clearly_clara

I am only a nursing student, but I'm taking my mental health practicum currently. It's a lil bit fresher in my mind. Hope the following helps! :) When someone is talking about suicide, it's usually because they are experiencing so much psychological pain. So you can just reflect that back to them... "you must have been in so much pain to have wanted to do that." "That must have been so hard, for you to feel that." Just reflect the feeling back to them, or try to clarify what they're saying. And be objective; use a nonjudgemental tone when talking to them about being depressed or suicidal. Just be accepting of what they tell you. And I guess, mostly, just listen to them. Usually psych patients just want to tell you their story.

Yeah... conferences are hard to attend straight out of school (or while you're in school, for that matter! ) No in-hospital workshops? I've attended a couple put on by my clinical rotation hospital on aggression & delirium in the elderly already, for example. I just assumed that nurses take advantage of those opportunities since it's free and everyone's welcome to attend during their lunch hour. I guess what I'm trying to say is you might have more stuff to put in your professional portfolio than you thought initially. :) Maybe you can list the important topics covered in your orientation, if there were some classes included in it for example.

I'm in my first semester of nursing school and compiling a professional nursing portfolio was one of the projects we had to do. Some of the suggestions my instructor had for us: essay on our personal values & beliefs of nursing - can weave in why you decided to go into nursing here essay on professional goals - 5 yr, 10 yr, more longterm goals essay on how we will utilize the portfolio (more for my instructor I think...) Immunization records Languages spoken resume List of volunteer positions Professional nursing organizations you belong to Applicable certificates Courses taken - can be from nursing school Sample of academic work - like papers, care plans, pt research List of clinical rotations Patient populations you've worked with Preceptorship sites Instructor/Peer/Self/Manager evaluations Etc etcDid you go to any workshops or conferences? Maybe it's because our instructors encourage us to go to some, but I've already attended a couple. You could put down a list of those with pertinent details in your professional portfolio as well. Basically, I think perhaps it would be helpful to draw upon your schooling experiences to make the portfolio seem more complete. That's what I did, for sure, but then again, I haven't graduated or anything! Hope this helps!

My friend had a similar problem, only she became a pharmacist at 22 instead of being a nurse. Same problems though - people assumed she wasn't the pharmacist since she's 1) female 2) very young and 3) quite pretty! In order to counteract that, she chopped off her really long hair to a "more professional" haircut and bought more work clothes that made her look older. Generally, darker colors work better than pastels. Maybe get navy blue colored scrubs or some other dark color? And I agree with caliotter3 - maybe change the way you do makeup? If you don't wear any, perhaps a lil bit of powder and eyeliner/mascara will help you look more mature.

A very good family oriented neighborhood that is 1) close to Surrey and 2) have nice, big homes on spacious lots are Delta and Tsawwassen/Ladner. You might want to check out that neighborhood... As for good schools, I suppose most of the public schools in the greater Vancouver area are roughly equivalent. Hope this helps! :)