Theo Mc Cardle

Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Mental Health Nursing

Donegal – Letterkenny

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you to choosing your course? 

I’m Theo from North Donegal, growing up I was into music and art and I am big into sport as I have played various sports throughout the years with the likes of Gaelic and football until I started Basketball and haven’t stopped playing since. 
I chose Mental Health Nursing as I had no idea what I wanted to do in my last year of secondary school and eventually at an open day decided to go to a talk for Mental Health Nursing as I had multiple family members in that line of work. Hearing student and lecturers opinions I realised I was more interested than I thought especially in terms of helping people and understanding different aspects of mental illness. 

What are your favourite modules on the course?  

My favourite module so far has been ‘Understanding the Nature of Mental Illness’, getting to know different mental illnesses and how people deal with and recover from mental health issues and traumas. For me it’s the individual story on who the person is and what happened that lead them to this point in their life and how we as a society can help them. It’s the communication skills and the listening and interpersonal skills which we are dealing with at this stage in the course that are most valuable. 

Is there anything else about the course that you particularly enjoy or find beneficial?  

Work placement for me has been a great help as I learn better from doing rather than from books so taking the theory side and being able to practice skills and relating some of the experiences back to theory makes the learning a whole lot easier. It’s the person to person engagement that I find most fulfilling and placement allows me to achieve this. 

What is the best thing about your course that you think new applicants should know?  

Students start placement in 1st year after 6 weeks of college and although you mostly observe during this year it allows you to get an idea of the work environment and type of work you will be doing eventually from the very start which I believe reassures the student about putting their theory practice to the test. 

If you were speaking with a first year student about to start your course, what advice would you give them?  

It is a hard enough course and it is full on but stick with it and as you settle in and get used to it, it will become easier. 

If you are involved in sport, volunteering, working or have other passions you pursue outside of your academic life, can you tell us about that?  

I love basketball and play for the ATU college team and National League team Northwest. I played for Northwest and Ulster academy when I was younger and had trials for the Irish team but Covid came in and all that shut down for ages. 

What are your plans after ATU and any long-term goals you are aiming for?  

I have no idea exactly what I want to do just yet but I’m hoping seeing different areas of work within Mental health nursing over the years will give me a better idea of what route exactly I want to go down. Nursing is a job that can be practiced in many countries so I’m hoping it will allow me to travel as well.