Dear MHNIG Members
As you may be aware, May 10-16 is national nursing week. On behalf of the entire MHNIG Executive Team, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all nurses around the globe particularly nurses working in the mental health and addiction field. Indeed, this pandemic has challenged many of us both at the personal and/or professional levels regardless of our clinical setting. However, this pandemic also brought to the surface how vulnerable individuals with mental health and addiction disorders can be without essential services. I have always said, nurses working in the mental health and addiction clinical settings are the invisible heroes and this pandemic truly proved my point.
We often serve individuals who otherwise might be forgotten by society. Often our clients not only rely on us for their mental health and addiction care service, but most of them also depend on us to help them navigate through host of barriers and challenges that they face. Sometimes, we are their only advocate and/or social interaction. As you might have all witnessed, throughout the pandemic lockdowns, most of the health and social services were switched to virtual care without thinking about those who might not have access to the required technology. Even more recently, the vulnerable populations’ barriers and challenges were not taken into consideration during the COVID-19 vaccination rollout plan for similar reasons.
It is needless to say; many mental health and addiction nurses did not take any time off from their client interactions. In fact, many have increased the frequency of their client interactions whether it is through in-person clinic visits, community outreach or telephone interactions to ensure their clients do not relapse due to prolonged social isolation and/or lack of services. Although our reasons of becoming a nurse and/or our path to nursing might have been unique to oneself; nurses who chose mental health and addiction clinical settings as their career choice mostly have few things in common: (1) being passionate about serving the marginalized population; (2) the desire to advocate for equality and social justice; (3) ensuring that our clients' mental and addiction care needs are addressed as much as their physical health concerns.
I know many of us do these things unconsciously without expecting a gratitude from anyone, but your clients truly appreciate what you do for them and the sacrifices you make to serve them. During this nursing week, I would like to encourage you to also care for the invisible hero, you, the nurse that (1) comes to work early, (2) skips her/his break and/or family events, (3) postpones own bathroom time, and (4) even goes home late just to ensure all her/his client needs have been met before her or his own.
I know the invisible hero, you, do not expect an acknowledgement for your passion but know your everyday contributions, dedications and your unwavering commitment to our clients’ mental health and well-being is truly appreciated by many!! Thank you for being a nurse and thank you for choosing to serve individuals with mental health and addiction.
Sincerely
Hoodo Ibrahim
MHNIG, Chair