Mental health nursing is often regarded as a low-status occupation not only by the general public and fellow healthcare professionals, but also by fellow nurses. This perception has a profound effect on the identity, self-esteem and recruitment of mental health nurses. It also has wider implications for health promotion, and forms part of the parity-of-esteem narrative between mental and physical health.

This article explores equivalence in nursing, why the problem about equivalence came into being, how it is perpetuated and what steps those involved could take to raise the profile of mental health nursing.