Hi I have been a registered nurse for over 20 years. I have worked in various areas of practice but honestly because of finances have just maintained positions where I could be a mom and still maintain employment. My passion has always been psychiatric nursing from day one in nursing school. I am now the proud mother of one high school graduate and one college graduate ... Can you say empty nester!? Ha But, I feel that overwhelming sense of being under qualified and inexperienced. I have worked in the school setting helping children who suffered from severe depression, suicidal ideation ,substance abuse disorders, and counseled those students who were engaging in high risk behaviors but as far as dealing with acute inpatient crisis I have no experience. My role as the school nurse when dealing with children in acute crisis during school hours was to attempt to remove them from the general population to a quiet area, usually my office, calm them and neutralize the behavior, assess medication regime compliance and refer them out. I don't mind putting in hard work and now actually have the time to pull various 12 hour shifts that I didn't before with small children. It's just that most areas want experience especially psych/mental health nursing. I get that !! You do not want someone without proper training to work with clients. But how in the world do I get my foot in the door with my interviewers. I absolutely DO NOT mind starting from ground zero and work my way up. I am going back to work towards my psychiatric nurse practitioner in the Spring of 2020 and any advice or words of wisdom would be so appreciated.
