I have been in the mental health world for over 30 years. I didn’t start out there, I kind of came kicking and screaming. As an undergraduate nursing student at Indiana University, I did my psych rotation at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. I watched ECT administered, I watched patients lined up to get their medications in paper cups from nurses in crisp white uniforms ; limited verbal interactions; just handing the cup through an opening in a glass window. My role as a student was to talk to folks in the milieu (French word for social environment), play games, do puzzles, watch TV. I remember always being a little tense. It was a locked unit, we had to be buzzed in. There was that day where a pool ball fight broke out. After that day, the pool tables stayed, but the balls and sticks were gone. I remember the patients were mostly kind, many sedated. I remember the ones with the “Thorazine shuffle”. And I remember I could not wait for the rotation to be over so I would never have to work with psychiatric patients again. That was in 1977.
Fact is , the human brain, the human psyche was just too interesting. My sister struggled with a mood disorder, my own depression and disordered eating were puzzles to unravel. I was drawn in to the quest to learn and initially, naively to try to “fix” what was broken.
I now understand that it is not about fixing, but about creating balance through awareness and understanding of all the complicated pieces that are the roots of mental illness. I have lots to share about steps that could be helpful.
I plan to weave in my 30 some year experiences into my posts including teaching psychiatric nursing, working as a prescriber (Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner), as well as working as a therapist. My work is rooted in connecting the mind, body and spirit and creating space for our often weary inner wisdom.
Hope you stay tuned.
Contact
Charlene McAndrews
creatingbalance57@gmail.com
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Creating Balance 
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