Helping with mental wellness is another way we continue to support OurNursesSonBravas™ marketing initiative.
NursesBravasSanasySalvas™ invites our nursing community of color to share their struggles and coping strategies with covid-related patient care, while managing their family's wellbeing and their own self-care. These uplifting stories uncover the many stressors influencing their overall health and wellness.
Our sister agency, Semilla Multicultural, joins our team to provide mental health tips and meditation audios by healthcare experts:
Caroline Ortiz, MS, MPH, RN, NC-BC
Stephanie Palacios, PsyD, MFT
Belleruth Naparstek, ACSW, BCD
Guided imagery programs engage your mind, body, and soul to better your wellbeing through weight loss, stress reduction, relaxation techniques for anxiety, healthful sleep, healing trauma and easing depression.
Your journey to wellness is now available to listen to FREE in English and Spanish for a limited 6-month streaming period, valid through December 31, 2022.
While every day is a challenge for nurses, this past year may seem like being in a never-ending battle between caring for patients and their loved ones, being a good colleague and team player, and making sure that our own families are well and safe. Trying to keep those priorities in check can mean making sacrifices, and the first sacrifice often made is de-prioritizing our own health.
I think the reason we are okay with bumping ourselves down the list is because we believe in our strength to survive no matter the situation. Nurses are both angels and warriors. We are both intelligent and compassionate, as well as gritty and scrappy. Nonetheless, we are also human, and that means that we need care, too! These days, that care is even more critical to our survival as individuals and as a professional.
I offer you some self-care ideas inspired by my Mexican grandmother and Mesoamerican ancestors from the science and wisdom of their traditional medicine rooted in harmony, balance, and interconnectedness:
1. La Plática – This a heart-to-heart talk with a trusted and wise friend or elder. While the other person’s role is to listen deeply and share wisdom as needed, the act of sharing our struggles, anxieties, and pain with another who is sincerely wanting our highest good is profoundly therapeutic. Knowing that you are not alone on this life path is powerful medicine.
2. Una Limpia – This is a ceremonial ritual facilitated by a traditional healer or done on yourself. God/Creator/the Divine and spiritual allies are called upon for help to carry our burdens, illuminate our path, and replenish our power for self-healing. The ritual may involve tools such as medicinal herbs, incense, candles, water, or an egg and is a beautiful example of comforting the mind, body, spirit, and emotions.
3. La Madre Tierra –Mother Earth offers us plant medicine to bring us comfort and healing in times of inner conflict and turmoil, no matter how big or small. Examples of herbal teas or infusions to nourish our spirit and uplift our emotions are manzanilla (chamomile, Matricaria recutita), ruda (rue, Ruta chalepensis L.), romero(rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis L.), and lavanda (lavender, Lavendula angustifolia). Using fresh herbs that you or a loved one have grown are best.
Much of what we are hearing sounds like a lot of fear, anxiety and suffering linked to the unknown in life. The thing is, all of what is to come is unknown. We cannot know it. However, to hold ourselves in fear, anxiety, and suffering because of this is to live trapped and stuck. We must create a sanctuary for ourselves. A place (real and imagined) where we can comfort ourselves, find reprieve, and restore our peace for ourselves because we cannot control what is beyond us.
Tips for how to manage mental health from a cultural perspective.
1. Consider community. Research has found that Latinx/Hispanic individuals manage stress better when they feel part of a community that has shared experiences. Support, healing, and restoration can be fortified through community building. This could mean forming a group to bring in a dose of fun, joining a community group outside of work that resonates with a favorite hobby of yours, or asking your employer to bring an external support group facilitator to meet twice a month and have a space to discuss shared experiences.
2. Nurses Bravas work hard! Do you restore hard too? Many of us forgo this crucial step in a desire to be constantly helping, but this comes at an enormous expense - our own energy and happiness. This is different than sleep (which is also important) - Make a plan and commit to regular times in your schedule to reset and restore, even if it's for 2-minute intervals during your day. Choose something small that automatically brings a smile to your face, and reminds you to slow down and take a few intentional breaths. Then, allow a moment to admire the ways you enjoy this small task through your 5 senses. This is present-moment awareness on the go.
3. Reconnect with your values. The more we align our thoughts and behaviors with our core values, the better we are able to manage stress and the more fulfilled we feel daily. Choose one part of your life (work, family, friends, community), and ask yourself, how do you want to be remembered in that circle?
Try one of my 45-minute one-on-one virtual coaching sessions for a fully tailored experience. I draw from my expertise in stress management, mindfulness, and resilience building to help you feel restored and empowered with key strategies you can continue to use to boost your mental wellbeing. For more information, please contact me directly at Stephanie@StephaniePalaciosConsulting.Com.
7 Quick Tips for Stress Management
1. Check in with your body regularly.
Breathe deeply into any tight or tense places, and then, breathe out slowly.
2. Learn to relax at will.
Start & end the day with yoga, meditation, deep breathing, snuggling with your pet, or listening to soothing music.
3. Break the habit of running late.
Get to appointment & meetings 5 minutes early. Arriving late just feeds an adrenaline habit and keeps it cycling.
4. Be realistic & know your limits.
Wrestle your perfectionism to the ground and don't let idealized expectations press you into doing more than you can realistically manage. Say no. Set limits.
5. Let it go.
Create a brief ritual to let go of what you just did, before you move on to the next thing, even if that's just opening the window and breathing fresh air.
6. Give yourself room to breathe.
Leave time between meetings to catch your breath, reflect on what was and what's next.
7. Imagine assistance.
When feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders, conjure the image of being surrounded by other, broader, stronger shoulders, carrying the load with you.
For more tips visit.
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