Emily-May Barlow

I am a mental health nurse, educator, and researcher. I teach across pre-registration and post-registration healthcare programmes, with a particular focus on therapeutic communication, professional identity, clinical decision-making, and mental health practice.

My teaching uses storytelling, simulation, and lived experience to help students explore complex clinical situations, including uncertainty, risk, and therapeutic relationships. I am interested in how healthcare education can support the well-being, development, and professional growth of both practitioners and the people they care for. Alongside my university role, I volunteer with organisations supporting people affected by displacement and social disadvantage, including Care4Calais.

My research focuses on professional identity, clinical decision-making, and therapeutic practice within mental health nursing. I am currently completing a professional doctorate exploring how mental health nursing students develop and understand their professional identities throughout their education. Previous research has examined decision-making in mental health settings, including patient leave, PRN medication use, and risk assessment. These areas of practice often require clinicians to make decisions in situations where information is incomplete and uncertainty is unavoidable.