Let go after orientation and feeling lost now. Need advice

[sunflower101, BSN, RN]

I was let go from my first nursing job about a week and a half ago. I was a med-surg nurse for 3 months and let go on my last day of orientation. I really feel like I need to see a counselor, but I don't have health insurance now so here I am posting on allnurses. Losing my first job hurt my confidence in being a nurse a lot. My anxiety has also gotten worse over this week and a half and I feel stuck. I don't have the motivation to apply to any jobs even though I know I need to. While I haven't applied to any, I have been looking. A lot of the areas I want to go into (post-partum, school nurse, neonatal) require at least a year of experience. There is this one program that I found that is 8 weeks in any specialty you want, but I wouldn't be getting paid at all and a job isn't guaranteed after.

I just really don't know what to do anymore. I originally planned to stay at my med-surg job for a year to get the experience needed, but it didn't work out. I won't allow myself to go back to med-surg since it caused me way too much stress and anxiety. Any advice at all is helpful!

[ns12]

I'm sorry to hear this. Are there other units or nursing jobs that you can apply to? It seems like you need income, and I know just having your license in nursing gives you so many opportunities. Med/surg might not have worked out, but don't give up. I am not currently a nurse, but what I have heard from friends who are nurses is that once you find the unit that you click with your experience is like night and day. Best of luck to you!