Course Access
Did you catch our October member profile interview with Priscilla Singh and Shelley Cooper from St John of God Langmore Centre?
We caught up with them during Mental Health Month to talk about the specific challenges of IPC in mental health settings.
You can read the full interview below.
Tell us a bit about the Langmore Centre and the work you do there.
Shelley: The Langmore Centre is a 60-bed private mental health hospital offering both inpatient and day-patient care. We’ve got a dedicated alcohol and other drugs unit that helps people detox and recover from substances like alcohol, methamphetamine, cannabis, prescription medications, and opiates.
Many of our patients come to us after trauma or chronic pain has led to long-term medication use, and we support them through both detox and rehabilitation programs that can run anywhere from a week to a month. We also run an ADHD program for people needing assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for complex ADHD that’s really impacting their daily life.
Our 27-bed mental health unit supports people living with anxiety, depression, trauma, and personality disorders, and we also offer ECT and transcranial magnetic stimulation to treat depression. We have a 14-bed unit specifically for emergency services and defence personnel experiencing PTSD, anxiety, or related issues. Our day programs give people extra support — either as an alternative to admission or after discharge — to help them maintain recovery and keep building a healthy, meaningful life.
What does IPC practice look like in your setting?
Priscilla: Coming from an acute care background, I’ve had to rethink what infection prevention looks like in a mental health setting. In acute care, infection meant isolation and strict precautions — but that doesn’t work here. Our patients are in rehabilitation, and connection is part of their recovery. You can’t just lock someone in their room for seven days; it’s their community, their therapy, their safe space. I’ve learned so much from Shelley about finding that balance between maintaining safety and supporting recovery in a compassionate, realistic way.
Shelley: Every day is about managing risks while keeping treatment meaningful. Most of our patients are mobile, spending time in group therapy and social settings, so IPC here is about creative problem-solving. During the peak of COVID, for example, we had to weigh up the infection risk against the harm of isolation. Sometimes that meant switching to telehealth, discharging someone to recover at home, or spacing them apart in group sessions — but always with empathy. It’s really about doing the most good with the least harm: keeping people safe while ensuring they still feel connected, supported, and cared for.
Do you work with the patients on IPC education as well as staff?
Priscilla: Absolutely — education is a big part of what we do, not just for staff but for patients too. Mental health nursing is quite different from acute care, so we’ve done a lot of hands-on training with staff around things like PPE use, swabbing, and specimen collection — skills they might not have used much before. There’s also a lot of reassurance involved, helping both staff and patients feel confident that infection prevention can be part of care without feeling clinical or restrictive.
We really focus on empowering patients. Because most are independent, we encourage them to take part in their own care — even doing their own nasal swabs with clear instructions, for instance. The nurses do a fantastic job explaining things in plain, simple language and using leaflets to help patients understand why precautions are needed, or why they might need to go home until they’re well. It’s all about partnership, respect, and making infection prevention something that feels supportive rather than punitive.
Do you find that caring for people in mental health crisis — who may already have other health issues or struggle with daily living — adds extra challenges to infection prevention and overall care?
Shelley: Absolutely — caring for people in crisis adds a whole new layer of complexity. When someone is experiencing severe depression, they may struggle with basic self-care like showering or changing clothes, which increases infection risks such as UTIs. The team’s approach is all about gentle encouragement and respect — using kindness, humour, and trust to motivate patients rather than directive or clinical language. Building strong relationships helps patients feel supported and cared for, not judged.
During COVID, this became even more challenging. The team had to balance infection prevention with the mental health risks of isolation, knowing that keeping people apart could worsen their condition. Education and collaboration were key — helping patients understand the “why” behind precautions, involving them in decisions, and finding safe ways to bring people back together through masks, hand hygiene, and testing. Our patients appreciated that approach because it allowed them to stay connected while still staying safe.
Does it take a very specific personality type to be successful as a mental health nurse?
Shelley: You can spot a mental health nurse from a mile away — they’re a different breed altogether. Coming from the UK, where mental health nursing is its own specialty, the focus is far less on ticking off tasks and far more on relationships. Mental health nurses are people-people: they thrive on building trust, connecting through conversation, and helping patients work toward their own goals rather than a list of clinical duties. It takes empathy, patience, and genuine curiosity about others.
Priscilla: The shift from acute care was a big adjustment. I went from a checklist-driven environment to spending most of my time talking with nurses, problem-solving, and supporting them through complex, real-world scenarios — everything from managing bed bugs or head lice to making sure alcohol-based hand rubs are safely stored. It’s a very human kind of nursing, one that relies on teamwork, adaptability, and the understanding that sometimes the most important thing you can do is just sit down and talk.
Are you often surprised at the things that happen that you’ve suddenly got to develop a policy for?
Priscilla: Absolutely. things come up all the time that we could never have predicted. With shared dining areas, for example, we’ve had to think creatively about infection control, introducing disposable wipes instead of alcohol-based hand gels to avoid the risk of ingestion while still keeping everyone safe and hygienic. Then there are the more unexpected challenges, like managing cases of scabies or bed bugs — situations that don’t usually crop up in acute care. When someone arrives with their own belongings, the team must think on their feet about how to manage clothing, bedding, and furniture safely, all while keeping the patient’s dignity intact. It’s a constant balancing act between practicality, safety, and compassion.
Shelley: And honestly, those surprises never stop. I still remember when multi-pack needle cartridges were first introduced years ago — what seemed like a harmless change quickly turned into an unexpected infection-control challenge. People would get curious and share them, saying things like, “Here, have a go, see what it feels like,” without realising there was still a risk of blood-borne virus transmission, even if they weren’t sharing the same needle. It really brought home how easily good intentions can lead to new risks, and how vital it is to stay alert, keep educating, and update our policies as soon as these things come to light.
Are animals allowed at the Centre?
Shelley: Yes, absolutely — we have plenty of animals at the Centre, especially in the trauma unit. We often support people who have their own assistance dogs, and we also welcome therapy dogs — the Delta dogs come on site regularly and are always a big hit. It’s not just about the therapeutic benefit for the patients; we also have to think about the wellbeing of the dogs themselves. When someone is very emotional or distressed, their assistance dog is constantly “on duty,” so those dogs must get proper time out to rest, play, and just be dogs. And, of course, there’s the infection control side — making sure everyone washes their hands after interacting, especially once the dogs take off their coats and start giving out kisses!
Priscilla: We use the ACIPC Companion Animals In Aged Care resources for therapy dogs (link). That means ensuring all dogs are vaccinated, well-groomed, and have regular vet checks. The organisations we partner with take responsibility for those health and safety standards, but we make sure our staff and patients understand and follow the hygiene protocols too. It’s a wonderful program — the dogs bring so much comfort and calm to the people here.
What difference has it made having an IPC consultant working within the facility?
Shelley: Having Priscilla here has honestly been a game-changer. We’re a small hospital — sometimes there are only three people on a ward or five on a night shift — so flexibility is everything. Priscilla just gets that. She meets people where they’re at, whether that means being here at 6:30 in the morning after night shift or standing there with her iPad and a lollipop ready to give flu shots. Since she joined, our vaccination rates have gone up so much because she makes it easy, friendly, and fun — it doesn’t feel like another job on the list.
Priscilla: For me, working in IPC in a mental health setting is all about relationships and collaboration. In acute care, you can just hand over a policy and move on, but here, every case is different — every patient has their own needs and care plan. That’s where Shelley and I really work well together. We bounce ideas off each other, find practical solutions, and make sure the approach fits our patients and staff. Having that trust, leadership, and support — from each other and from the exec team — makes all the difference.
I’ve also become much more holistic since moving into this space. In acute care, it was all about following the policy — 5-7 days for chickenpox, isolate until crusted, that kind of thing. But in mental health, it’s not that simple. People are mobile, they’re in therapy, they’re part of a community. So now it’s about assessing each situation — maybe someone can still join group therapy, just sit a bit apart and wear a mask. Most people are vaccinated anyway, so we take a balanced, risk-based approach. Shelley and I often have different opinions, but we talk it through, find the middle ground, and make sure it’s safe and supportive.
What’s your message for Mental Health Month?
Priscilla: For me, Mental Health Month is about reminding IPC professionals that it’s okay to be flexible — we’re not the “policy police.” Infection prevention doesn’t have to be black and white. There are always ways to keep everyone safe while still showing compassion and understanding. Our goal is to support patients, nurses, and the hospital equally, and to make sure our approach benefits everyone involved. People living with mental illness deserve the same standard of infection prevention as anyone else — it just needs to be adapted to their needs and delivered with empathy.
Shelley: From my perspective, mental health is no different from any other area of healthcare. The people we support are part of our community — they’re our families, our friends, our colleagues. Many are also living with other conditions or receiving treatment in different settings, so they should be treated with the same respect and care as anyone else. Mental Health Month is a good reminder that it only takes the right set of circumstances for any one of us to need that same kind of support.