Catiedid1230

I'm a new-ish grad in Med/Surg. My hospital has the option to eventually cross train and float to other units. I'm interested in mental health and my long term goal is to be a PMHNP, so naturally I'd like to work on the mental health unit. Here's my conundrum: 7 or 8 years ago, when I was extremely depressed and unwell, I ended up on said MHU. It was my one and only hospitalization and my mental health has drastically improved & been stable, since. Now this was awhile ago, but I've seen a couple nurses I remember from that time around the hospital and I assume they still work there. Would it be weird or inappropriate for me to work on that unit, now? It won't trigger me, but I don't know if it would make staff feel uncomfortable to have someone working there who was once a patient. My hospital is a small, community one, and we are in a rural area, so my options are limited. The only other psych options are quite a commute and two of which are standalone psych hospitals with much higher level acuity/risk to physical safety than I am OK with (I worked at one right off the bat out of school and saw a lot of people get seriously injured. I left quickly because of a mix of that and because I wanted a more solid medical foundation before pursuing a PMHNP specialty). If this was a situation where I had been a medical patient and ended up working on that medical unit I know no one would care - but there is still unfortunately a stigma attached to mental health care, and the power dynamics between staff and patients are different in that psych than in medical. Thoughts and feedback welcome!