Congratulations to Nicole who graduated from the Psychiatric Nursing Program! We thank her for her hard work on the blog and wish her the best of luck in her new career. Questions and comments will now be disabled. Please watch out for a new Psychiatric Nursing Student Blogger in the near future!
Hi All!
With summer passing quickly by, it’s hard to believe that school is so close to being over. Classroom work is wrapping up, as we are mainly focusing on our preceptorships this summer. We need 360 hours of clinical work to complete these preceptorships, so most of us find ourselves putting in fulltime hours. For those of us who also have jobs, it is hard to pass up opportunities to go to work and make money; I go into work when I can make some time in my schedule, but shifts are few and far between, as school is my priority. Being realistic about how much time and energy you are going to spend on school is important. It’s all very worthwhile and rewarding, but requires commitment – and a lot of it!
As I mentioned in my last blog, my preceptorship is with the Adult Community Support Services (ACSS) team; part of Penticton Mental Health. Community mental health is something I had no experience with until I began this preceptorship, and it has surpassed my expectations immensely! I have met many mental health clients in the community with whom I have built therapeutic relationships over the past couple of months. Getting to know people and learning about their struggles with mental health issues is something I consider a privilege; to gain someone’s trust and have them open up to me about their lives is very humbling. Working community mental health has also opened my eyes as to the amount of mental health services that are available in my relatively small city. There is a clubhouse supported by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) where people with mental health issues can go daily to socialize and get cost-effective meals. The South Okanagan Similkameen Brain Injury Society (SOSBIS) does a lot of work regarding client housing and some aspects of financial aid. There are also support workers available through Penticton Mental Health who assist clients in searching and applying for jobs. It has been so inspiring to learn about the amount of teamwork and effort that goes into supporting mental health clients. While mental health could use a lot more government funding, I’ve definitely learned that my community is doing the best we can with what we’re given. It’s exciting to know that I am slowly but surely becoming a part of the whole mental health team!
Another great aspect of working with the ACSS team… I get to be in the injection clinic one day every week! What fantastic practice! (For those of you who worry about the prospect of giving needles… I’m one soon-to-be-nurse who is terrified of getting needles but does well giving them! So don’t despair!).
This particular blog was meant to give you all a taste of how rewarding preceptorships can be as well as some specifics of community mental health. Any questions, as always, please ask away! I hope you’ve all been enjoying the blog and that I’ve given you some helpful information – and inspiration!
Cheers!
