Michelle Parkes

I am currently employed as a Senior Lecturer with Teesside University and my background is in mental health nursing, where I enjoyed a seventeen-year career for the National Health Service (NHS) in a forensic mental health setting.  I now teach BSc pre-registration and apprenticeship nursing across the four fields of practice.

During my career with the NHS, I had the opportunity to develop both clinical and leadership skills.  I was employed to work with teams of dedicated clinicians to meet the needs of those with mental illness who also have actual or risk of criminal offending. 

From 2006 onwards I developed my career into a leadership role and ultimately spent the last six years in clinical practice as a Modern Matron.  This role involved the management and co-ordination of up to five clinical areas and held both clinical and operational responsibilities.

In 2018 I moved into an academic career.  This was my aim from being a student nurse and I felt that I was now equipped with the clinical and leadership experience to meet the requirements of this academic post.  In the past five years I have developed my knowledge of academic process in two Higher Education Institutions and been able to utilise the skills acquired during my PGCE.  I have extensive experience as module lead and also have experience of the role of Deputy Programme Leader and lead for academic misconduct in BSc Mental Health Nursing Practice at University of Sunderland.

During my time in clinical practice, I engaged and successfully completed training in Behavioural Family Therapy.  As part of my leadership role, I was trained to use the various lean tools developed as part of the Toyota Model which had been adapted to improve efficiency in health services by Virginia Mason.  Since commencing an academic post, I have engaged with a Northern Accelerator Innovation Programme regarding research commercialisation. 

My main area of interest is research; I particularly enjoy teaching and assessing in evidence-based practice and research modules.  During my time in Higher Education, I have supervised both BSc and MSc dissertation students; this is a part of the role I find particularly rewarding. 

When competing my MSc Transformational Leadership, I conducted research on the role of nurse leaders in managing incidents of violence and aggression.  The work involved in this widened my knowledge and understanding of research process, clinical leadership and other linked clinical topics considerably.