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In my experience, it is easy to talk about mental health with friends and family however, there is still a worry that I will judged when discussing mental illness with my primary care provider. This demonstrates that while mental health is being talked about more openly, the stigma is not gone.

Mental health stigma and relational inquiry are closely linked, as relational inquiry encourages nurses to reflect on and understand the unique lived experiences of individuals, including those dealing with mental health challenges. Relational inquiry emphasizes empathy, respect, and intentional engagement with patients. When we apply relational inquiry, specifically inquiring action, to mental health, we must think of how stereotypes, misconceptions and stigma may be influencing a patient's answers. As nurses, we must challenge ourselves to bracket our preconceptions about mental health to foster a more compassionate and non-judgmental approach to care.

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Breastfeeding can be closely related to relational inquiry as it enables nurses to understand and respect patient preferences while fostering an environment that allows for open and honest conversation. This approach allows healthcare providers to ask open-ended questions and create a space for discussing breastfeeding. Given that breastfeeding is often viewed as the gold standard, nurses must support the patient's choice and educate them without judgment. Various factors can influence a patient's ability to breastfeed, and it is important to recognize that it is not a viable option for each patient. By respecting patient autonomy, nurses can promote a more supportive and understanding environment.

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Collaborative practice involves professionals from various backgrounds and disciplines to achieve high-quality patient care and improve outcomes. It emphasizes teamwork, shared-decision making, and acknowledging the unique backgrounds and knowledge each professional brings to practice. I believe that when collaborative practice is combined with relational inquiry, each professional who engages in relational inquiry looks at the patient from a different angle allowing a more comprehensive and wholistic approach to care.

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This is a TED talk that was assigned to watch for NURS2001. I knew I wanted to include it because one theme particularily resonated with me which was the idea that breastfeeding is free... but that is only true if we do not value the mother's time and body.

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Katie Hinde: What we don’t know about mother’s milk | TED Talk

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Breast milk grows babies’ bodies, fuels neurodevelopment, provides essential immunofactors and safeguards against famine and disease -- why, then, does science know more about tomatoes than mother’s milk? Katie Hinde shares insights into this complex, life-giving substance and discusses the major gaps scientific research still needs to fill so we can better understand it.

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Hello, my name is Cassandra Wegner. I welcome you to my Echoes and Artifacts padlet! As I navigate my second year as a nursing student, I have chosen five themes that are significant to my journey.

According to Hartrick Doane and Varcoe (2020), relational inquiry is a highly reasoned, skilled action that encompasses a relational orientation, a thorough and sound knowledge base, sophisticated inquiry and observational skills, and strong clinical skills, all of which inform the ways of being (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual). In nursing, relational inquiry allows us to approach situations as an inquirer, seeking a deeper understanding of unique experiences, including our patients' and our own, as well as the behaviours and contexts that shape and interact with each other (Hartrick Doane & Varcoe, 2020).

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This is a photo of me and my clinical group. Even though we are all nursing students, we come from different professional backgrounds and different ages. Together, we bring different ideas, maturity, and knowledge to patient care. To have effective collaborative practice, you have to know your team and determine their skill set, what they bring to the table, and how you can lean on each other's skill sets.

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This is a poster I created as a discharge teaching in my maternity child placement. I was able to learn more about breastfeeding, some common side effects and some more serious effects that breastfeeding mothers may not be aware of and provide effective and accurate information for my peers.

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Classroom Educational Newsletter in Pink Brown and Cream Simple Graphic Style

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For the theme of time, I had to include a photo of my watch. This watch holds a lot of meaning to me. I only ever wore watches on special occasions or when I felt like I needed to dress "fancy", my previous watch did not even include a seconds hand. However, for my birthday my mom wanted to get me a nice watch that would last me a long time. Being a nurse herself, she knows the importance of wearing a watch and going to work prepared. This watch symbolizes an important piece of my nursing uniform and I feel proud to wear it. It symbolizes time management as I enter a self-regulated practice and reminds me to take time to connect with each patient meaningfully.

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There are many positive posters canvassed around Ontario Shores, but this one resonated with me. Being a mature student, I often need to remind myself that it is okay if I feel a little bit behind in life, but I am chasing my dream, and I know I will bring joy to my patients. Each day in clinical or at work, I set new SMART goals for myself, and it's never too late to accomplish them.

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I chose this photo to represent therapeutic relationships because, like this plant, they require nurturing and care to make it grow and blossom. Nurses begin to form these relationships upon first meeting, but they strengthen with each positive interaction. Therapeutic relationships are built on trust, empathy, respect, and professional intimacy. Professional intimacy is important in nursing because close, personal care requires respecting professional boundaries while still fostering trust and connection.

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In my mental health placement at Ontario Shores, we were able to learn about electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). ECT can be used for a variety of patients with mental health disorders like depression, mania, and some forms of schizophrenia. There is still a stigma behind treatment however, many patients experience profound benefits after treatment. Some patients who could barely function due to debilitating disorders now can live a fairly normal life, still using medical treatments.

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Many patients of my mental health unit in clinical are teenagers experiencing their first schizophrenic break or have unspecified psychosis, meaning they do present with some symptoms of schizophrenia but not enough to be diagnosed with the disease. Many of my patients experience auditory and visual hallucinations. I think these patients are misunderstood and deserve a lot more compassion and empathy than they are receiving.

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Effective teamwork and collaboration are essential in providing quality care, much like how these gears work together to drive a machine. As nursing students, we are surrounded by a network of peers, instructors, preceptors, and nurses who are always available to offer support and guidance. While it's impossible to know everything, working collaboratively allows us to pool our knowledge and skills together to solve problems. According to the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA, n.d.), collaborative practice occurs when professionals from diverse backgrounds unite to offer comprehensive services, ensuring that patients and their families receive the highest quality of care.

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Escandon, K. (2024). Toward non-stigmatizing media and language in mental health: Addressing the social stigma of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 264, 491–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2024.01.032

Valery, K. M., Violeau, L., Fournier, T., Yvon, F., Arfeuillere, S., Bonilla-Guerrero, J., … Prouteau, A. (2022). Part of the solution yet part of the problem: factors of schizophrenia stigma in mental health professionals. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 27(2), 134–144. https://doi-org.proxy1.lib.trentu.ca/10.1080/13651501.2022.2129068

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I chose this quote because I think it speaks well to collaboration. If a group of people, big or small, are committed, compassionate, and work together they can provide the best possible care to patients. For a team to be successful, it relies on the contribution and collaboration of every individual. In a hospital setting, this includes not just physicians and nurses, but also clerks, housekeepers, and all other staff members. I believe that everyone involved in patient care has something valuable to offer, including the patient, their family, and the broader community. Each person plays a vital role in ensuring quality care and positive patient outcomes.

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Therapeutic relationships involve the patient, their family, and the community. Fostering these connections leads to stronger bonds with the whole patient. By building therapeutic relationships, nurses are able to offer more comprehensive care as they learn patient preferences and can more effectively anticipate their needs. Tolosa-Merlos et al. (2023) highlight that when nurses engage in person-centered care by spending time with patients, involving patients in care activities, and recognizing them as whole people, patients feel listened to, and more connected to themselves and to their environment.

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Breastfeeding is often the preferred feeding method because it encourages skin-to-skin contact between mom and baby and helps them to bond. It also is specially formulated for each unique infant.

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This is a video I found many years ago and I've shown it to people to educate them about what auditory hallucinations sound like. I can only imagine how scary it would be hearing this inside my head and not being able to press pause on it.

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Auditory Hallucinations - An Audio Representation

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For my aesthetic art project, I used watercolour to paint a hummingbird. Painting provides me with relaxation, comfort and, most importantly, time that I can put away for myself, which is few and far between as a nursing student. Working with watercolours allows me to embrace my imperfections while also offering the opportunity to ‘correct’ my mistakes by shaping the paint with water. By developing therapeutic relationships and reflecting on the various ways of knowing, I could determine the symbolism of a hummingbird holds different meanings in various cultures. In indigenous cultures, the hummingbird symbolizes a bridge between the spirit and the physical world. I believe this interpretation works beautifully as nurses use a holistic approach to healing, often combining Western medicine with traditional practices to improve patient outcomes.

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Bode, L., Raman, A. S., Murch, S. H., Rollins, N. C., & Gordon, J. I. (2020). Understanding the mother-breastmilk-infant “triad.” Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 367(6482), 1070–1072. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw6147

Heger, E. (2024, March 14). Reasons why you might not breastfeed – and why that’s okay. BabyCenter. https://www.babycenter.com/baby/formula-feeding/reasons-why-you-might-not-breastfeed-and-why-thats-okay_8485

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Cleere, S., & Glembocki, M. M. (2022). Deepening Therapeutic Relationships: Nursing Students Practicing Attunement Throughout the Lifespan. Creative Nursing, 28(2), 115–120. https://doi.org/10.1891/CN-2022-0004

Tolosa‐Merlos, D., Moreno‐Poyato, A. R., González‐Palau, F., Pérez‐Toribio, A., Casanova‐Garrigós, G., & Delgado‐Hito, P. (2023). The therapeutic relationship at the heart of nursing care: A participatory action research in acute mental health units. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 32(15–16), 5135–5146. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.16606

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Farokhzadian, J., Miri, S., Doostkami, M., Rezahosseini, Z., & Shahrbabaki, P. M. (2020). Promoting the psychosocial and communication aspects of nursing care quality using time management skills training. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 9(1), 361–361. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_549_20

Kim, J., & Shin, S. (2022). Development of the Nursing Practice Readiness Scale for new graduate nurses: A methodological study. Nurse Education in Practice, 59, 103298–103298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2022.103298

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In NURS2021 this semester I have seen both sides of the spectrum when trying to develop therapeutic relationships. My first five weeks of clinical were spent in maternity child, where patients would typically only be in the hospital for 24-48 hours. Therefore, I really had to work to build therapeutic relationships over an 8 hour shift as most patients would not be there the following week. However, patients in mental health have longer durations of stays which I can use to my advantage when forming relationships with them. I have more opportunities to ask them questions, get to know them and their story, and their likes and dislikes.

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Cucolo, D. F., Campos Oliveira, J. L., Rossit, R. A. S., Mininel, V. A., Perroca, M. G., & Silva, J. A. M. da. (2024). Effects of interprofessional practice on nursing workload in hospitals: A systematic review. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 39(3), 824–843. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3779

Interprofessional Collaboration - Canadian Nurses Association. (n.d.). Higher Logic, LLC. https://cna-aiic.ca/en/nursing/nursing-tools-and-resources/interprofessional-collaboration

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I've chosen "time" as an overarching theme because it reflects several key aspects of my practice. It reflects time management as I enter a self-regulated practice. It also serves as a reminder to prioritize meaningful connections with patients, even in a profession where time and resources are often limited. Additionally, this theme aligns with relational inquiry, emphasizing the importance of giving patients our time and full attention deliberately and thoughtfully.