It all started with an idea and became a resolution.

It all begins with an idea, right? So where did this idea come from? Well working in EMS allowed me to see many things, some good and some not so good. One thing that hit me hard was how many people were dying by suicide. These were not just patients, whom I had to connection to, but there were police officers, that I knew and worked with. There were friends of friends, and family members of friends. And this was before the COVID-19 pandemic!

There are days when I look around and see burnt out nurses, doctors, EMT’s, paramedics, medical assistants, etc. and wonder, what can I do? How can I help them? I don’t want to see so many of my colleagues on the brink of disaster. I have witnessed many walk away from careers that they once loved because they are overwhelmed. Management is stuck between caring for their staff, the patients, and maintaining a business, so most times they are not able to fully understand the scope of the problem and are at a bigger loss on how to fix the problem.

In 2018, I wrote a resolution for the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) regarding PTSD and suicide amongst emergency nurses. It was very eye opening to find that studies were not being conducted on nurse suicide in the US> The most recent study that I was able to find was from 2011 and was based in the UK. The intention was to have ENA start the conversation about the effects of PTSD and depression on our ED nurses and how we could help. Who knew that a mere 18 months after the resolution passed, we would be facing a pandemic and one of the biggest crisis that nursing has ever seen.

Looking back, I am so glad that I started the conversation early, however, I don’t think that I started the work soon enough. My goal with this project is to provide resources to all nurses to help cope with the struggle that we are all facing. If you have an idea, thought, concern, resources, please send it to me and I will publish it. I want this to be an open forum where nurses (and all healthcare workers) feel comfortable talking about their issues and can seek help and advice without the stigma that society has placed on mental health care.

Last night a nurse friend told me that in Maine when you renew your nursing license there is a question about whether you have sought care for mental health issues. My question was, so what if I did? So if I choose to better myself and help myself and my mental health by seeking care, you are going to hold it against me and against my license? This is wrong and will be something that I will be looking to change through this project. Mental health care IS health care! Seeing a therapist should be treated the same as seeing your primary care doctor for a cold. You notice a problem and seek the appropriate treatment.

We need to work together to remove the stigma of mental health care. We are nurses, the most trusted profession for many, many years. If we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend therapy for our patients, why do we shy away from it ourselves? Because of things like that question on the Maine application! It’s wrong and we need to address it.