The client as educator: learning about mental illness through the eyes of the expert.

Increasingly, educators are asking clients who have a mental illness to make a contribution to nursing students' learning as a way of informing their attitudes towards persons experiencing mental illness and thus enhancing care delivery. The nature of clients' involvement in the classroom and the quality of learning by students through this approach has rarely been questioned. This paper discusses a model of client/nurse educator collaboration in a mental health course with undergraduate nursing students.