This week, Carley returns, and we take questions from you! The questions range from fun to serious, and Carley and Micheline do their best to answer them. Where do they find joy in nursing? Who would be a dream guest? What mental health or self-care strategies work to help deal with the challenges of the profession? We answer all of those and more!

This week, we dive into debriefing in healthcare. Sibyl and Micheline explore its purpose, how to get nurses on board, variations across different units, the impact of high-acuity environments, and the different emotional and professional goals of debriefing. It's so important to address moral distress and create a safe space for nurses to openly communicate about mental health!

Chapters

• 00:00 Encouraging Comfort and Participation in Debriefing Sessions
• 26:17 Lack of Access to Mental Health Care
• 36:37 Proactive Debriefing and Emotional Support for Healthcare Workers

CW: Suicide

This week, Chris and Martha Thomas, co-founders of The Defensive Line, talk with us about their work to fight the stigma of speaking about suicide. We discuss the impact of asking direct questions, the importance of listening and not judging, and the role of parents in mental health conversations. Chris and Martha also address coping with grief, fostering hope, and the importance of mental health in communities of color.

Chapters

• 00:00 The Power of Storytelling
• 07:08 Dispelling Myths About Mental Health
• 12:52 Navigating Grief During the Holidays
• 19:32 The Importance of Hope and Mental Health in Communities of Color
• 29:10 The Defensive Line and Mental Health in Communities of Color
• 34:54 The Defensive Line: Defenders of Life

This week, Micheline and Sibyl take a deep dive into nursing stereotypes, focusing primarily on "the mean girl to nurse pipeline" meme and "the mom" stereotypes. How do these stereotypes put nurses in boxes? What challenges exist for nurses to identify outside of said stereotypes? And how do these stereotypes discount the skills, labor, and intellectual aspects of nursing? We talk about all that and more!

CW: This podcast contains discussions of mental health that may be sensitive to listeners.

This week, Dr. Jessi Gold is on the pod! The author of How Do You Feel? One Doctor's Search for Humanity in Medicine, Dr. Gold talks with us about workplace mental health, wellness, and burnout among healthcare workers. We discuss the unspoken costs of caring for others and the need for self-compassion. Dr. Gold highlights for us the power that sharing our personal stories has to foster connection and healing!

Please check out all @drjessigold has to offer on IG or visit her website drjessigold.com!

On this week's episode of The Self Care Unit, Shannon, NICU nurse and founder of Operation Happy Nurse, sits down with Sarah and shares journal entries that she recently came across from her first three months as a nurse, her thoughts and fears about nurse burnout then vs. now, and the thought-provoking realizations they've given her nearly eight years later.

If you'd like to share you own journal entries, anonymous or not, please send to joe@theselfcareunitpod.com!

It’s spooky season, so we have a very haunted episode of Ask a Nurse for you! We talk ghost stories, curses, the paranormal, and all things spooky in the hospital. What really happens on those late night shifts? Are some shifts cursed? Do healthcare workers really believe in ghosts? Let us know what scares you most!

Happy Halloween from the Self Care Unit!

The Self Care Unit has a brand new Ask a Nurse for you this week! This episode is all about learning to become a nurse, to hopefully help out the students, recent grads, and new nurses out there! What kind of soft skills do you wish you had learned in nursing school? How do you move around and network in the professional nursing world? And most importantly, how should you prepare for the NCLEX and stave off the anxiety? Carley and Sarah tackle those questions and more! Check it out!