• Completed an AQF Level 7 Bachelor of Nursing, or equivalent qualification; AND
• Registration as a Registered Nurse (Division 1); OR Registered Midwife with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) OR equivalent registration with the relevant registering authority for applicants outside of Australia; AND
• Provide evidence that they are employed in a mental health setting (e.g., employment contract); OR
• Completed Victoria University’s Graduate Certificate in Mental Health Nursing or Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing.

With VU Online’s Master of Mental Health Nursing, you’ll gain knowledge and skills in evidence-based assessment and intervention approaches in mental health. This course will position you to take on mental health care coordination roles, leadership roles in mental health nursing or roles in mental health services. This course also prepares you for roles in senior mental health services or sessional academic work.

VU Online provides you with the support you need, when you need it, during your course. Our support network has a single focus on ensuring you are entirely supported to succeed in your studies.

Our highly experienced academics are responsive and accessible and understand how to deliver a quality online learning experience. You will also be introduced to your very own Student Success Advisor, who provides motivation and one-on-one personalised assistance with non-academic matters throughout your course.

You’ll experience the support of your community through chat, virtual seminars and discussion board activity. Remember, your support network is only a phone call and email away.

Our Master of Mental Health Nursing costs $2,870-$2,950 per unit*. The total cost for all 12 units is $34,840-$34,920.

FEE-HELP loans are available to assist eligible full-fee paying students with the cost of a university course. This Government loan scheme helps to pay for all or part of their tuition.

*2025 student fees are shown and are subject to change.

For more information on fees and student support, download a brochure.

Studying with VU Online means that you can undertake postgraduate study without having to attend on-campus classes. This makes it easy to fit study around existing commitments including work and family. You will be able to access your coursework, resources, assignment details and individual feedback from facilitators, all from your online learning environment, VU Collaborate.

Chat with fellow students, compare research notes and collaborate on group tasks – it’s all possible with our seamless, community-focused platform.

With VU Online, you will study just one unit at a time under the award-winning VU Block Model®. Learn about our postgraduate online Block Model with this YouTube video.

You will receive support from our responsive academics and facilitators, as well as your dedicated Student Success Advisor throughout your study.

VU Online has simplified the application process, involving just three key steps.

1. Speak to one of our Student Enrolment Advisors, who will help you determine your eligibility for the program and whether it suits your career goals. Our advisor will keep you informed of all the application requirements and what to expect during the process. They can also suggest flexible study plans for your circumstances.
2. Begin your online application and submit the required documentation. This may include a copy of your CV and academic transcript.
3. Upon completing your application, you will receive a confirmation email or an email letting you know if you need to provide any additional information.

In this unit, students critically reflect on the lived experience of mental illness. The students' learning journey begins by examining past institutional abuse of people with mental illness and the continuing effects of stigma across social and diverse cultural contexts. Students analyse the evolution of the mental health consumer movement, focusing on consumer rights, autonomy, self-determination, collaborative decision-making, and strength-based models to support recovery from mental ill-health. Students also interrogate how to support consumers who have complex mental illness or who exhibit challenging behaviours, within a consumer-centred, recovery-oriented framework. Students will also debate the challenges that arise when balancing the diverse needs of consumers and carers in relation to confidentiality, privacy, and disclosure.

This unit examines biopsychosocial and cultural perspectives of mental illness. This includes the links between serious mental illness, physical health conditions, complex comorbidities, and disability. Students will interrogate the correlation between lower levels of physical health, mental health, and socio-economic indices for people experiencing chronic physical conditions and mental ill-health. Students will also cross-examine the ethical dilemmas and cultural perspectives of mental ill-health for people with diverse experiences, backgrounds, and lifestyles. This includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, LGBTQIA+ peoples, veteran groups, and people from metropolitan, regional, rural, and remote communities across Australia. Students will also evaluate the value of care coordination and care planning approaches for people with complex health and sociocultural needs.

In this unit, students examine the experiences of trauma among people from diverse populations, cultures, and age groups and its impact across the lifespan. Students will analyse the way people, with the lived experience of trauma, report feeling stigmatised, discriminated against and misunderstood. These impacts include emotional dysregulation, substance misuse, self-harm, and suicidal behaviours. Students will also appraise the eight foundational principles of trauma-informed care and practice that focus on modelling interpersonal relationships, working with cultural differences, advocating for consumer control and choice, inspiring hope, supporting recovery, and integrating care. The unit requires students to critically reflect on their practice through a trauma-informed lens and interrogate the importance of recovery-oriented practice when caring for people who have experienced trauma.

This unit will further develop students' professional knowledge and expertise in the effective coordination and delivery of specialised mental health care. Students will focus on understanding mental health disorders and how to effectively care for a person experiencing mental health issues or illness. Students will also gain a deep understanding of the philosophy and theory underpinning mental health care, its values and the specific skills to maintain therapeutic relationships and assist in person-centred health care that promotes recovery and resilience. The unit includes a critical review of psychology, to support a greater understanding of mental health disorders across the lifespan and cultural awareness when supporting patients’ mental health and well-being. Students will also critically review models of self-care when delivering mental health care services across a range of settings. The unit will prepare students to provide evidence-based mental health care in a range of health settings.

This unit examines the major concepts and principles of community health promotion including self-care, continuity of care, primary health care, health promotion, illness prevention, community assessment, family assessment and home care. Health promotion is a proven dynamic in disease prevention and maintenance of community health. In this unit you will review the major health issues impacting on national and global health. Australian and World Health Organisation (WHO) health priorities and strategies for optimising community health will be critically reviewed. You will reflect on the role of the nurse in community health promotion within areas of specialisation. You will examine communities with diverse and specific health requirements and health literacy needs to understand how to optimise the success of health promotion strategies. This unit also examines the major concepts and principles of cultural safety and the knowledge and skills required of the nursing profession to work ethically with diverse people and communities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Students will examine a health problem in relation to a specific community and design strategies of community health promotion in a specialised area of your choice.

This unit develops the knowledge and skills of students to ethically support diverse older person who are experiencing symptoms of mental illness, by employing person-centred approaches to delivering care. Students critically analyse the notion of ageism and how the lived experience of ageism can affect people's mental health in later life. Another learning focus is the comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment of the older person with complex comorbidities. Students also investigate and differentiate between depression, delirium, and dementia; together with rates of suicide in older populations, and debate the treatment options best suited for the older person who experiences symptoms of mental illness.

This unit explores the competencies registered Nurses need to work within inter-professional teams to provide coordinated care for clients with complex needs. The unit investigates strategies for working together effectively; making informed health care decisions and ensuring continuity of care for clients. This unit provides students with essential skills in utilising available resources effectively, health coaching and consultation, and the development of care plans that meet complex care needs. Students will further their skills in client advocacy and anticipatory care management, assessment of risk factors related to decline in a community context and determination of available alternatives for managing risks and balancing the needs and desires of clients. Key themes of the unit include exploring and practising the collection and management of client information across the continuum of services and how to negotiate potential service providers for best care package for client needs, including the management of subcontracted services.

This unit investigates evidence-based research and its application in the healthcare setting. Students will develop and refine their skills in searching and critically reviewing and evaluating available nursing and healthcare research and evidence. Students will also learn to use critical appraisal tools to evaluate qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research. By examining systematic reviews to clarify how evidence is synthesised, students will critically appraise literature and identify gaps in current knowledge to design and develop research proposals and/or projects.

This unit develops students' knowledge and skills to ethically support consumer-centred medication management for people who experience symptoms of mental illness. Students will critically review psychopharmacological treatments across the lifespan. Students will also examine the major drug groups of psychotropic medicines, including the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; and assess and analyse the actions of drugs on physiological, biochemical, and pathophysiological processes. Learning also includes an examination of drug interactions, side effects, the misuse of psychotropic medications, and the broader impact of psychopharmacological interventions on individuals, their families or carers. Finally, students investigate the efficacy of brain stimulation therapies.

The focus of this unit is the assessment of people who experience the symptoms of mental ill-health. Students are supported to extend their knowledge and skills in conducting mental health assessments, to encompass the full range of complex health needs of mental health consumers and their family or carers. Students will learn how to conduct a range of comprehensive risk assessments to advance their understanding and application of classification systems to mental health disorders. The unit requires students to critically evaluate how to apply the findings of an assessment to provide a range of ethical consumer-centred treatment options.

In this capstone unit students consolidate their training by investigating a significant issue in their specialisation through undertaking a research project. Students will strengthen their evidence-based research capabilities by participating in a number of key phases and activities of an evidence-based research project to inform practice. Students will critically review the literature, including academic, policy and/or practice evidence, collecting, analysing, interpreting and disseminating findings in the form of a report or journal article for publication.

This unit supports students to interrogate the nature of dependency on and addiction to substances, such as licit and illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; and behavioural addictions to food, sex, gambling, video games, social media and gaming. Students deconstruct the concepts, models, and theories of addiction; and national and international policies and approaches to addressing addictive behaviours. An important focus of the unit is the analysis of the processes involved in achieving behavioural change, including prevention programs, counselling strategies, techniques such as motivational interviewing, and evidence-based approaches to reducing harm.

This unit will identify and clarify the role of the nurse to improve health outcomes and quality of life, for older people living with chronic disease. Using case studies and research, students will reflect on patient experiences, their interactions with the health system and self-management interventions and models. Students will investigate the effects of class, race, sexuality, gender and environment that influence a person’s health and wellbeing and their motivations to manage positive lifestyle changes. Students will also investigate current evidence-based approaches that incorporate integrated care and self-management interventions to improve overall health. Students will critically reflect on best practices to work collaboratively with the individual, family and carers to address specific and individual needs to enhance patients’ wellbeing and quality of life. Unit topics include investigating the promotion of a person-centred care approach, quality safety and risk and ongoing evaluation and maintenance of independence, choice, rights and quality of life.