. Maidenhead: 2011.

Concurrent Session Chair.

25th International MHNR Conference (2019). RCN London: 12-13 September 2019.

Member of the 'Healthcare Education Research and Evaluation (HERE)' research group

Ongoing project: Utilising an enquiry-based learning approach working in collaboration with Black African Mental Health Nursing Students to co design culturally responsive mentoring resources"

Name (s) of staff partners Danielle Chavrimootoo, Louise Howard, Martyn Keen, Omar Mansaray, Nebiyah Dye

 Publications:

Howard L.E, & Musa, N. (2017) Physical Healthcare in Chambers, M. (ed)  (2017) Psychiatric and Mental Health nursing; The Craft of Caring. New York: Routledge

Howard, L. & Gamble, C. (2011) Supporting mental health nurses to address the physical health needs of people with serious mental illness in acute inpatient care settings. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 18(2), pp. 105-112.

Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

Representative SoN member of  National Equally Well UK Collaborative; Centre for Mental Health

Previous Member of Rethink Mental Illness Steering group for Physical health

Member of South London Partnership PSI Network

External Academic reviewer NMC revalidation Pre –registration Nursing Programmes, Salford University

#NEVER ALONE podcast Talking Mental Health Nursing (2019).https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TNtZusbMwyDVSLY2ZIwy9

Howard, L.   &   Galloway, S .  (2023) 'Dealing with Voices and Strange Thoughts' in Editors;  Gamble, C. & Brennan, G.  (2023) Working with Serious Mental Illness: A Manual for Clinical Practice.  Edinburgh: Elsevier.