Any INFJ in Psych nursing? Is counselling involved as a psychiatric nurse?

[fiba]

I'm wondering is counselling involved as a psychiatric nurse? I am an INFJ

I know for myself what interested me in to possibly change into this field is the interaction with patients and the hospital and medical environment. And I have some courses that transfer into the psych nursing program. I currently volunteer at a mental health facility and lead a group to play word games, etcc.

I enjoy helping others including people with mental health problems. It certainly is a value I can really look up to since I have dealt with family members with these issues, everything from going to the hospital and waiting for them and even when the actual crisis happened. Then seeing the recovery.

I also have family members that were in the medical field and the psych nursing field feels relatable to me.

I know my personality likes to counsel and help people, but I with age have gained an interest in mental health. Studying to become a psych social worker takes too long.

And trying to become a clinical counselor also takes forever and a lot of money. There is the child and youth counselling route. But I don't know if I will feel the challenge in that field.

Also on a side note I'm not good at science but luckily for me where I would take the program I need to take Biology not physics or chemistry, which I know I could handle.

I'm wondering what are some thoughts on those that work in this field? would I be getting into the wrong field if my goal is to use some counseling, help others that may be experiencing mental health problems and work in a hospital or psych setting? I'm good working 1-1 or group work.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

There's alot of listening to be done as a psych nurse, but counseling is out of scope of practice for the RN. APRNs, however, can do counseling and therapy.

What's an INFJ?

[elkpark]

I'm an INFJ and have spent my whole career in psych nursing. As Whspera notes, generalist psych nurses do a lot of listening and education (individually and with groups), but counseling/therapy is limited to advanced practice psych nurses (psych CNSs and NPs).

[fiba]

There's alot of listening to be done as a psych nurse, but counseling is out of scope of practice for the RN. APRNs, however, can do counseling and therapy.

What's an INFJ?

INFJ is a personality type. what is an APRN? and you said they do counseling and therapy? cool!!

[fiba]

I'm an INFJ and have spent my whole career in psych nursing. As Whspera notes, generalist psych nurses do a lot of listening and education (individually and with groups), but counseling/therapy is limited to advanced practice psych nurses (psych CNSs and NPs).

Do you feel that psych nursing is the right fit? or can it get super overwhelming?

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

An APRN is an advanced practice registered nurse. That means the nurse (if in psych, but you can be one in all specialties) is either a nurse practitioner or a clinical nurse specialist...Masters in Nursing degree is required.

[Stephalump]

I'm aN xnfj - always tested as a low E, but I'm probably more of an ambivert.

Anyway, there are pros and cons to our type in this speciality. Being an extreme empath is great for therapeutic communication and encouraging compliance - the patients LOVE to talk to me, sometimes to the point of me going home and hibernating for the next 24 hours. The flip side is keeping strong boundaries and leaving work at work can be somewhat difficult - learning that I don't need to empathize with every patient has been my biggest lesson. Sometimes sympathy is good enough. ?

From my observations, the natural feely"helper" type people don't seem to be the ones who stick around psych. The hardier "helper" T types seem to stick around much longer - I can only assume because they don't tend to go in with their emotions on the line every single day.

But regardless of how long I stick with psych, I know there are lessons to be learned here. I've already grown SO much.

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

Im an INFP- so pretty close. Love psych.

[PG2018]

INTJ here. I believe psychotherapy is greatly needed for the treatment of mental health. However, other than a few passing suggestions and psychoeducation I personally do not care to take my practice into a talk therapy direction and consider myself more of an "ultra" neo-Kraepelinian psychiatry follower.

[fiba]

INTJ here. I believe psychotherapy is greatly needed for the treatment of mental health. However, other than a few passing suggestions and psychoeducation I personally do not care to take my practice into a talk therapy direction and consider myself more of an "ultra" neo-Kraepelinian psychiatry follower.

I do not know what neo-kraepelinian means. will have to google or read up on that in somewhere, I know google is not the best place for information, but it's what is available at this time for me lol.

[K-RN-BC]

I'm disagreeing with a lot of this. In Michigan's Public Health code, RN's are to provide education and counseling. Perhaps it depends on your definition of counseling? Psychoeducation, in my opinion, is a form of counseling and shouldn't be restricted to Advance Practice RN's. I'm confused.

[NuggetsHuman, BSN, RN]

I think the difference is whether you're providing "general psychoeducation, supportive listening, and helping the patient decide their goals and how to get there" versus psychotherapy assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.

As an LCSW it is within my scope of practice to diagnose and treat mental illness, and to provide psychotherapy.

But with an RN (when I hopefully get there), and if I were working in a nursing role, I would only be able to use nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions. Psychotherapy is outside the scope of practice for RNs, but therapeutic communication, goal setting, motivational interviewing are all very much within scope of practice.

When I (also hopefully) finish the psychNP program I'm targeting, I would again be able to diagnose and treat mental illness both with psychotherapy AND pharmacotherapy.

Psychotherapy is different than counseling in that psychotherapy is a more clinically oriented and specific form of treatment, whereas counseling is more general and supportive in nature. For example, in my workplace we have peer recovery specialists who can definitely provide therapeutic support and coaching. But if someone dives into trauma history and wants help getting that resolved, the peer is going to send them to me for therapy because trauma therapy is outside the scope of practice for a peer. I would imagine (AND HOPE to be honest), that psychRNs are aware that associates and bachelors degrees in nursing would allow them to provide supportive counseling but not psychotherapy because they lack the advanced training in clinical psych, therapeutic orientation and frame, and technique.

I hope that makes sense, and I'd love to keep talking about it.

If you are looking for more counseling and therapy, consider a clinical MSW program. There's a TON of flexibility in roles and types of work you can do with an MSW, particularly if you get your clinical social work license.

ps- @PG2018 I'd love to have a thread to talk about neo-Kraepelinianism and NIMH's push toward a more biological psychiatry understanding of mental illness