Lyndsay Saunders

I am a Mental Health Nurse with nearly 16 years experience providing high quality and patient centred care over a wide variety of settings. These include forensic mental health, NHS24 telehealth care and liaison mental health services. I am a skilled practitioner who is competent in assessment, diagnosis and treatment including medication and referral to other services. I have experience of working with a wide range of mental health conditions including, but not limited to, anxiety, depression, psychosis, mood disorders, cognitive impairment, dementia and drug/alcohol issues. I am a strong team player, and through the use of my excellent interpersonal skills, I am able to build good therapeutic relationships with my patients and their families, as well as with other healthcare professionals. I have good computer skills, having used a number of electronic systems in my roles. This includes my role within NHS24 which involved telehealth and carrying out assessments whilst completing assessment documentation simultaneously. I also use Microsoft Teams on a daily basis to carry out meetings with other health professionals.

At the beginning of 2024, I obtained my independent prescribing qualification from the University of Highlands and Islands which enabled me to carry out my role within Liaison more effectively. Since then I have been using the Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration system to prescribe medication for my patients. I have also recently completed a 4 day course on Motivational Interviewing with the Scottish Drug Forum which has many skills which are transferable to mental health assessment.

I moved to the Isle of Lewis in 2022 after having lived and worked in Glasgow for many years, and have since strived to improve my work life balance and my own mental wellbeing in this time. I am looking to move into remote working to enable me to continue this from home and structure my time more efficiently. My hobbies include wild swimming, breaks in my campervan and being outdoors with my 2 dogs. These are important to me to maintain my own mental wellbeing and balance the pressures and stress that can come with working in Mental Health Nursing.

• Wild Swimming
• Being Outdoors
• Home Baking