A passionate Nurse specializing in Mental Health. Dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of the human brain with kindness and dignity. An advocate for mental health awareness.
I am RPN who works in mental health and I am looking to further my professional and educational career within healthcare. I am a compassionate and hard working individual. I have always been surrounded by healthcare, as a child I would go with my grandmother to provide therapy dog services to different homes and hospitals starting 2002. By 2006 I asked my family to officially volunteer and join in their ranks, becoming the 4th generation within St. John Ambulance. My years of service began to be counted in 2010 when I transitioned from the junior program to the cadet program. At present, I am an Officer of a youth division. As of the year 2025, I have volunteered on record for 15 years, receiving my 15-year service bar (2025), which is mounted to my 10-year service medal I received in 2020. In my years as a cadet, I had the honor of receiving the highest award a cadet can receive, the Grand Priors Badge and Award from the Lieutenant Governor in 2019.
Volunteering nurtured and helped develop my passion for caring for people. Helping people, providing care, peace, and dignity has always been my goal when working in healthcare. I am dedicated to personal and professional growth. Currently, I am advancing my qualifications through the RPN to RN bridging program. I hope to specialize in mental health. I genuinely have a passion for mental health, as it is a stigmatized field that impacts every single person. Health is a whole person experiencing the mind, emotions, body, and spirit; people often will go to the doctor for physical ailments, and will work on their growth in their physical health, but more often than not, mental health is not treated with the same level of respect and attention. I hope to work among different interdisciplinary teams to provide a safe, patient-centered care approach that assists patients in gaining access to mental health resources they deserve and need.
Officer 2017 - Present
Cadet Leader 2015
Sergeant St. John Ambulance 2014
Crusader St. John Ambulance 2014-2016
Cadet St. John Ambulance 2010-2014
Corporal St. John Ambulance 2013
Girls Inc 2010-2011
Junior St. John Ambulance 2002-2010
Advanced medical first responder volunteer
Pharmacy assistant
Community PSW
Extern (TCU, Cardiology, Surgery, and Mental Health)
RPN Mental Health Unit
BScN specialization in Mental Health
Master's in counseling and psychotherapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy courses
Solution-focused brief therapy and counseling certificate
My Nursing philosophy lies in a whole person approach, with a focus on mental health. Mental health, like physical health impacts each person, and is a vital part of one's overall health. Mental health impacts how we think, feel, and interact with the world. It influences professional and personal relationships, it impacts our ability to cope and manage stress, and the capacity to have productive lives within society. In my professional experience I have found that due to stigmatization of mental health, being able to even ask for help or admit that there is a problem can be the hardest step. I believe in providing a safe space that promotes an individualized care approach, making a unique care plan for each patient that considers the body, spirit, mind and emotional well-being of the patient. I always believe that a person is more than a diagnosis and that each person deserves to be treated with equal compassion, care and dignity. As a nurse we are the middle-ground, the people who see the struggles at the bedside and get the privilege to advocate for our patients to ensure they can connect with the appropriate resources. I have a passion for healing and helping others, I hope to help combat the stigma around mental health and make a positive impact in the medical world.
Jacqueline Fawcett’s Nursing Metaparadigm is a holistic professional-based care approach that focuses on the concept of person, environment, health, and nursing. Jacqueline Fawcett emphasizes shared understanding of concept terms.
Jacqueline Fawcett describes human beings as individual, groups, families, or a community(Hood et al., 2022). Jacqueline is also noted to make the distinction between an individual being a nursing professional or the client.
Jacqueline Fawcett describes the environment as alive or inanimate (Hood et al., 2022). The environment should be considered more in-depth with patients, such as situations, physical location, and surroundings that impact patients.
Jacqueline Fawcett describes health as well-being and illness (Hood et al., 2022). Health should also consider the elements that go into well being such as the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health.
Jacqueline Fawcett describes nursing as all of the interactions of the nurse, client and the impacts of the environment in the pursuit of health. According to Fawcett “The metaparadigm of nursing that encompasses all phenomena of interest in a value-neutral way to identify a distinctive domain for the nursing profession (Fawcett, 2005). Nursing is not only a science but an art it is a collaboration of two separate worlds that benefits mankind. Due to the great difference of the world of art compared to the world of science I think Fawcett’s attempts on standardizing key terms to promote global understanding of the practices and foundations to nursing imperative.
I have had the great opportunity to serve my community and to be acknowledged for my work. Here are some of the Highlights of my work.
One of the first major awards was the Hero award in 2006 & police recognition for saving a drowning boy.
In 2011 I was the first person in Canada to recieve the Girls Inc. Leadership award
In 2012 I was recognized for my advocacy for missing children
2015 recognition for my support in the Para Pan Am Olympic Games as a medical first responder
2015 I received my second Hero award
In 2019 I recieved the highest honor a cadet can receive which is the Grand Priors Badge & Award, it was awarded by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Elizabeth Dowdeswell.
2019 recognition for my support in front-line covid-19 response
In 2020 I recieved my 10 year service medal for my service within st.john ambulance
multiple mentorship awards and community service hours certificates
in 2025 I recieved my 15 year service bar which was mounted on my service medal.
Majority of my work prior to becoming a nurse and during my nursing career demonstrates CNO's practice of the clinician. (CNO: Clinician 1.1 "Provides safe, ethical, competent, compassionate, client-centred and evidence-informed nursing care across the lifespan in response to client needs."
Vanessa is an incredibly hard worker and is highly dedicated to her role as a Nurse.
(CNO: Communicator 3.7
"Communicates effectively in complex and rapidly changing situations."
In any experience I have with Vanessa she is always polite, professional, friendly, upbeat and a pleasure to communicate with. She is a credit to your team
(CNO: Collaborator 4.1
"Demonstrates collaborative professional relationships.")
By providing first aid support to first responders and other community organizations in our region, demonstrates your dedication to improving the health, safety, and quality of life for all people.
I plan to finish the bridging program and successfully apply to and enter the Trent University BScN program. Through my electives, I intend to specialize my BScN in Mental Health. I also intend on furthering my education within my facility, opting in for mental health training seminars, and medicine seminars, keeping up with my CNO standards.
I plan to complete the Trent University BSCN program. I plan to further my education within the field of psychology with various certificates and programs. I would have liked to have taken a “solution-focused brief therapy and counseling” certificate, as well as applied for my Master's in counseling and psychotherapy.
I intend to obtain my master's in counseling and psychotherapy. I would like to be working as a psychotherapist, with an interdisciplinary team that sees the benefits of a holistic approach, treating the mind, body, emotions, and spirit together. I would like to be a published author. I would like to be a consultant in different lines of therapy, integrating Western and Eastern medicine and therapies for patients.
Psychotherapy
My experience in different roles within the field of healthcare spans over 15 years; however, the role of a nurse has only 2 years of my experience at present. I wish to improve my understanding of the human body and the human mind’s complexities related to trauma, substance use, and mental health disorders. In growing my pharmacological knowledge, I hope to be able to respond quickly and more efficiently in moments of crisis, as my senior colleagues do. I also wish within my field to grow my ethical knowledge, to insure I build a good interprofessional relationship with the rights advice and social work teams, as in mental health under the mental health act patients can be placed on involuntary holds and deemed incapable of making decisions; I hope to grow this knowledge base to appropriately advocate for my patients, ensuring they get the help they need while maintaining their rights if legally capable.
My experience in psychology is from working within inpatient mental health units and the psychiatric ICU. I would like to develop a greater understanding of the uses and development of psychopharmacology. I would like to explore the skillsets of different evidence-based practices, such as cognitive behavioral therapies. Upon crisis interventions and stabilization, the ability to recognize the most appropriate and individualized care plans merging whole body, mind, and emotional care through psychopharmacology and therapy treatments.
Example: a patient comes in with anxiety and panic attacks. Once the acuity of their situation is de-escalated, can we look at their bloodwork to see if they have any vitamin B deficiencies, that are causing their generalized anxiety, once physical health is ruled out, moving on to the next steps. Do they get prescribed Ativan or Seroquel? One is a benzodiazepine and individuals can become dependent and is mainly intended for short-term use intervention, vs the other, which is an atypical antipsychotic that’s off-brand use is for anxiety, may take longer to take effect, but has a lower risk for dependency. Do we combine pharmacology with talk therapy or exposure therapy to their triggers? What is the best care plan for them, and how can I, as their nurse, best support them and advocate for them?
I believe continuous growth, expanding my skills and knowledge through further education programs, will enhance my patient care experience. With appropriate knowledge and skills, I can apply a more holistic, full-body patient-centered care approach.
I was inspired by my passion for helping others and the transformative power of healing in both physical and mental health.
My primary focus is on mental health, as I believe understanding the human brain is essential to improving overall well-being.
I advocate for mental health awareness and de-stigmatization, aiming to foster open conversations about mental health challenges.
