Head of Nursing, Dan Brown

Dan has worked in NHS Mental Health settings since 2000 starting as a Health Care Assistant in an Acute Care inpatient setting. Training at Kingston University and registering as a MH Nurse in 2005. After four years post registration work with ‘The Priory Hospital’ group, Dan re-joined the NHS in 2009 as a full time Band 6 Nurse in an Eating Disorders service. His first role was working in a community setting, managing a caseload for Adult Eating Disorders. Dan spent two years training in systemic therapy at Prudence Skinner Centre for family therapy.

Dan Brown

Working towards positive collaboration

“For me; being a mental health nurse is all about making connections between people, ideas, needs and hopes. The role, in all settings, is about seeing how to join up these pieces and find meaning where there was chaos, confusion and disconnection. In essence the role is focused on knowing people and guiding them to a place of safety, compassionately and with curiosity.”

In 2014 Dan won a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) scholarship to study for a master’s in clinical research (MRes) which he successfully achieved a merit for at St George’s University. His research project explored the lived experience of crisis interventions for those with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa. In 2017 Dan joined a Nursing Development Team as lead nurse for mentorship and student experience.

In late 2018 Dan took over the local ‘Parity of Esteem’ education project, working closely with colleagues from both Mental Health and Acute settings and with the Royal College of Nursing. Whilst based at St George’s Hospital as an honorary education leader he developed collaborative training schemes for nurses and other professionals. Amongst the on-going training courses are the ‘Foundations of Psychological Care’ for healthcare assistants and the ‘Rotational Nursing Programme’ for the acute Emergency Department & MH crisis service nurses. Dan specialises in collaborative, multi-professional training and creative solutions for communications and networks between MH and physical care staff.

In 2020 Dan became the Head of Nursing for Mental Health in a large London Acute Hospital, he is responsible for overseeing the mental health strategy and updating policies and processes to be more inclusive, with a strong parity of esteem ethos.

Dan Brown @MentalLondon (twitter), Head of Nursing for Mental Health ,St George’s University Hospitals Trust