Francesca Hufton is a third-year student mental health nurse at Canterbury Christ Church University. During her practice placements, Francesca identified aspects that need to be enhanced within the mental health care provision and became enthusiastic towards making the future of mental health nursing more person-centred. During her second year, Francesca realised that the mental state examinations being used for assessments were not understood in enough depth or used to their full potential, so she felt determined to create a visual version to assist both students and practitioners with understanding and their importance.

Francesca is largely passionate about eating disorders, psychopharmacology, autism and learning about the aetiology of mental health conditions. She is also a student author for the Nursing Standard where she writes regular articles about improving the student nurse experience and knowledge.