Shows
Nurse Wellbeing MissionEP 28: How to navigate being a nurse and a mental health service user with Jane FisherIn this episode, we delve into the world of mental health nursing with Jane Fisher, a lecturer in the field and a service user herself.Jane shares her experiences and insights on self-disclosure, the complex identities nurses with mental health challenges navigate, and the power of authenticity in nursing practice.She emphasizes the importance of developing advanced interpersonal skills and fostering a human-to-human connection in mental health nursing.This episode unravels how Jane's journey as a nurse, lecturer, mental health service user, and psychiatric...
2023-10-2434 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 27: “I just bottle it all up” – understanding emotions and how to process themIt is such a common strategy or coping approach for many nurses to bottle up their feelings and hold on to things. This strategy makes sense in some circumstances. But in the long-run, it can be harmful.In this podcast episode, Nathan Illman discusses the common phenomenon of bottling up, or suppressing, emotions. He provides a step-by-step process for individuals to start acknowledging and expressing their emotions. And he shows how you can support those you work with how to process emotions too.Tune in to this episode as...
2023-10-1034 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 26: Professional Nurse Advocacy and suicide prevention: A conversation with Emma WadeyToday's guest is Dr. Emma Wadey, a registered mental health nurse and Deputy Director of Mental Health Nursing for NHS England and Improvement.Emma's humility shines through in her clinical work and leadership style. We discuss her experiences, including public speaking anxiety, her unexpected path into nursing, the impact of nursing identity, and her love for marathon running.We also explore the Professional Nurse Advocacy Program, which Emma helped create, in part to prevent nurse suicides.This episode offers valuable insights and practical takeaways...
2023-09-2053 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 25: How to build a thriving community nursing teamDistrict Nursing is a tough business. Long hours, solo working in complex and challenging environments. Not to mention the distressing and sometimes dangerous situations nurses are placed in.This can all take its toll on nurses' mental health. Which is why it is CRUCIAL to have a compassionate team leader who knows how to support their staff. Enter Helen Kelly. In today's super insightful and practical episode, Helen shares how she transformed a downbeat team of District Nurses into a cohesive, loving, trusting, and effective unit with super patient...
2023-09-0533 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 24: Deepa Korea on the RCN Foundation, leadership and imposter syndromeIn this engaging and insightful podcast episode we talk to Deepa Korea, the Director of the RCN Foundation, a leading UK charity for nurses and midwives. She discusses the organization's mission to support nursing and midwifery staff through grants, research, and advocacy. She candidly addresses imposter syndrome and the evolution of her mindset, highlighting the significance of self-care and believing in one's value. This episode showcases Deepa's passion, leadership, and commitment to enhancing the wellbeing and impact of nursing and midwifery professionals.Key Takeaways fr...
2023-08-2230 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 23: How to Quickly Relieve StressAll nurses and midwives experience stress in the course of their work.Having ways to quickly manage stress is crucial for one’s wellbeing and performance at work.In this solo episode, Nathan shares a powerful tool that helps to relieve stress, understand one’s emotions better, and develop self-compassion.It is a useful exercise that any nurse or midwife can practice. It could also easily be incorporated into restorative supervision sessions or any wellbeing activity with your colleagues.
2023-08-0815 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 22: Do mental health nurses get enough mental health training?In today's episode, we will be tackling the question of whether mental health nursing students are being given adequate preparation and training in mental health.In this insightful discussion, I talk with Dan Warrender about the challenges and concerns surrounding mental health nurse education. He highlights the impact of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's future nurse standards, emphasizing the lack of protection and inadequate focus on mental health nursing. The conversation serves as a rallying call for increased support, advocacy, and collaboration to enhance me...
2023-07-2543 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 21: What is Professional Nurse Advocacy and Why is it needed?Today’s episode is all about the story of how nurses are supporting other nurses in the UK. We dive deep into the Professional Nurse Advocacy (PNA) program in the UK and how it is helping with nurse wellbeing and staff retention. I chat to Martin Hogan, Lead Professional Nurse Advocate for a large healthcare organisation in the UK. He shares his story of how he got into supporting other nurses, and how his leadership is making an impact on staff wellbeing.Thinking about becom...
2023-07-1129 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 20: Powerful questions to enhance your self-careAre you someone who neglects their needs and struggles with implementing self-care?Many nurses and midwives struggle with burnout and not taking appropriate care of themselves. There is a real art and science to making behaviour change and properly taking care of ourselves.In this episode, Nathan will share with us some empowering questions that we can use to coach ourselves to start living a healthier life and prevent burnout.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE
2023-06-2724 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 19: A nurse’s journey through psychosis and recovery with Emma HenryNursing seemed like a good career path for Emma Henry. She had finally found a profession she enjoyed, where she felt she could make a difference.But things changed. She had stressful experiences with her young children. She had stressful experiences at work. As things deteriorated, the unimaginable happened: She started experiencing hallucinations and delusions. She was having a psychotic episode.Listen to this powerful conversation as we dive deep into Emma’s mental health journey and subsequent recovery. We’ll see what factors led t...
2023-06-1333 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEP 18: From charge nurse to business owner - conversation with Hemmen JutlaLivaware is an innovative nurse-led team that fills the gaps in people's healthcare. They combine clinical excellence, coordination, and empathy to provide an unrivaled experience led by Hemmen Jutla, RN.In this episode, Nathan Illman talks with Hemmen as he talks about his inspiring journey of breaking away from his traditional nurse role to starting up his own company and becoming an entrepreneur.Listen and learn in this episode.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODEHelping people...
2023-05-3031 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 17: Inspiration for early career nurses – Liam Caswell on vulnerability, overcoming burnout, and career successLiam Caswell Coaching created a nurse career and life coaching service where they helped nurses navigate the life and career struggles that they face day to day and help them see that they have so many options. In this episode, Nathan Illman sits down with Liam Caswell as he shares his own experiences of adversity and challenges he has overcome that influenced his career and desires to help other nurses as well.Listen and learn in this episode.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE
2023-05-1631 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 16: Optimising Sleep and Recovery in shift workersIn this episode, Nathan talks about sleep again: part three of his mini-series about sleep difficulties, problems, and insomnia and how to improve those for nurses and midwives.In the previous episodes, Nathan provided an overview of effective evidence-based ways to optimize sleep and overcome sleep problems. Today's episode focused on shift work sleep disorder and the issues it creates for nurses and midwives.Here is a summary of key points from the episode:Shift work is when someone works outside of traditional working hours in Western society...
2023-04-2531 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 15: Overcoming sleep problems and trouble sleepingIn this episode, Nathan talks about sleep difficulties, problems, and insomnia and how to improve those for nurses and midwives.In the previous episode, Nathan talked about some general tips and tools for improving sleep. Today’s episode focused on people struggling with sleep; this episode is part two of a series about sleep tips.Here is a summary of key points from the episode:Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder; it is a problem in initiating sleep in the first place or a problem with waking at...
2023-04-1152 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 14: Key sleep tips for nurses and midwivesIn this episode, Nathan talks about the importance of sleep for wellbeing and shares some insights into some of his favourite tips to get better sleep.This episode is part of a series that will cover general sleep tips (today’s episode); ways to tackle insomnia; and how to improve sleep for night shift workers.Here is a summary of key points from the episode:>Sleep has been shown to be a significant predictor of both mental and physical health problems....
2023-03-1434 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 13: How to reduce fatigue in shift workers: The role of evening light. A conversation With Despina ArtenieFatigue is a common problem in the workplace. It’s even more common and well-documented in people who work night shifts because of the lack of sleep they experience. It can cause different problems in our body systems that can, later on, affect the quality of our lives.It’s a good thing that in some workplaces fatigue is monitored among their employees and interventions are being implemented. However, in healthcare, this type of monitoring is not present and there is a lack of training available.In this episode, Nath...
2023-02-2837 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 12: What are Schwartz Rounds and are they effective? A conversation with Prof Jill Maben, RN, OBE.Schwartz Rounds provide a safe space for healthcare staff to share many aspects of their work with others. This results in reflections and realisations that enable staff to be more compassionate towards themselves and others.In this episode, Nathan Illman sits down with Jill Maben to discuss Schwartz Rounds and her evidence-based research about the effect of these rounds on nurses’ well-being. Listen and learn in this episode.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODEMaking a difference and helping families during the...
2023-02-1443 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 11: How to coach and support nurses through difficult times. A conversation with Jackie Dominick.Being in a healthcare team is a tough job and even more when you stand as the leader. You have to be someone your team members can rely on especially during the most difficult times.It’s not enough to have the courage and strength of a leader. It is most important to keep the compassion that you had since the moment you entered this line of work to keep an open and honest culture for everyone’s well-being. In this episode, Nathan Illman has a conversation with Jackie Domin...
2023-01-3156 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 10: Making the case for self-compassion in nurse education. A Conversation With Jasna SchwindIn today’s episode, I talk to Jasna Schwind, professor of nursing at the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing in Toronto about self-compassion in nurse education. Jasna is an RN and nurse educator who is interested in the humanness of care and ways to enhance nurse student learning via mindfulness and compassion.If you’re interested in self-compassion, this episode is for you! Nathan even leads a short self-compassion exercise at the end of the episode so keep listening!In this conversation we cover the following topics:
2023-01-1050 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 9: Jennifer Wild on preventing PTSD in nurses.PTSD can reduce the quality of life for a long time but it is a treatable condition. The earlier it is detected, the better it will be for the person being crippled by it. Furthermore, in a workplace that has a high risk of facing traumatic experiences, taking the steps to prevent PTSD should be a prime concern. In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Wild tackles the important aspects of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. She shares the work that she’s been doing around the prevention of PTSD and some recommendations to help prevent PTS...
2022-12-1331 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 8: Self-forgiveness for nurses and midwives: The foundationsIt is normal for people to make mistakes and it is also completely normal to feel guilty about it. However, dwelling on the past and excessively thinking about the future effects of what we did wrong will oftentimes make it worse.It will greatly affect our practice, our overall health, and our relationships.So, practicing self-forgiveness and self-compassion can provide relief, growth and empower nurses and midwives to move forward with their lives.In this episode, Nathan Ilman talks about his journey to self-forgiveness...
2022-11-2925 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 7: Stress management programs for student nurses – effective, or not? A conversation with Becky Petley.Interested to know more about stress management programs for student nurses? Then you're in the right place.We talk to Becky Petley in this episode. Becky is finishing her Ph.D. at Winchester University in the UK and was investigating what aspects of wellbeing programs for student nurses actually work. In this conversation we cover:Why it’s important to understand what elements of wellbeing programs are effective and not just whether the whole package ‘worked’.The moral imperative of organisations to implement culture change to sup...
2022-11-1537 minNurse Wellbeing MissionShould I go to therapy? Removing barriers to accessing support.There are times when we already know that we should seek help because of the changes that we are noticing in the way we deal with things in our life. The problem is that many barriers stop us from taking action and make us think twice about getting help. However, thinking about the long-term benefits of seeking help now will help us change our mindsets and start to overcome these barriers.In this episode, Nathan Illman talks about why you may want to access psychological therapy and when might be a good time to...
2022-11-0145 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 5: How do we better prepare and support student nurses for critical incidents? A conversation with Tiffany Hood.Tiffany Hood is an Associate Professor of nursing at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She has a highly varied nursing background and in the latter stages of her career has focused more on research. In this episode we talk about her research examining student nurses’ responses to critical incidents at work, to better understand their psychological reactions and help guide more effective preparation and post-event support. We discuss:The kinds of critical incidents student nurses may be exposed to at work (e.g. death, violence, severe injury and disability).How...
2022-10-1842 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 5: How do we better prepare and support student nurses for critical incidents? A conversation with Tiffany Hood.Tiffany Hood is an Associate Professor of nursing at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She has a highly varied nursing background and in the latter stages of her career has focused more on research. In this episode we talk about her research examining student nurses’ responses to critical incidents at work, to better understand their psychological reactions and help guide more effective preparation and post-event support. We discuss:The kinds of critical incidents student nurses may be exposed to at work (e.g. death, violence, severe injury and disability).How...
2022-10-1842 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 4: Can effective nurse wellbeing be done in 5 mins at work? A conversation with Darcy CopelandProfessional quality of life greatly affects the overall well-being and work performance of healthcare workers. It is important to address the factors that negatively affect this and form habits through brief interventions.In this episode, Darcy Copeland, a Professor of Nursing and Nurse Scientist, talks about the study she conducted on brief workplace interventions to address burnout, compassion fatigue, and teamwork in nurses. Listen and learn in this episode.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODEThe more burnout providers have the worse th...
2022-10-0427 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 4: Can effective nurse wellbeing be done in 5 mins at work? A conversation with Darcy CopelandProfessional quality of life greatly affects the overall well-being and work performance of healthcare workers. It is important to address the factors that negatively affect this and form habits through brief interventions.In this episode, Darcy Copeland, a Professor of Nursing and Nurse Scientist, talks about the study she conducted on brief workplace interventions to address burnout, compassion fatigue, and teamwork in nurses. Listen and learn in this episode.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODEThe more burnout providers have the worse th...
2022-10-0427 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 3: Punishment of whistle-blowers, BME bias and unfair disciplinary procedures: A conversation with Narinder Kapur.In today’s episode, I talk with Professor Narinder Kapur, visiting professor of neuropsychology at UCL in London. Narinder is not a nurse, but has done incredible work to support nurses after his own harrowing experience of unfair dismissal within healthcare.Narinder suffered an extremely stressful unfair dismissal earlier in his career and fought for justice as a result.His plight, inspired by Gandhian principles, led him to uncover structural issues with racism, unfairness, and inequality when addressing disciplinary procedures and investigations of whistleblowing in...
2022-09-2047 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 2: What does preventative mental health for nurses look like?Nurses and midwives have a huge responsibility of taking care of different kinds of patients. A number of factors specific to nursing and midwifery lead to increased stress, which can negatively impact wellbeing. Much is known about preventative measures that can reduce the unnecessary burden of stress. In this solo episode the Nurse Wellbeing Mission podcast, Nathan Illman talks all about what preventive mental health is and what it looks like. It also talks about the problems and barriers that are inherent in the nursing profession and the things...
2022-09-0646 min
NursePreneur AcademyNurse Wellbeing Mission with Nathan IllmanWorking as a nurse and midwife in the modern healthcare system is certainly a challenge, typically because as clinicians, we are ill-equipped to thrive within the complex system that is healthcare!This week in High Performance Nursing, we’ll discuss with Clinical Psychologist and Founder of the Nurse Wellbeing Mission, Nathan Illman, the value of self-care, well-being, and our shared vision for organizational support for nurses and midwives.Caring for our mental health, having an encouraging workplace, and building a robust culture are some of the few steps we can take to ensure that our nu...
2022-09-0548 minNurse Wellbeing MissionEp 1: The Origins of Nurse Wellbeing MissionWelcome to the introduction to the Nurse Wellbeing Mission podcast! In this introductory episode, your host, Dr. Nathan lllman (Clinical Psychologist), discusses his professional journey with supporting nurses and other healthcare staff and how his personal experiences led him to commit to helping the nursing and midwifery workforce.The podcast is designed to support the well-being of nurses and midwives through:Conversations with industry leaders and researchers who specialize in nurse/midwife wellbeing.Practical, how-to episodes from Nathan, covering a range of mental health and wellbeing topics.
2022-08-2409 min
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 12 - Amy Sherer - Midwifery, Lactation Consultancy and the power of informing women correctly.In this week's show I spoke with the fabulous Amy Sherer. Amy is an Endorsed Registered Midwife and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She runs her own Lactation Consultancy, 'Her Luminary', as well as working at an outpatient clinic in Metro Melbourne.Amy began her journey in New Zealand, where she trained as a direct entry Midwife. As she touches upon in this candid discussion, she experienced and continues to deal with the clash in culture of values between the woman-centric approach of her beginnings in NZ and the me...
2021-07-291h 13
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 11 - Professor Stephen Trceziak on Compassionomics -why compassion matters in healthcare.Today’s guest is Stephen Trzeciak, Professor of Medicine and Chairman and Chief of the Department of Medicine at Cooper University Health, Camden, New Jersey. Stephen is a practicing intensivist and self-confessed “research nerd” who has amassed over 100 publications in the medical literature and a whopping 15,000 citations for his work. In today’s episode we talk about Stephen’s book “Compassionomics: The Revolutionary scientific evidence that caring makes a difference.” The book is a user-friendly narration of a systematic literature review him and his colleague, Dr Anthony Mazzarelli complete...
2021-05-2136 min
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 10 - Dr Mark Cross on being an anxious psychiatrist and why it's okay that your patients know you're a human too.Welcome to episode 10! If you are a doctor or healthcare professional who suffers from intense anxiety, this podcast is for you! I I speak to Dr Mark Cross, a psychiatrist with clinical experience over three decades (further info on his bio at the end of the show notes). Mark wrote a book last year all about his own experience with anxiety; he's something of a role model in the world of being open about his very human difficulties, whilst still operating at the top of his game in psychiatry.In this conversation, s...
2021-03-1853 min
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 9 - An interview with me: How to overcome barriers to changing careers in healthcare.Welcome to Episode 9 of the podcast!In this episode I bring you a special interview. My wife, Olivia, kindly agreed to interview me on a topic which I think is really important - how do you successfully change career direction in healthcare?By way of background, I am a clinical psychologist and I have changed jobs several times and shifted career pathways twice in the 5 years since I qualified from my doctorate. I also had started out initially in the academic world, before realising I wanted a more clinical role.In this episode...
2021-03-181h 05Beneath the ArmourEpisode 8 - Dr Caroline Walker on her journey through mental ill-health, doctor well-being and founding The Joyful Doctor.This week I talk to Dr Caroline Walker, a psychiatrist from the UK who created The Joyful Doctor, an organisation devoted to supporting the well-being of doctors and other healthcare professionals through coaching and training.Given that Caroline’s and my mission are virtually identical, albeit serving people in different parts of the world (UK and Australia), it felt only natural to reach out and have a good old chat with her about her journey. Caroline’s story is so inspiring. She dreamed of becoming a doctor from a young age, and after the drea...
2021-02-0153 min
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 7. Danny Hills and his successful nursing career through taking risks, opportunism and trying new things.Please don't forget to leave a rating for the podcast on Apple Podcasts and share the episode with anyone who may like it!Episode 7 Show NotesDanny Hills is an Associate Professor of Nursing and Deputy Dean of the School of Health Sciences at Federation University in Ballarat in rural Victoria, Australia. Danny has a really varied background in nursing and in the past ten years or so has pursued more of an academic path by completing his PhD and doing research investigating violence and aggression...
2021-01-0950 min
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 6 - Dayna Lee-Baggley, Clinical Psychologist, on keeping well during COVID, showing up as a human and the challenges of parenting.This week I was delighted to have been joined by a wonderful guest on the other side of the world in Canada, Dr Dayna Lee-Baggley. Dayna is a Clinical Psychologist and researcher in Nova Scotia, Canada and has interests in psychological approaches for management of chronic health conditions and also preventative measures for enhancing well-being. Dayna recently wrote the book, "Healthy Habits Suck" which is all about health behaviour change and draws primarily on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which is a science-based approach to behaviour change.I had heard...
2020-12-2153 min
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 5 - Alicia Perkins on the realities of nursing and the things you can't "unsee".Summary This week I’m excited to bring you the first of my conversations with a nurse! Alicia Perkins is a lecturer in nursing at Federation University in Australia. She has worked clinically in a variety of areas across her career, including cardiology and critical care. Notably, her leadership roles have involved managing a variety of cardiac catheter laboratories in both Cyprus and Australia (this is a hospital room where doctors perform minimally invasive tests and procedures to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.) Al...
2020-11-2958 min
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 4 - Josh Rosen on why doctors may ignore emotions and the realities of medical life.I’m excited to bring you a conversation with Dr Josh Rosen. Josh is a pathology registrar working in a rural hospital in Victoria, Australia. In this fascinating conversation he talks about the realities of medical training and what it's like to be a doctor.He delves candidly beneath the armour of medicine and reveals the attitude in medical training toward recognition of emotions; the focus on technical skills; insights into doctor behaviour and culture and discusses the pros and cons of assuming the doctor persona.Josh provides us with an overview of...
2020-11-121h 01
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 3 - Professor Ian Hickie on going against the grain in the world of psychiatry.Welcome to episode 3 of BTA podcast! I was extremely pleased to get Professor Ian Hickie on this week to talk about mental health and Ian’s life and career. Ian is Co-Director, Health and Policy at The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre and is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow. We cut across a range of issues in this discussion. As always, I try to guide my guests to talk about their own personal experience of their journey and not focus too much on career success and specifics about what...
2020-11-021h 08
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 2 - Liam Mason, Clinical Psychologist, on the truths about becoming a clinician-researcher, maintaining focus on long-term projects and reflections on leadership.In this week's episode I chat to my good friend Liam Mason. Liam is a clinical psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist; he has a lecturing position at University College London and holds a Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Fellowship, with his work based at the Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry. He also continues to provide some talking therapy treatment to people with psychosis and bi-polar disorder.Liam and I really get underneath all this impressive sounding stuff in our conversation. He talks humorously about his experience of being awarded a very prestigious and highly sought after Fellowship...
2020-10-141h 04
Beneath the ArmourEpisode 1 - Amanda Thompson, Speech and Language Therapist, on working with autism and how to stay positive.Welcome to episode 1 of Beneath the Armour! I'm excited to bring you a conversation with my old friend Amanda Thompson, a speech and language therapist from the UK (this translates to 'speech pathologist' in other parts of the world!)Amanda talks to us about her journey to becoming a clinical team lead for autism within a county wide speech and language therapy service. She talks about her professional journey, beginning with a degree in psychology and after later experiences whilst travelling the world, realised she wanted to help people with autism.We talk about the...
2020-10-041h 11