Celebrating Nurses @ Lakes-Adelle Fleming

09/05/2024

"Nursing is in my blood!

Both of my grandmothers were nurses at different stages of their lives. I had friends who encouraged me to give nursing a go.

They “talked it up” and made it sound fabulous! Nursing is a “people person” job which is a bit of me, so I applied and am now in my tenth year.

I have always been a mental health nurse. I absolutely love it.

Until 2023, I was working in the acute adult mental health unit in Tauranga, which is a 24- bed unit, predominantly in the unit’s secure IPC (Intensive Psychiatric Care) area.

I find the brain and human behaviour fascinating. In acute nursing you really have an opportunity to see the journey of recovery even though this can take some time.

Mental health nursing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get from one day to the next, which means boredom is never an issue.

It can be a chaotic and noisy environment however, it’s also very colourful and the relationships you can establish with the whaiora you care for are long lasting.

I guess this is why I chose mental health nursing, because of the relationships that you can build with your team and the whaiora who come through the doors.

In mental health nursing we are a very tight knit team.  I am a de-escalation and safe restraint trainer, and this is one aspect of my job which I also really enjoy.

Some nurses and health care assistants are absolute masters at de-escalation. We rely on our communication skills in order to quickly build a relationship and gain a level of co-operation from the whaiora.

I am also a clinical supervisor and I really enjoy working as a preceptor with student nurses and new graduate nurses.

The best part about being a mental health nurse in the community team is that I have the opportunity to observe and care for whaiora in their homes and really work with them towards reaching their goals no matter how small or big those goals might be."