Heya all,
I was just wondering if you were having regualr contact with a mental health nurse, what would you think if they had visible self harm scars?
Would this put you off wanting there help?
Would you prefere someone else?
I dont have a mental health nurse.
But i think i would prefare it if they had scars.
It would mean that they understood more so. Less stigma on the whole, they will think im mad thing.
The person would relate to you more and would prob be able to offer better alternatives.
Like others I think its a good thing.
I would prefer to have a nurse who can understand what I am talking about, and has an understanding.
It always helps to have someone who has 'been there' before, chances are she will be able to answer your questions better than others would.
She has experience, and look at them as war wounds and with positivity, she has obviously got through tough times and look where she is now!
Good Luck.
xxx
STRENGTH
||| R.I.P Matt. 11.09.06. Forever loved, forever missed and never forgotten. |||
Oooh this thread is really interesting as i want to be a mental health nurse and obviously have visible self-harm scars. I know some people disagree with it as it could trigger and such things
But yay to this thread, its interesting to get the perspective of a self-harmer on the situation rather then some of the anti-self harm nurses out there who i seem to get everytime i end up in A&E
Carly xxx
I tried to be someone else, but nothing seemed to change
I know now this is who I really am inside
[I don't wanna die, but i ain't keen on living either]
I agree with everyone else... its so much easier to talk to someone whos gone through all this, then it is to talk to someone who hasnt... you know what i mean? i dont have a mental health nurse, but i have an adult who has helped me with everything... and her teenage years are so much like mine... and its wayyy easier to open up to her. cause i mean medical degrees and all that jazz is great, but expeirence is better. im going to be a nurse when im older and im almost glad that im a victim of self harm, cause when people come into the hospital in need of help from self-harming, it will be easier to handle it all.. instead of lets say, a surgeon who has no expeirence but strictly medical degrees and stuff...
whoa, sorry if i got wayyyy off topic and just started rambling... ill shut up now.
It wouldn't bother me really, I saw a mental heath nurse for a while, he was really helpful, I think if he had visable scars I wouldn't have been put off or anything, they'd probably know where you're coming from more.
...Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear...
I see a mental health Nurse regularly and it wouldn't bother me if he did have scars. He's been through some stuff, not that he talks about it loads but it helps me open up to him knowing that at some level he can kind of understand and doesn't just think I'm completely abnormal.
It wouldn't bother me. However, the head nurse at the hospital where I was IP, told me she turned down a mental health nurse because she had visible scars. This was an adolesent place.
the nurses where i was were great but they didnt have scars, maybe if they did we might feel peopl understand us more.
" my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never, never leave you during your times of trials and suffering. When you see only one set of footprints it was then that I carried you" you were carried out of are lifes into the next and when its my time to leave this life I know i will be carried into the next life with you.
I wish i had my world complete again.
'Can we protend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars, i could really use a wish right now' BoB
Ive been accepted to do mental health nursing at uni and have been really worrying that because of the scars i might not be able to do it, and that people might not want to have a nurse who has scars, but seeing these replies has given me more confidence in going into it.
Ive been accepted to do mental health nursing at uni and have been really worrying that because of the scars i might not be able to do it, and that people might not want to have a nurse who has scars, but seeing these replies has given me more confidence in going into it.
:)
I'm sure you'll make a WONDERFUL mental health nurse, very compassionate and understanding.
when i was talking about my future to my cpn my 2 choices where teaching or mental health nursing. and she was like it helps if u been in a simila situation. they dont frown on it neccessarily but they take every person situations seperatley
I went to A&E for stiches and the nurse said he understood, I was like yeah I hear it all the time then he showed me his scars. It made me much more keen to look for help as he said it was his suffering and mistreatment that made him go into nursing. I have seen him a few times and he is the best A&E nurse I've met.
As for mental health nurse I would think it as no problem for me. I would like to think that if they knew I was struggling with SI they would cover when needed, but I would feel more understood.
I have a friend (whom I lost contact with) who is training in MH nursing and has a few scars. She says her MH probs make her more able to understand.
I want to kiss the bottom of the ocean before I burst through its surface into the sunlight, otherwise I will always be wondering about what was left unseen at the bottom
i'm tired of chasing my dreams. i'm just gonna ask where they're going, and hook up with them later.
It was a mental health nurse that I used to see for about 4 years. He was part of a servce for self harm support. One thing I noticed was he always wore long sleeved shirts, light weight ones in summer. I never noticed any obvious scarring when his cuff moved up a wee bit but always thought he may have scars, even in photos he showed me of his family once he wore long sleeves. Maybe it was just what he liked wearing, or maybe it was cause he had scars. Either way it wouldn't bother me, we all have scars, just some more than others, to me I would feel like I could trust them a bit more as they may understand. SO it woulnd't bother me to see a mental health nurse with scars. Good luck with your course.
xxx
You made up your mind to torture mine!
If you read a scar like a book, you will relise the story in which you over look
I was studying to be a mental health nurse and was very conscious of my scars. It never caused me a problem though, a couple of clients mentioned them but it never had a negative impact on our relationships. I think I was able to relate to some of the things they were going through better than some of the other nurses (quite a few of whom seemed to think that they could *save* everyone). The only people who ever gave me a hard time about them were other nurses.
Personally, I'd rather be treated by someone who has at least some idea of what I'm going through. It makes me less paranoid about being judged and helps to make a connection with the person. How can someone help me if they can't understand me?
Good luck with the nursing everyonesdrunk, it's an amazing job, very demanding but so worthwhile. I just wish I'd stayed well enough to see the course through to the end...
*hugs*
Lyndsey x
I'm not afraid to fall,
It means I climbed up high.
To fall is not to fail,
You fail when you don't try.
