Abstract
ABSTRACT: Mental illness is a huge problem many people face in the U.S. and around the world. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association indicates there is a shortage of nurses in every level and role in psychiatric-mental health nursing. Raising up a generation of nurses who want to work with the mentally ill is a challenge for nurse educators. The use of role playing and simulation in the learning lab prior to entering the clinical setting and reflective journaling in the clinical rotation can improve undergraduate nursing students' mental health clinical experience.