A safe place to talk openly about mental health & illness
I mentioned in a recent weekend wrap-up that this was coming, and now it's here. As of today, I’m officially no longer a nurse, which is a pretty massive identity milestone for me. This isn't an abrupt transition by any means. I've known this was coming for a while now, and I’ve already been through… Continue reading An Depression & Identity Milestone: No Longer a Nurse
The wounded healer interview series features people who've dealt with significant mental health challenges, and who also work in a helping role to support the mental health of others. This interview is with Karoline of Not broken – My life with PTSD. 1) Tell us a bit about you, the helping field you’re in, and… Continue reading Wounded Healer: Karoline (Not Broken–My Life with PTSD)
Caz of Mental Health 360º is the first person to be featured in the wounded healer interview series, featuring people with significant mental health challenges who also work in a mental health helping role with others. Tell us a bit about you, the helping field you’re in, and the mental health challenges you’ve faced. I… Continue reading Wounded Healers: Caz (Mental Health 360º)
Spiders, Vampires and Jail Keys by Brooke O'Neill is a compelling story of one woman's life with bipolar disorder. Like me, Brooke is a nurse. When she returned to work after her period of acute illness, she was able to have positive conversations self-disclosing to some of her patients who had bipolar disorder in addition… Continue reading Book Review: Spiders, Vampires and Jail Keys
Role identity is a concept in sociology that refers to the identities that we build around the various socially defined roles that we fulfill. Identity shifts can occur over time based on various factors, including the importance those roles play in our lives overall. My adult role identities Student was a key role identity for… Continue reading Mental Illness Disability and Identity Shifts
As a nurse in my province (British Columbia, Canada), if I am hospitalized for mental illness then the provincial Health Professions Act requires the hospital to report me to the nursing regulatory college, and the college must treat this as a complaint about my fitness to practice. This ends up with being offered the non-choice… Continue reading The Health Professions Act and the Fight Against Stigma