GuitaRN77

Thanks, Davey Do! I appreciate your insightful reply and the encouragement. :) These are good things to hear!

Hi all! i am new here, and seem to have found a wonderful resource! I have a question for the seasoned psych nurses out there. Is it possible to get a psych RN position without any prior psychiatric experience? My story (in a nutshell) is that I am a later-in-life nursing student (previously worked a number of jobs and some experience with substance abuse outreach) and intended to go into mental health once graduating nursing school. On the advice of my peers, other nurses, etc, I was told to "get a year of med surg experience." So I was offered a job in an ICU and have been there for a little under a year. I am not happy in this position, and feel as though I should never have left psych. I can appreciate the importance of "building solid clinical skills," and understand why I was urged in this direction, but I now fully realize that I am a psych person at heart and wish to get back to the mental health field. Now I am working at a deficit, however, as many of these positions require previous psychiatric experience. I sort of wish I had gone straight into psych. It's the whole "can't-get-a-job-because-I-don't-have-experience/can't-get-experience-because-I-can't-get-a-job" thing at work all over again! Is it possible to make an entry into psych without any proper psychiatric nursing experience? I suppose I have some outreach background that I can use to beef up my resume... Just wondering how a nursing manager would perceive hiring someone into psych with a critical care background. Thanks in advance for your input!