Dual Diagnosis Practitioner, Emma Dallyn

Full name: Emma Dallyn

Place of work: Salford Dual Diagnosis Homeless Team

Job title: Dual Diagnosis Practitioner

Career Journey to date:

I qualified as a mental health in 2001, meaning I have been a mental health nurse for nearly 22 years. I have worked in a wide variety of settings since I started my career from inpatient to community crisis / home treatment teams to mental health liaison nursing in A&E.

In 2021 I wanted a new challenge and applied for a job within the Salford Homeless Dual Diagnosis Team. This was initially for a 1 year pilot to support people who were identified as being homeless whilst in the general hospital. My role was to ensure that people who were experiencing homelessness were able to access the support they needed for their mental health, substance misuse and physical health needs.

What inspired you to become a mental health nurse?

My inspiration comes from colleagues who work under immense pressure, show endless compassion and dedication to the most vulnerable people in society.

What are you most passionate about in mental health nursing?

I believe in providing care to people based on a non-judgemental compassionate approach whilst aiming to instil hope for future change. I support individuals who have experienced extensive trauma and my approach often involves building trust and respect over time, as they have often been let down by people and services that should have been there to protect and support them in the past. This is a hugely important role that I consider a privilege to be able to provide.

About your role

I work as a mental health nurse within a homeless team, a partnership team with the housing department of the Council and an outreach substance misuse team. We use an assertive outreach model to try and build trust with individuals who would be considered more difficult to engage with. In this role I help support people who are often in distress and have difficulty accessing mainstream services. They are likely to be experiencing complex substance misuse, mental health and physical health difficulties.

As part of my role, I provide training to other health professionals such as A&E staff about the importance of understanding the needs of homeless people who may present to the hospital in crisis.

What are the key priorities for your role?

Advocating for people who lack a voice or ability to access the health and social care that they desperately need.

What do you like most about your role?

That I work alongside colleagues from all different disciplines and levels of experience who care as much as I do about providing a much needed service to the most vulnerable people in society. 

What have you achieved in your current role?

I helped develop a pathway called the homeless out of hospital care model. This provided holistic support to homeless individuals who are leaving hospital ensuring that their complex health and social care needs were being met.

I have started providing teaching to staff in the hospital about how they can best support homeless people when they present to A&E.

I have built trusting therapeutic relationships with and advocated for my clients who would otherwise not be offered the support that they desperately needed.

What do you hope to achieve in your current role?

I hope to improve the health outcomes for the clients I work with.

I hope to raise awareness of the importance of providing accessible healthcare to excluded groups in society.

Inspiring others

Why should mental health nursing be considered as a career option?

Mental health nursing can be a rewarding profession and can offer a wide variety of opportunities to those with the right level of compassion and resilience.

What advice would you offer mental health nurses at the start of their career?

Ensure you receive as much relevant training as you can in your chosen role and continue to learn. Choose your workplace very carefully, supportive and experienced colleagues are essential to your well-being at work. Find your passion and work in an area that excites and interests you.

How do you maintain your health and wellbeing, achieve a good work life balance, and develop resilience?

Humour, self-compassion, good diet, regular exercise, good support outside work and rest.

What advice you would give to someone thinking of taking a similar career path as you?

You must have real compassion, warmth, empathy, resilience and a willingness to adapt to change.

Are there any useful websites/books/podcasts/videos that you would advise mental health nurses to refer to?

Gabor Mate, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. Film – The Wisdom of Trauma

What is your favourite quote and how does this relate to you as a mental health nurse?

Maya Angelou – people will forget what you said, people with forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Building and maintaining trusting relationships with people who have been repeatedly let down by others is key to the work I do currently.