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I’m Eric Bumanglag from Norfolk, VA. I’m currently working in Neurosurgical ICU here in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. I’ve been a nurse for almost 12 years now. Nursing has been great to me for it enhances me personally and professionally. I met and worked with wonderful people and learned valuable lessons from them. I have also worked in neonatal ICU, Emergency Department, Vascular ICU in the past.

I’m happily married and my wife and I have two wonderful boys, age 2 ½ and 1. I’m working full time and going to school part time. I’m currently in the Acute Geriatric NP program. It’s been tough juggling family-work-school-personal life. However, so far so good. I look forward in working with you all.

Forensic Mental Health is something that I believe is interesting. I have not had any forensic mental health experiences other than the ones that are admitted critically.

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Hello everyone. My name is Laura Carvalho and I live in Marlton, NJ which is about 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I am in the AGACNP track with Drexel, slated to start my clinical rotations this summer. I took Professor Clements' Foundations of Forensic Science class a couple of quarters ago and really enjoyed it so I thought I would take this one too. I have always been curious about forensic science so I am very excited about this class. Over the summer, while on maternity leave with my littlest, I got hooked on the Netflix series, Mindhunter and I am now reading the book. For those who are unfamiliar, both the book and the Netflix series are about the beginnings of the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI. Its very compelling. The book is so good that I can't put it down! A little about me, I am 35 years old, married with two little girls. My oldest is 3 1/2 and my youngest is 11 months. I completed by undergrad at Drexel in 2013 and started on my MSN in 2016. I currently work as a rapid response nurse at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly, NJ and have been there for the past 6 years. Prior to that I did critical care at Our Lady of Lourdes in Camden, NJ and SICU at Deborah Heart and Lung Center. I am hoping to continue to work in critical care once I pass my boards. Good luck to everyone in this class and I look forward to working with all of you this quarter.

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Hi all!

My name is Leanne and I live in Royersford, a town about 30 miles west of Philadelphia.  I am pursuing a family NP degree here at Drexel with plans to start clinicals this June.  I am taking this course as the final one for the forensic nursing certificate.  I took the first forensics class during the winter term last year and absolutely loved it, so I decided I would continue on.  While I do not have any professional working experience with victims or survivors, I have had some personal experiences with interpersonal violence and crime.  A number of my close friends have also been victims of various types, and I have always been interested in what makes a person do what they do.  Twenty plus years ago when I graduated high school, I began college as a psychology major because I enjoyed learning about what made people tick.  I supposed my interest in this type of class is an extension of that.  This quarter I hope to learn more about the mentality of perpetrators.  While there is not always a clear cut answer to why people do the things they choose to do, I want to learn about the ways people attempt to justify or rationalize their actions surrounding committing a crime.  One fun fact about me is that I have an obsession with my lawn due to a previous life working in landscaping.  I absolutely cannot wait for winter to be over so my grass will grow and I can get back to mowing it.  It is my therapy.  Good luck to all of you this quarter and in your future studies and careers.

Below is a picture of my family taken last May for Mother’s Day

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My name is Jacqueline Nelson, and I am in the FNP program. I am from Hellertown, PA. I have been an ER nurse for about 3.5 years. I was interested in taking this course because I have always been interested in crime, and wanted t be able to learn more about it. Also, I wanted to pursue the forensic nursing certificate here at Drexel, and hopefully use that knowledge later in my career. Working in the ER setting, we often see patients that are victims of a crime, and we definitely see a large population of psychiatric patients. As Lisa said, these two systems do often overlap, and I think it would benefit my practice to increase my knowledge base. When I'm not in school I enjoy spending time with my dog, Franklin!

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Hi, my name is Lisa Rovelli and I am in the PMHNP program here at Drexel. I live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I have been a psychiatric/mental health RN for 7 years and have always been interested in treating patients who are also involved in the forensic system. I currently work with a mobile psychiatric nursing program, monitoring a caseload of psychiatric patients living in the community. I also recently began doing agency contract work on inpatient units, as I missed the acuity of the exacerbated episodes of severe mental illness…. Also it pays really well!

The mental health and forensic systems often overlap and I think it is important to have knowledge of both in order to treat either population. I have a fair amount of experience with the forensic population, as part of my role in the community has been to monitor adherence to medication for those patients on probation or parole, or under CYS investigation. I have testified in court on numerous occasions to speak to an offender’s or parent’s progress, or lack thereof. I have worked closely with both child and adult protective services to prevent the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of these vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, a large number of mental health patients have a history of victimization, more so than the number of patients with a criminal history. I find the psychology of the offender to be more interesting than the psychology of the victim.

I have a particular interest in the treatment of sex offenders and those diagnosed with various types of paraphilia. Many people naturally react to pedophilia with horror and disgust (and it is horrifying and disgusting), but for some reason I have the tolerance and desire to work with this population. I believe that understanding their psychology and striving to help them would be a more effective means of preventing sex crimes than simply treating them like monsters and excluding them from society.

I am always striving to learn more about the psychology of the offender, so I have been looking forward to this course for some time. I hope to utilize the course material to increase my competency in treating mental health patients who are dually involved in the forensic system.

Nice to meet everyone!

I attached a picture of my goofy little dog, Rita. I rescued her from a schizophrenic lady's basement!

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Hi Everyone!
My name is Leslie Bruchey. I currently live in Westminster, Maryland, which is approximately 45 minutes from Baltimore. I have been a RN for almost 6 years, with 5 of those working in an intensive care setting. I currently work in a Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care for the past 2 years. I personally do not have any real hands on experience dealing with victims or survivors of interpersonal violence or crimes. I have always thought that forensic science is an interesting field and this class is my opportunity to have a glimpse into that world. I look forward to this quarter and working with everyone!
Leslie

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1) Where you are geographically located
2) What interested you in taking this course
3) What, if any, experience do you have with working with victims/survivors of interpersonal violence/crime
4) What you hope to learn
5) Anything else you would like to share about yourself
Hello, everyone, I am Tracey Green and I live and work out of Macomb County, Michigan, right at the edge of what the rest of the world knows as Detroit. I currently do ACT treatment nursing for the county. I have also worked in a prison, have done ACT services in Detroit, and have experience on an inpatient acute psychiatric unit as a charge nurse. Currently, my job is 50 percent in the office and 50 percent in the community, as ACT nursing is, and I work with the Dual Diagnosis population that are high utilizers of hospital services and or jail, and cannot stay stable in the community. I went to work in psych immediately upon graduating with my ASN. Currently our ACT team as a whole follows about 20 NGRI cases from the forensic center in Michigan.
As far as taking these courses, I hope to expand my knowledge. There are such fine lines between mental health treatment, forensic mental health, substance use, etc., and a lot of the overlap is experienced by the same general populations. I understand that the more I understand, the better I will be able to treat and help people who have come from one or more of these arenas in life. As I grew up the product of a broken home in a very poor and urban environment, I have a lot of front row experience, so to speak. This has enabled me to reach and understand, a large and diverse population of patients. I do hope to one day work with victims of human trafficking as well as help train police officers in my area on how to respond to mental health calls. These forensic courses will aid me in my journey.
I think I have had a fair bit of experience dealing with survivors of interpersonal violence and crime. I am also aware that a lot of people outside of the demographics I touched on above, experience these things, and that violence unfortunately touches many people at some point in their lives. I have high hopes that this course will provide me a good base of clinical understanding on how to treat victims of violence and trauma so that they may overcome their experiences.

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Good Evening Everyone,

I am Sharri Robinson and I live and work in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area. I have had an interest in forensic nursing since undergrad. I have found in my nursing career that there are skills that I could develop in forensic training in the healthcare to better care for patients in the inpatient care setting. I have limited experience in working with survivors of interpersonal violence, but have had a few very impactful experiences in my inpatient acute care hospital setting. The most meaningful was a patient who was generally difficult each time she was hospitalized. Eventually after developing a rapport with her over time. On one of her multiple readmissions, she confided in me that she had a hard time being hospitalized and confined to her room as she had extreme anxiety related to claustrophobia. This was a result of being victimized for most of her childhood in which a large portion of this was being locked in a trunk. This changed my outlook on caring for “difficult” patients at that moment.

I hope to learn to be a better-rounded clinician by learning skills and interventions for survivors of victimization as they interface with healthcare via multiple access points. Without training, identifying the special and sensitive needs for these patients may be overlooked thus doing a disservice to this already underserved patient population. I have some initial concern in maintaining balance between currently working in a nurse leader role on an inpatient care unit and completing course requirements. However, I am very excited about this class as forensics are certainly a strong interest of mine. I look forward to working with and getting to know everyone better!

Sharri

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My name is Bridgette. I live in DeWitt, MI. I currently work in one of the larger hospitals in the Lansing area. I am an OR nurse and have experience as an ICU and ER nurse. When I get done with my NP I am not entirely sure what area I would like to specialize in but forensic nursing has always interested me. I took a class last quarter and really enjoyed it. So I decided I would like to take the other to classes that are offered and work towards the Forensics certification. I have very little experience in forensic nursing from my personal career but am excited to learn more about this specialty and hopefully utilize what I learn in the future. I look forward to this quarter.
Bridgette

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Greetings, My name is Janine. I live in Hopewell, NJ. I have been working in an outpatient neurology practice for four years. I recently applied for a transfer in the hospital that would be in the inpatient setting, and I could stay in the position when I become a NP. I am taking this course because I would like to advocate for victims. This is the last course I need for the Forensics Certificate. I have minimal experience working with victims of crime. My husband has been in law enforcement for 24 years so I probably learned a lot over the years just by marriage. I hope to expand my knowledge base in this course, and I am confident I will. I wish everyone a great quarter. I am currently on a cruise, and the internet is working in the middle of the ocean! I am so happy.
Best,
Janine

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Hello,My name is Samantha and I am from Cleveland, Ohio (Go Tribe and Cavs!). I currently work at Akron Children's Hospital as a pediatric RN on the Transitional Care Unit. I absolutely adore kids so it's the perfect fit for me. :) Previously I had worked on a hospice/oncology unit with adults. I have my BSN and am in the MSN: Innovation track at Drexel.  I find crime and forensic cases to be fascinating. I want to understand "why" people do the things they do. I am interested in the details of crimes. I do not have any previous experience working with victims or survivors of interpersonal crime/ violence but have considered becoming a SANE RN. I also see a lot of NAT's (non-accidental traumas) come into the hospital but never have worked directly with those cases. I will be taking this class to continue my forensics certificate requirements and look forward to gaining more knowledge related to forensics and nursing. Looking forward to learning and interacting with all of you,Samantha 

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Hello,My name is Samantha and I am from Cleveland, Ohio (Go Tribe and Cavs!). I currently work at Akron Children's Hospital as a pediatric RN on the Transitional Care Unit. I absolutely adore kids so it's the perfect fit for me. :) Previously I had worked on a hospice/oncology unit with adults. I have my BSN and am in the MSN: Innovation track at Drexel.  I find crime and forensic cases to be fascinating. I want to understand "why" people do the things they do. I am interested in the details of crimes. I do not have any previous experience working with victims or survivors of interpersonal crime/ violence but have considered becoming a SANE RN. I also see a lot of NAT's (non-accidental traumas) come into the hospital but never have worked directly with those cases. I will be taking this class to continue my forensics certificate requirements and look forward to gaining more knowledge related to forensics and nursing. Looking forward to learning and interacting with all of you,Samantha 

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Greetings everyone! Welcome to NURS 533: Forensic Mental Health. Winter is here, as is the New Year, and of course, so is the new academic quarter.

I am looking forward to working with each of you in the weeks ahead. The forensic courses tend to be very exciting, including thought provoking educational material and subsequent lively discussions.

Each quarter results in building a new and unique community within the class. In order to get things started, and to learn a little about each other, please be certain to answer the following 5 questions in your introductory Padlet post:

1) Where you are geographically located
2) What interested you in taking this course
3) What, if any, experience do you have with working with victims/survivors of interpersonal violence/crime
4) What you hope to learn
5) Anything else you would like to share about yourself

Also, as we build the community, please feel free to post one of your favorite photos. For example, this is a photo from a trip I took to Bolivia in 2011 with a team of healthcare consultants from Drexel CNHP. As a forensic healthcare clinician, my role was to work with forensic psychologists, public DAs/prosecutors and regional court judges regarding enhanced assessment of children exposed to sexual violence and the related judicial process.  In the photo below, I am working with children in the school room of their Domestic Violence Shelter/compound (located at over 16,500 thousand feet in the Andes mountain range!). Alpacas were everywhere and I fell in love with quinoa (which is basically eaten at every meal there…and now whenever I see it on a restaurant menu, I simply must have it!).

I look forward to learning more about each of you.

"See" you in class,
Dr. C

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Hi!! My name is Kim, I currently live in central jersey and work in Philly. I'm interested in this class because when I was looking into undergrad school programs I was first looking at forensic science but then went the nursing school route, so i feel like this combines my two passions. I currently work at a trauma hospital, so I often see victims of domestic violence and street violence. I hope to learn how to deal with and handle the victims after these violent crimes. Also, how to communicate and deal with the families, esp when most of these victims are innocent victims and just wrong place and wrong time. Lastly, I'm a huge eagles fan and these next few weeks are going to be slightly stressful!!! Looking forward to a fun quarter and getting to learn more about everyone!

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1)	Where you are geographically located? I am located in York Pennsylvania.  York is about 45 minutes from our capital, Harrisburg, PA, and an hour away from Baltimore, MD.  I am 2.5 hours from Philadelphia, PA.2)	What interested you in taking this course?I am enrolled in the Post-Master’s Pediatric Primary Care Certificate program.  I needed electives to fill my course load so I decided to also pursue a certificate in forensic nursing.  I have always been interested in forensic nursing because I find it very intriguing to learn about *why* people do what they do.  I also acknowledge that working with pediatrics requires me to be alert to forensic mental health.3)	What, if any, experience do you have with working with victims/survivors of interpersonal violence/crime?I worked in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) where we frequently cared for patients diagnosed with non-accidental trauma (child abuse).  At times, the proposed offender was at the bedside with the child because there was not enough information to arrest them.  During these times, the primary nurse was mandated by children and youth services not to let the offender alone with the child.  I finished my Family Nurse Practitioner program where we always needed to screen for child abuse, intimate partner violence and elder abuse.  Now, I hope to primarily practice in Pediatric Primary Care.4)	What you hope to learn?In this class I hope to learn ways to try and prevent children from becoming offenders.  I also hope to be able to better identify the possibility of child abuse among my patients by better understanding offender behavior. 5)	Anything else you would like to share?I found it very challenging to work in the PICU with non-accidental traumas.  I do not understand how someone could hurt a child.  I realize that we need more programs to try and prevent crimes against children.  That is why I decided to go into primary care.     Below I have included a picture of my son and I.  I also put a picture of him and I on my profile picture.  He just turned 2 in November.

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1)	Where you are geographically located? I am located in York Pennsylvania.  York is about 45 minutes from our capital, Harrisburg, PA, and an hour away from Baltimore, MD.  I am 2.5 hours from Philadelphia, PA.2)	What interested you in taking this course?I am enrolled in the Post-Master’s Pediatric Primary Care Certificate program.  I needed electives to fill my course load so I decided to also pursue a certificate in forensic nursing.  I have always been interested in forensic nursing because I find it very intriguing to learn about *why* people do what they do.  I also acknowledge that working with pediatrics requires me to be alert to forensic mental health.3)	What, if any, experience do you have with working with victims/survivors of interpersonal violence/crime?I worked in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) where we frequently cared for patients diagnosed with non-accidental trauma (child abuse).  At times, the proposed offender was at the bedside with the child because there was not enough information to arrest them.  During these times, the primary nurse was mandated by children and youth services not to let the offender alone with the child.  I finished my Family Nurse Practitioner program where we always needed to screen for child abuse, intimate partner violence and elder abuse.  Now, I hope to primarily practice in Pediatric Primary Care.4)	What you hope to learn?In this class I hope to learn ways to try and prevent children from becoming offenders.  I also hope to be able to better identify the possibility of child abuse among my patients by better understanding offender behavior. 5)	Anything else you would like to share?I found it very challenging to work in the PICU with non-accidental traumas.  I do not understand how someone could hurt a child.  I realize that we need more programs to try and prevent crimes against children.  That is why I decided to go into primary care.     Below I have included a picture of my son and I.  I also put a picture of him and I on my profile picture.  He just turned 2 in November.

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Nice to meet all of you!!  I look forward to the class.
~Nicole Byers