Why I do what I do (and love every minute of it)
I was invited to guest-post for a friend who is going back to school to become a CNA and she was interested in why some of her friends got into healthcare in the first place. So this is why...
I think it was around the 8th grade when I decided I wanted to be a nurse. I have always had a niche for helping people, having grown up around two teacher parents. But I didn't want to teach, so I decided that when I went to college I would go into nursing. Nursing school was rough for me, but I learned a lot and figured if I got through school the real world wouldn't be too bad. So why mental health? It was my 3rd semester in school (the nursing part; not generals) and I was doing psych clinicals at my current place of employment. At that point, most of my classmates had a pretty solid idea of what they wanted to do; pediatrics was most popular. I was watching a group session with one of the staff members, and the way he interacted with the patients and conducted it drew me in. After that I thought to myself, yes. This is what I want to do. This is where I want to work. Mental illness in my opinion is often misunderstood and many people are afraid of it, even the patients I work with. My job is to do my best to not only assuage their fears, but some of my own as well.
On one of my first days of orientation, we were asked what we were most afraid of. It didn't even dawn on me that patients may hurt me or others, rather my worst fear was not knowing what to say or saying the "wrong" thing. To this day it's still my worst fear; it's easy to answer the question of "why am I sick" to a hospital patient, but how do you answer the question to one of my patients when they ask me "Kelly, why do I want to hurt myself?" Being in this line of work has taught me to stop and think before I blurt out whatever comes out of my mouth, and it's a challenge sometimes, because so often when someone is talking you're running in your head how you're going to verbally respond. Can't really do that where I work, because if you're not listening carefully you may miss something. I've also learned it's also ok to say "Hey, I don't know." I feel like that it's often expected of healthcare staff to "have all the answers," and I've heard "well you're a nurse; you should know that." I think it's forgotten that yes, I am, but I'm human; I can't remember all that I learned in school. Some days my job is so beyond stressful and I drive home and blast my Doctor Who music because that's the only thing that can calm me down. But most days, even in the midst of chaos and stress God continues to use me, and then you hear great things, like "Kelly, this place saved my life." It's not easy, doing what I do, but I love it. It's a unique line of work, and one that I am proud to be in.
I think it was around the 8th grade when I decided I wanted to be a nurse. I have always had a niche for helping people, having grown up around two teacher parents. But I didn't want to teach, so I decided that when I went to college I would go into nursing. Nursing school was rough for me, but I learned a lot and figured if I got through school the real world wouldn't be too bad. So why mental health? It was my 3rd semester in school (the nursing part; not generals) and I was doing psych clinicals at my current place of employment. At that point, most of my classmates had a pretty solid idea of what they wanted to do; pediatrics was most popular. I was watching a group session with one of the staff members, and the way he interacted with the patients and conducted it drew me in. After that I thought to myself, yes. This is what I want to do. This is where I want to work. Mental illness in my opinion is often misunderstood and many people are afraid of it, even the patients I work with. My job is to do my best to not only assuage their fears, but some of my own as well.
On one of my first days of orientation, we were asked what we were most afraid of. It didn't even dawn on me that patients may hurt me or others, rather my worst fear was not knowing what to say or saying the "wrong" thing. To this day it's still my worst fear; it's easy to answer the question of "why am I sick" to a hospital patient, but how do you answer the question to one of my patients when they ask me "Kelly, why do I want to hurt myself?" Being in this line of work has taught me to stop and think before I blurt out whatever comes out of my mouth, and it's a challenge sometimes, because so often when someone is talking you're running in your head how you're going to verbally respond. Can't really do that where I work, because if you're not listening carefully you may miss something. I've also learned it's also ok to say "Hey, I don't know." I feel like that it's often expected of healthcare staff to "have all the answers," and I've heard "well you're a nurse; you should know that." I think it's forgotten that yes, I am, but I'm human; I can't remember all that I learned in school. Some days my job is so beyond stressful and I drive home and blast my Doctor Who music because that's the only thing that can calm me down. But most days, even in the midst of chaos and stress God continues to use me, and then you hear great things, like "Kelly, this place saved my life." It's not easy, doing what I do, but I love it. It's a unique line of work, and one that I am proud to be in.
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