About Sarah Choujounian Sarah Choujounian has been a nurse since 2004 & has been working in a nursing home for the greater part of her career. In 2017, she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which was the catalyst for her life changing actions.Through natural healing, she was able to get completely clean, lost 60lbs & healed herself from most of her fibromyalgia. Her transformation was so incredible that she decided to give back & became a facilitator to survivors. Sarah was fired ...

It's my pleasure to highlight one of my dearest client's of the Nurse Rx Community. Jess and I have been working together for over 18 months and are truly kindred souls. Jess is an RN in Maine USA and after dabbling in a few different areas of health and nursing, including being a member of her hospitals infectious diseases team, she found her true passion in labor and delivery. She beautifully relates the experience of birth to so many transcendent experiences of life and her heart just si...

How can we as nurses show up and co-create a holistic health care system that addresses people in the deep ways people need? In today's episode, my guest Bryanna and I are exploring the heavy impact of nursing on our lives as a whole and how the original conditioning influence of our young selves sets the foundation for the burnout and challenges we face in the future. Sandra's Key Takeaways: 1. The constant pressure and expectations of being a women and nursing grad impacts our sense of...

Recently terminated RN Jasper Pare joins me for a closeup look at what led him to choose to lose his job as a nurse. He shares vulnerably with us the impact this has all had on his life, both professionally and personally. What's incredible to witness, though, is his resilient mindset of growth and opportunity. Instead of allowing this devastating betrayal to lead him into a pit of despair, he has chosen to rise above it and see all the gifts that revealed themselves to him. There ar...

Today I am joined by Beth Cavenaugh, nurse of 25 years, with the last 15 of them spent working in a hospice home helping people walk through the last days of their loved ones life. As with any line of nursing, some days are heavy and bring with them an impact that seeps into every aspect of her life. A realization she didn't come to until well into her career. Join us as we dig into the darker side of this journey we all call life and talk about the effects it has on the medical staff ...

Jennifer Kirk and I take you through a conversation through nursing challenges, moral distress, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma and how that can affect our lives as nurses. We also highlight the health care systems set up that leave us vulnerable to errors that impact us and our mental health in devastating ways and how we can set ourselves up to be supported with mentorship and seeking help and guidance before we are circling the drain in despair. Sandra's Key Takeaways: The Bag...

The value of taking the journey back through nursing history and exploring international health care allows us to take a step back and find hope in the present and reconnect with our passion for nursing. The current climate and conditions of our health care system can feel very bleak and hopeless, but we can continue to look for the light in all the small experiences that keep us coming back through those doors. Perspective is a valuable resource and Paula is here to give us a healthy dose to...

This episode is going to take you on a deep dive ride as Victoriya and I journey from the contrasts and deficiencies of our health care system to how we as consumers of health care (and as people in many other ways) have given away our power over our lives. We discuss what this means and the implications and how we can step up and take back responsibility in our lives. Which can often mean looking outside of the box and opening our minds and hearts to new ideas and new truths as we na...

Paige Mathison joins me for a raw, candid interview that explores the shame and stigma of our struggles with the trauma and abuses we face in the nursing industry. My hope with this conversation is that you will be encouraged to reach out to someone you trust for support and find the hope and healing you need and truly deserve. You are not alone. The more we share our stories, the more open we are to having conversations like the one in this episode, the more we can connect and heal oursel...

Recently I openly expressed my views and beliefs regarding the unethical and immoral vaccine mandates being forced upon nurses and others in our country. I pride myself on truth and authentic expression, however holding this belief has made me the recipient of discrimination from my union partners. Repression and trauma have been relevant issues in the nursing profession for decades but now adding in the division and pressures of Covid-19 and differences in our personal and professional bel...

As nurses in today’s medical workforce we need to stand up and speak out, and no longer just sit down and be quiet, hiding in the shadows and the shame of our struggles. The reality is there are unlimited options available for nurses if we can only find the way to expand our beliefs about our potential and how we should show up in this world. We push ourselves in so many ways that it will eventually and inevitably result in us hitting a brick wall. We are only intended to do so much, b...

I'm so excited to be back again with the relaunch of “End the Silence” season two to share with you some powerful, brave, vulnerable and inspiring stories of actual nurses in our society. They are our colleagues, our mothers, our daughters, our friends, and it is such an honor to be able to hold space for them and for their stories here on this podcast. So who am I? My name is Sandra Payne and I am a certified holistic master coach with the International Association of wellness professional...

What a gift to have Fola as a guest on the podcast. Just being in her presence made me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzies inside. She gives embodiment to merging spirit into everyday life. Fola is an RPN in Alberta and has been working in mental health and addictions for over 11 years dedicating herself to promoting wellness through the integration of both traditional healing methods and modern scientific knowledge. She has been on her own personal journey as many healers have been,...

What a gift to have Rachel on the show. I met Rachel back in January after an online workshop I held on Nurse Burnout. She displayed a keen awareness of the cycle of the abuse and toxic overworking pattern in her nursing career and that they were taking her on a slippery slope towards burnout. Working with Rachel the past few months in the Nurse Rx Coaching program has been so inspiring. Her courage to speak honestly and openly about the toxic culture of nursing as well a...

Piroska has been nursing for over 31 years in multiple areas and roles. She has focused in her career on connecting with her patients through authentic humanity and meeting people on a deep level through some of the their most difficult and terrifying moments. Piroska is currently completing her Master in Arts in Counselling Psychology and also holds the designation as Certified Professional Coach, Licensed Practitioner and Master Practitioner in Neurolinguistic Programming and is a NS...

Kelly Cronin is a Registered Nurse in Ontario Canada and has practiced in areas such as family medicine, urgent care clinics, the coronary care unit, outpatient cardiology, cancer care, and it curing working in palliative care. Kelly shares with us her journey through nursing and how she has navigated depression to find thriving balance by prioritizing her self care and setting boundaries. She has found significant healing by leaning into humour and finding the joy and connection that...

Kinnon is a registered nurse working as a clinical nurse leader in the urban health program at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver B.C. Kinnon was drawn to St. Paul's by the exceptional work they do supporting the most marginalized populations of Vancouver - in particular the hard reduction programs being developed for people who use drugs. Kinnon shares much of her story as a young girl growing up struggling with self esteem, body image, and bullying and how she found alcohol as a ...

Katrina Stephenson is an RN in Alberta Canada. She has dedicated her nursing career to working within a harm reduction model of care and primarily marginalized individuals with histories of trauma and challenged by concurrent disorders. Katrina's work began to mirror her own experience when she developed symptoms of work related PTSD. After recognizing her struggle was getting worse and trying to get the support she needed she wrote an article for her union magazine that was publ...

My guest is Michelle Howard! A Registered Nurse from British Columbia Canada who has bravely worked the emergency rooms and trauma centers of BC's largest hospitals. Watching two of her three daughters entering the nursing workforce has lit a spark in her to be the mentor that so many nurses need in their early careers to create an environment that supports them and protects them from the bullying that so commonly takes place in our health care system. Michelle is inspiring, sel...

Alysa Lamb is a Registered Nurse in Northern British Columbia Canada. She has spent the past 13 years of her career using family centered care for the tiniest of our patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In her time as an NICU Nurse with a sprinkling of Palliative Care she was gifted with the opportunity to experience both the best and worst of the human experience. And that takes it's toll over time. Coupled with the toxic work environment she was in Alysa f...