Dr Melsina Makaza

Dr Melsina Makaza is a highly experienced Australian Health Practitioner Agency (AHPRA) and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board (ANMB) registered Mental Health Nurse.  She is a Lecturer in Nursing in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Newcastle.  Melsina completed her Pre-registration Mental Health Nurse Education in the United Kingdom (UK) and she achieved the following qualifications:  Diploma of Higher Education (Dip HE) in Mental Health Nursing and a Batchelor of Health Sciences with Honours (BSc) Degree in Mental Health Nursing.  Melsina completed her PhD in 2021 with the Institute for Health Research (IHR) at the University of Bedfordshire, England.  Her PhD Thesis was entitled: ‘Exploring mental health nurses’ experiences of a patient suicide in the community”.  Melsina is passionate about mental health nursing because mental health nurses support people from all walks of life when they experience distress.  As a Lecturer and Researcher, she is invested in contributing to the development a future nursing workforce who can take care of their own mental health first, which can empower them to compassionately care for the needs of others.

Clinical Experience

As a clinician, Melsina has worked in both community and in-patient mental health services with children, young people, adults of working age and older adults in the UK.  She has worked collaboratively with students by supporting them to link theory to their practice learning and Batchelor of Science and Master’s Degree (MSc) Level. Melsina’s clinical interests, which have subsequently influenced her teaching and research interests, include Mental Health Promotion, Psychoeducation, Promoting Excellence in Dementia Care, Transcultural Mental Health, Service User Involvement in Education and Practice, Perinatal illness – Mental Health in Midwifery, Working with people with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorders, Psychosocial Interventions especially Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention.  Melsina is also interested in clinical practice associated with Forensic Mental Health, Medications Management and Psychological Therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Anxiety Management.

Teaching Experience

As a Lecturer, Melsina is passionate about promoting a high-quality student experience. She uses Creative Teaching & Learning Approaches to facilitate a meaningful student teaching and learning experience in Higher Education.  Her educational interests include promoting inclusivity, neurodiversity and gaining and sustaining learner interest, supporting students with Specific Learning Differences (SpLDs) such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia.  Melsina has over 25 years’ experience of facilitating teaching, learning and assessment in nurse education.  In June 2021, University of Gloucestershire Student Nurses nominated Melsina for a Student Led Staff Award for the “Most Innovative or Creative Teaching Style”.  Melsina won the £500 cash award in recognition for her contribution to the student experience.

In May 2019, Melsina became the Academic Course Lead for the newly launched BSc Mental Health Nursing Course at the University of Gloucestershire. Her main responsibilities in that role included providing academic leadership of the course, ensuring close liaison with Module Leaders, Senior Lecturers, the Academic Subject Lead and the Head of School. In that academic leadership position, Melsina managed the academic content of the programme, the facilitation of the teaching and assessment of modules.  She was Chair of the Internal Module Board of Examiners where she was responsible for the presentation of assessments to Internal & External Module Board of Examiners for awards. 

Research Experience

Melsina has engaged in research related to mental health nursing within the context of dementia awareness as well as suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.  Melsina is an early career researcher, and she has begun to build a record of scholarly and professional achievement in research.  For example, from 2011 to 2023, she engaged in national research collaborations with the Oxford Centre for Suicide Research and the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK.  Melsina was a member of a Suicide Prevention Special Interest Group which was led by Professor Keith Hawton (Director of the Oxford Centre for Suicide Research) and she contributed to the development of research outputs which have made an impact on psychiatrists and mental health professionals.  Melsina is keen to continue engaging in suicide research within the Australasian context.