Mental health nurse and academic Daryle Deering has been elected new president of the College of Mental Health Nurses (Te Ao Maramatanga). The former vice-president was elected to replace outgoing chair Heather Casey who has completed her four-year term. Deering was director of mental health nursing for the Canterbury District Health Board from 2000 to 2007 and currently holds a joint clinical/research position with the board and the University of Otago, Christchurch. The senior lecturer is based at the university’s National Addiction Centre and her clinical and research focus is working with people with alcohol dependence and depression. She also coordinates a postgraduate interdisciplinary paper on the treatment of people with co-existing substance abuse and mental health problems. Deering believes the college has a primary role in the future of mental health nursing through “collaborative working and partnerships with other professional nursing and interdisciplinary bodies, consumers, and a range of other networks”.
