Healing Tapestry: The Collective Stories of Nurses

Is vulnerability a weakness or a skill? 🩺

In this episode of Healing Tapestry, we sit down with Steph Shannon Kelley to explore the power of lived experience and why storytelling is one of our most effective tools for breaking down stigma and fostering resilience in healthcare. If you’ve ever felt like you had to "leave your humanity at the door," this conversation is for you.

🌟 Episode Sponsor

Healing Tapestry is brought to you by the Wisconsin Center for Nursing (WCN). Since 2006, WCN has been dedicated to ensuring a healthy, well-prepared, and diverse nursing workforce for Wisconsin.

Learn more at wicenterfornursing.org, or join them at the WCN 2026 Nursing Workforce Summit on August 7 at the Glacier Canyon Conference Center in Wisconsin Dells.

Join WCN in Leading Today for the Nursing Workforce of Tomorrow.

In honor of Nurses Week 2026, this moving episode of Healing Tapestry features nurse Ruth sharing her transformative journey through polysubstance use disorder and recovery.

Ruth opens up about the "spiritually transforming" moment she lost her job, reframing a professional rock bottom as a vital new beginning. We dive into the barriers that keep nurses from seeking help and the resilience required to rebuild an identity beyond the license.

This episode includes:

• Resilient Hope: Ruth’s current mission of giving back through the Nurses Peer Support Network (NPSN).
• The Mask of Strength: Overcoming the "triple stigma" and the fear of vulnerability in nursing.
• Navigating Recovery: Ruth’s firsthand experience with professional monitoring programs and boards of nursing.
• Identity & Boundaries: Learning that your career doesn’t define you and how "self-sustainable care" creates a better clinician.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Tennessee Professional Assistance Program ~ TNPAP.

What does it look like to transition from a student to a new grad while carrying a decade of personal growth? This week, we sit down with the remarkable Sammie Jo. Having faced mental health challenges since her early teens, Sammie Jo brings a "full-self" approach to her nursing identity that is both inspiring and necessary in today’s healthcare climate.

•  In this episode, we discuss:  The Transition: Moving from the classroom to the floor as a new grad. 
• The Network: Why a strong support system is a non-negotiable for nurses. 
• The Identity: How Sammie Jo uses her personal journey to fuel her professional passion.
• The Joy: A look into her life outside the hospital (hint: there are a lot of Boxers involved!).

In this moving first episode of Healing Tapestry, Dr. April Lenzmeier shares her deeply personal story of alcohol use disorder, recovery, and returning to nursing with renewed purpose. April reflects on childhood trauma, nursing culture, relapse, and the healing power of peer support. Hosted by nurses Kristin and Jenny—who also share their own recovery journeys—this conversation breaks the silence around substance use in nursing and offers hope and resources to anyone walking a similar path.

For more information & to access the resources mentioned, visit: https://unlikelyaddict.com/healing-tapestry/

In this trailer episode of Healing Tapestry, hosts Kristin and Jenny introduce themselves and share their powerful, personal stories of navigating substance use, recovery, and returning to the nursing profession. With honesty and compassion, Kristin and Jenny invite their fellow nurses into a space where they can share their real and unpolished stories—of struggle, hope, and healing. This is more than a podcast; it's a place where together, we flourish.

To learn more, visit: https://unlikelyaddict.com/healing-tapestry/