Normalizing mental health conversations with nurses is my passion! I am finding so many nurses seeking mental health services, and leaving because the therapist "just doesn't understand what it takes to be a nurse." And unless that therapist/coach has trauma training/modalities, today's nurse will absolutely need more than a traditional therapist can give.
Nurses heal nurses! We used to rely on a colleagues experience, strength and hope to get through each day, but the units are not the "families" they once were.
Here's what I know from my post traumatic growth journey.
Both of these girls pictured below had a hard time trusting that someone was going to show up consistently, and model what safety and consistency looked like.
As nurses, MANY many of us got into the Healthcare industry to care for others from a place of self-lessness (and not the compassionate kind), and because we find it easier to help others than to embody our feelings, traumas. Most of us don't have the language for core values, self-compassion, self-love, so we use our jobs to define our worth.... "look at how good I care for EVERYONE ELSE!"
Sound familiar? If it hits you hearing this.....I get it!
The nurse's lack of self awareness is exactly why the exploitation of a profession of primarily women can continue. We give until it hurts.....AND to add insult to injury, we cannot make a living wage away from the business of Healthcare Systems if we leave.
Daily, I listen to hopeful and tragic stories of nurses trying to numb out when they literally cannot get more numb.
Daily, I listen to Healthcare Professional who are feeling out of body and mind (and you are, it's called dissociation), while they are performing lifesaving tasks.
Daily, I listen to nurses who consider dying because they don't see any other way out of the fatigue (it's not the fatigue you think it is).
Daily, I help & empower nurses to own these narratives, normalizing "NO, YOU ARE NOT LOSING YOUR MIND, it just cannot think properly in trauma mode".
If you are ready to move on from the FATIGUE & DESPAIR of another day as "just a nurse" (not my words, the Administration's words), consider these common questions"
-What do I do now, tomorrow, moving forward?
-How do I continue as nurse?
-How do I support my family when this is unsustainable?
Now, consider these words-
Insight (looking inward to empower)
Informed decisions (prepared to act)
Nurses Empower Nurses best!! That's how we've made it this far.