Happy Hour With Operation Happy Nurse

TW: Eating Disorder

For this episode of Mental Health Matters, we were so blessed to have Olumide Onajide on the podcast! As a mental health advocate with a passion for fitness, Olumide talks us through his personal journey to becoming an advocate, how fitness impacts his mental wellbeing, addresses the stigma that men have when speaking about mental health, and shares some of his own struggles and the support systems that helped him overcome them. He was such a joy to be around virtually, so we are so excited to have him in person for our Fitness for the Caregivers event launching November 19th in Washington DC, along with one of our amazing past guests, Riley Christian! For those caregivers in the DC area, you can stay tuned for further details on that exciting event!

For more of Olu, check out his Instagram @kingolu30 and follow him as he continues his work as an amazing mental health advocate!

Happy Hour has another fantastic Mental Health Matters episode for you today. This week, we are joined by the lovely Lindsey Shelton. Lindsey is an ICU travel nurse, mental health advocate, and digital creator. As a nurse, she created @ScrubHacks on Instagram to provide advice and tips for ICU and travel nurses and to create an open space to talk about mental health. Lindsey shares her journey to becoming a nurse, influencer, and a mental health advocate with Carley and Joe, and chats about all things nursing and traveling in a really fun, honest, and engaging conversation. There's a little dog talk thrown in there as well, for fans of our four-legged friends! Thank you to Lindsey for joining us, check it out!

Make to sure to follow @ScrubHacks for more of Lindsey, she's a delight!

That's it for our season's experience with Hypnotherapy! On this final episode, Carley, Joe, and special guest Chenedy break down their experiences with Hypnotherapy. Shout out to the self-hypnosis app Reveri, it was an excellent way to give Hypnotherapy a try for ourselves! From stress, to focus, to sleep, to eating well, we found out the multitude of ways hypnosis can help with mental health. Chenedy was such a joy to speak with, and we were so grateful to have her join us in the conversation! She shared her experiences as a nurse, influencer, and public figure, and she noted how hypnosis could help with the stresses that come with life. It was a surprising, relaxing, and fun experience trying out hypnosis, so let go of any preconceived notions you may have about it, it's definitely worth trying for yourself!

Also, make sure to check out Chenedy's content on TikTok @NurseChen and on Instagram @chenedyy_21 

If you have an idea for what we should try in future seasons in the world of stress and anxiety relief, and if you’d like to be featured on the pod, email your ideas to us at [email protected]!

Happy Hour continues our season's journey with Hypnotherapy this week by speaking with the incredible Katie Potratz. Katie is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and a Medical Hypnotherapy Specialist, who is an incredibly effective advocate for Hypnotherapy. Trust us, if you have any reservations about trying Hypnotherapy, Katie will put those at ease. She does an amazing job explaining to Carley and Joe what hypnosis really is, how it actually works, how she uses it to help her patients, and how Hypnotherapy shares things with other healing modalities that this show has explored. It's just a super cool conversation for anybody interested in healing to check out. We were amazed hearing all that Hypnotherapy has to offer for both physical and mental pain. Katie was an honest, passionate, and overall cool guest, so listen to what she has to say about Hypnotherapy!

If our listeners want to see more from her, check out her website katiepotratz.com or her instagram @katiepotratz.

Season 16 is here and it's a sweet one! This time, Carley and Joe will be learning all about hypnotherapy this season and exploring how hypnosis is used as a stress reliever and therapeutic practice. If you enjoyed some of our past Mental Health Matters episodes, you may remember mention of hypnotherapy, whether with a certified therapist or even self-induced. However, we wouldn't blame you if your first thought was a pocket watch and "You are getting very sleepy..." Rest assured, hypnotherapy is really nothing like you see in fiction, it's a mind-body intervention in a standard therapy environment, often used in conjunction with other practices! It leaves you fully aware and in-control for the whole experience, just more calm, relaxed, and ready to face your problems. It can call also attention, focus your mind, and suggest solutions to whatever ails you, in mind, body, or soul. We find that very fascinating, so come along with us on this journey into the world of Hypnotherapy!

For our third episode of Ask a Nurse, the Happy Hour with Operation Happy Nurse team continues to tackle pressing questions in the nursing world. This episode's main question? How do nurses advocate for themselves? It's a more complicated question than at first glance, and there's no shame in not knowing how to ask for what you need, especially if you're relatively new to the profession or fresh out of school. With that in mind, Carley and Lucio's conversation covers questions like how to ask for PTO, how to deal with disagreements with coworkers or patients, and how to ask for help on the job when you need it! We hope you find some real value in these lessons Carley and Lucio have learned and leave with some new ideas to apply for yourself!

Please remember, that you, the listener, can send in topics for us to talk about! Just reach out to [email protected] with your suggestions!

Content Warning: Suicide

We have an absolutely incredible Mental Health Matters episode for you this week, as Carley and Joe are joined by Chris Thomas. Chris, his wife Martha, and son Solomon Thomas are the co-founders of The Defensive Line, an organization dedicated to preventing suicide by transforming the way we communicate & connect about mental health, with a particular programmatic focus on places that serve over 50% young people of color. Chris and his family have worked tirelessly to end the stigma surrounding talking about suicide, change the way we approach prevention, and transform our societal and institutional guardrails to be more effective and equitable. Chris is a passionate and persuasive advocate, and he speaks with Carley and Joe all about the origin story of The Defensive Line, his personal journey with mental health, and the role we can all play in the struggle. We were so blessed to have Chris, and you can look forward to seeing more of him as he is one of our honorees at our Operation Lemon-Aid gala this month, cohosted with the Lemons Foundation.

For more of Chris and his work, check out https://thedefensiveline.org or follow the Defensive Line on the major social media platforms. In addition, you can watch Solomon Thomas Plays for his Sister to understand their work. 

ARE YOU IN CRISIS OR NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE? TEXT “HOME" TO 741741, DIAL 988, OR CALL 1-800-273-8255 TO RECEIVE HELP 24/7.

Another fantastic Mental Health Matters is in store for you all this week! We have Morgan, also known as @MorganSanDiego on Instagram and TikTok, on the podcast! In addition to her social media profile, Morgan is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, author, and traveler. Just an amazing person to bring on the pod! Carley and Lucio have a fantastic conversation with Morgan about all things nursing, and learn about her personal mental health journey along the way. We get an inside scoop on the decisions Morgan's made in her professional life, some advice for those looking at healthcare and travel nursing as a career path, and some fun travel talk! We're so grateful to Morgan for being our guest on this episode, check it out!

You can follow Morgan through her profiles on TikTok and Instagram @MorganSanDiego or find even more at www.iambeyondmedicine.com

Happy Hour is wrapping up our season all about Play Therapy, and we could not have asked for a better guest to end with! We are joined this week by Caroline P. Cárdenas, Ph.D.(c), MSN, MA, RN, CBCN! Caroline is a Doctoral Candidate in Psychology at Meridian University, Play Researcher, Oncology and Hospice Nurse, Certified Breast Care Nurse, & Nurse Educator. Caroline also created The Hula Hoop Girl, a body and movement play practice which guides adults and helping-professionals through Body & Movement Play experiences to evoke joy and foster emotional and psychological well-being. What a get for us! 

Her dissertation is titled "Play: Restoring Compassion Among Helping Professionals Experiencing Compassion Fatigue", so of course we had to have her on the podcast. She joins Carley to talk all about play and the history of thought surrounding the idea of Play Therapy. She gets deep into the practical, spiritual, and sacred nature of play, and speaks passionately about why nurses and healthcare professionals should consider play an essential part of their mental and physical well-being. This is one of those episodes you don't want to miss, so tune in to hear from one of the coolest guests we have ever had!

For more of Caroline, check out @TheHulaHoopGirl on Twitter and Instagram. Her website is TheHulaHoopGirl.com and she offers an online TeachHoopDance.com program for those interested in learning how to hula hoop and also to teach within their community.

As we continue our season's journey with Play Therapy, listen in as Carley and Lucio discuss their experiences trying it out and how they felt it did as a stress reliever. One big question they came away with? Why don't we do this more often!?! As adults and professionals, we have so much stress, anxiety, and fatigue build up in our lives. Taking the time to play may seem frivolous, but as Carley and Lucio found out, it can be so effective as a way to relax and restore our bodies and our minds! Joy is such a powerful force if we let ourselves feel and experience it! So how do you think you could incorporate play into your routine? 

Tune in next week as we interview an expert in Play Therapy to round out this season! If you have an idea for what we should try in future seasons in the world of stress and anxiety relief, and if you’d like to be featured on the pod, email your ideas to us at [email protected]!