BA(Hons) RNMH MA Ed
I am a Registered Mental Health Nurse and Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing. I have a BA (Hons) Philosophy, DipHE RNMH, PGDip (Health and Social Care Educator) and MA Education by Negotiated Learning (Dist), and am currently studying for the Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) and the Masters degree in Forensic Psychological Studies with the OU.
I have 30 years of clinical, teaching and research experience in mental health practice. My clinical experiences have been within acute adult psychiatric admissions wards, intensive recovery services for people with severe mental illness, and within a specialist psychological trauma treatment service. I moved into Higher Education as a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health in 2009, and after 10 years working in nurse education within brick Universities, joined the OU in Jan 2020 as a Staff Tutor before moving to the central academic team in 2022.
My research and teaching interests include: liminality, professional socialisation, transition and threshold concepts in nurse education, and I closely follow developments in psychological trauma therapy, psychosis, complex grief and the impact of the self in therapeutic work.
I am also looking at how language is used in healthcare in collaboration with academic colleagues in Languages and Applied Linguistics (LAL).
Current work includes:
Since joining the OU I have drawn on my experience both as a mental health practitioner and nurse educator to author on modules in Nursing, HSC, ACP and Social Work:
Outside the day job I am a School Governor for a large 11-16 Community Academy Trust, and I continue to work as a clinical supervisor in palliative care.
Liminality, professional socialisation, transition and threshold concepts in nurse education.
Interprofessional learning and working in health and social care
Psychological trauma and the evidence base for psychotherapy
Grief and recovery
Supporting staff working with loss, death and dying
Member of Open Thanatology Research Group
Member of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK (MHNAUK)
Psychological therapies
Trauma and recovery
Loss and grief
Communication skills
Complex mental health
Interprofessional learning
Leadership and clinical decision making
Clinical supervision
Publications
Evans C A & Kevern P (2015) Liminality in preregistration mental health nurse education: A review of the literature, Nurse Education in Practice, Volume 15, Issue 1, Pages 1-6
Harris C A (2021) “Finding Comfort and Truth in Une Mort Tres Douce” in Narratives of Covid: Loss, Dying, Death and Grief during Covid 19, edited by Erica Borgstrom and Sharon Mallon
Harris C A and Murcott W (2023) A disorder- or just me? Life with Bipolar, Open Learn
Borgstrom, E., Harris, C. A., Kerry, J., and Mallon. S. (2023) Bereavement during employment in Higher Education (UK): 2023 Survey Report. Milton Keynes: The Open University.
Borgstrom, E., Harris, C. A., Kerry, J., and Mallon. S. (2023) Compassion and care: staff experiences of death, the role of bereavement policies in higher education , Open Learn
Reviewer
Academic Journal "Death Studies"
Academic Consultant
BBC Ideas "What is Therapy?"
BBC Connect
Bereavement during employment in Higher Education (UK): 2023 Survey Report (2023-05-05)
Borgstrom, Erica; Harris, Claire A.; Jones, Kerry and Mallon, Sharon
The Open University, Milton Keynes.