Lundbeck Canada Mental Health Nursing Award

I have always had an interest in healthcare and a passion for working with people in meaningful ways, which is what initially drew me to nursing. After starting my nursing education at the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College, I realized that I had made the right choice and that I love so many other things about nursing – the creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, big picture thinking, and so much more. I feel very proud and privileged to be a nurse, and I especially value the dynamic and relational aspects of my current practice as a youth mental health nurse.

In all of the settings I have worked in as a nurse, I have been amazed by the strength and resiliency of the patients, families, and communities that I have interacted with. However, I have also been frustrated by how stigma and marginalization restrict opportunity for health and wellbeing – particularly, for people who use drugs. In 2017, I started the combined Master of Science in Nursing and Master of Public Health program at the University of British Columbia, where my master’s thesis focuses on harm reduction services for incarcerated people who use drugs.

I am absolutely thrilled to be recognized as a Canadian Nurses Foundation Scholar as the recipient of the Lundbeck Canada Mental Health Nursing Award – thank you.