Welcome to the doctor nurse podcast.
I'm Sandra magenta a doctoral. We prepared nurse practitioner
and I am your guide into the world of nursing job, options,
take a seat and relax and let's get started with today's guests.
Hi, welcome to the doctor nurse podcast.
Today, on the podcast. I have Ashley Evans.
She is a nurse practitioner and the CEO and founder of Psych,
life Tea Company. She has her master's in health
administration. Thracian, and she has a masters
in nursing and she is a board certified psychiatric, mental
health nurse practitioner. She graduated in 2021 from the
University of Alabama at Birmingham with her master's
degree. She's currently working at a
psych mental health clinic at the Veterans Affair hospital.
She created the site life Tea Company out of her desire to
create a positive experience for those who felt different by
normalizing. The conversation around mental
health, her challenge. All mental health professionals
is to empower others to share their stories of mental health.
Until the stigma is no more. Oh, I love that.
Just seems like fires you up, and honestly, I love driving out
stigmas. I think they're just a way that
we limit ourselves. So, beautifully said and welcome
to the podcast. Thank you excited to be here
with you today. Well, I'm so happy to have you
on me to really dive into how you've carved your career.
And then also how you've made your business.
Tell me about About your current role and your job title.
And then what you do for a living, all the pots that you're
involved in? Okay, wonderful.
I am a psychiatric mental health, nurse practitioner
working for the VA here in Temple, Texas, in this Clinic.
We treat a myriad of mental illnesses from depression and
anxiety to PTSD schizophrenia. Bipolar.
We really see the gamut and we also treat lots of substance
abuse as well. Still have programs that we
refer veterans to some of those programs are real residential
programs, where they go in order to detox and to seek help for
coming off of the substances. They would actually go into an
inpatient unit to do that so that they can be closely
supervised. And then once they have detox
fully, they go into the residential program where they
can learn how to cope. If being without substances and
learn what they can do, instead there really is a very
comprehensive program. We're very proud of it.
I actually did a rotation in Psych mental health at the VA,
when I was a nursing student, and it was an incredibly
eye-opening experience, watching and listening to these veterans
that were experiencing mental dysfunction and illness.
And I'm never going to forget one of the guys just seemed
completely normal. You came into the room.
He sat down and he was 25 26 years old.
And I looked at my preceptor. I said he seems completely
normal. Why is he here?
And she said, just listen. And so as he began to talk, he
began to describe how he had two phds.
And these all these different fallacies and delusions of
grandeur. When I began to look around and
go. Oh my goodness, like this.
This person is not well and yet they seem.
They seem so normal. And it's just again, kind of
going That stigma that we all have.
I feel like driving out the stigma of this mental health
disease and people struggling with their mental health is
critical because it can happen to any of us.
It isn't just something that it can affect anyone and it could
be in your family. You make a great point and I
want to pause here. I don't want us to proceed
without really drawing out. What you just said.
The person looked normal quote unquote.
Boat, that's very important. And it's important.
Because of this, what is normal, right?
Especially as it relates to having a mental illness or a
physical illness, right? Like you can't tell that a
person has hypertension by looking at them, right?
You can't tell that a person has anything.
You cannot tell, right? It is the same way for mental
illnesses. I think there's there's one
thing that we have to understand and if the fact that mental
illness is in the past, it was associated with Beggars on the
street nomadic people who look like their quote unquote crazy.
I don't use that word, but I'm trying to make a point in the
fact that that's not how mental health actually looks is, what
is portrayed to us. However, I have the face of
Don't go, right? You have the face of mental
health. In the reason why I say I have
that faith is because I personally have had a 16-year
journey myself was having just battling depression and anxiety.
And I guarantee you I told him quote look normal, right, but
that's what we have to get away from this notion that there's a
particular. Look, if you will.
Those seated with having a mental illness.
Yeah, because we can write, it can be yes.
And who has the most money in the world, money in the world is
not going to keep you from being sad.
It's not that I can't be anxious and it's certainly not going to
keep your genetics from developing, whatever you develop
which we know, genetics, play a huge parking and to
schizophrenia and bipolar. Well, it's Jenna.
Going to do those things. That's a guarantee.
Tell me about how you developed your t-shirt company.
So, you've been working. How long have you been working
at the VA? I have been working at the VA
for five years, and prior to go back in and tell you a little
bit of my history because prior to working at the VA.
I worked in a community hospital back in our hometown, Auburn,
Alabama. And at that particular, It'll is
when I had my first experience inside.
You can imagine these adolescents had severe.
Trauma, trauma. You can't even imagine the worst
of the worst adverse childhood experiences.
These children had indoor from from rape to other sexual
assaults, to being beaten. I mean the list just goes on and
it was very When I went into that unit stops myself.
Oh my God. This is going to be a cakewalk.
Right? I'm just gonna go and keep some
kids. Keep I I didn't understand just
how impactful the psychiatric realm of nursing truly was, is
far beyond sitting with some patients.
It's done that. I know a couple of years back
there was The notion of all psychiatric.
Nurses, do is sit around and play cards.
Have you heard that before? I heard somebody, some Senator
said something about all nurses, do sit around and play Clefairy
and we just sit around and play cards, right?
But if that's all we did, can you imagine how much talking we
do while we're playing those cards?
I mean, it is a therapy session 24 hours.
When I started working in the Adolescent unit, these kids
date. Need a lesson in the fact that
you cannot show up on bubbly and think that your loveliness is
going to rub off on them on day one.
It just does not work that way when you have been exposed to
the types of trauma that these people have been exposed to and
let down over and over and over again.
It really changes them in a way that is very difficult to
understand but they don't Don't just perk up and feel like
you're a knight in shining armor.
I mean in because you're so nice and sweet, it takes for you to
show up, time and time again, day in day out.
Shh, the shift to really influence them the way that you
really want to influence them and and start chiseling away at
that hardcore surface that they have built over the number of
years that that Alma was happening to them.
So what I learned here was that they really experienced a great
deal of embarrassment. They experienced a great deal of
just feeling like people are talking about them.
Looking at them. They feel like pariahs their own
family. They feel like their families,
don't love them, and many of them, their families have
abandoned them. So they have every reason to
feel like they're not love and most of the time, they feel like
it. Is because of their mental
illness, right? We know that at the end of the
day, that's not the real reason. Why their family abandoned them.
Their families had lots of trauma that were going on with
them as well. And I've been ill necess it is
something that runs in families. Although the child is
experiencing a mental illness. We can't forget that the parent
usually is too especially when you have a child that young
experiencing it. I started working at the VA and
I started working with adults. I noticed that the very same
things that kids are plagued by in terms of just embarrassment
and feeling so isolated and feeling.
So different adults are playing with the same thing.
They feel like their diagnosis has ruined their lives and
because of that, they feel like they can't be love.
They're unworthy is what they think in there.
They think that people are looking at them, that they're an
embarrassment and they're ashamed of themselves, because
the caring this diagnosis. And so I said, how can I give
back? How can I show them that?
That's not what we're thinking, especially people who are in
health care, giving them treatment.
We're not looking down on them. We want to build them up.
And so I say what when a person has on a shirt, right?
And the shirt is a nice t-shirt, Alabama.
Like I said earlier. Well, if you saw me with the
Nike shirt, that represented Auburn University, you would
know two things. I love Nike and I love our
University. Right?
So I said, if I created an apparel line that pulled
together, really, beautiful bright messages on bright, teas
and show support for the middle. No Health Community and show
support for those who suffer with mental illnesses.
I wonder how that would translate to them.
I placed myself in their shoes quite literally because though,
I've never been a patient on an inpatient unit.
I can empathize when you have empathy and you can place
yourself in someone's shoes what they are experiencing and you
try to do Thing that prevents them from experiencing a bad
onboarding into an inpatient unit or a bad exchange.
And so that's why I came up with the team because the tea light
has beautiful things. Mental.
Health matters, reflective practice.
You are worthy, just so many different things.
I love God, reinforces our advocacy from us to the patient.
And it's an awesome as well. What have, you know, do you wear
it to work? If you notice like any response
from patients? Oh, yeah, is definitely a
conversation starter. Oh, that is so cool.
Yeah, because when I do me an example of, like, one of the
conversations you've had with a patient.
Absolutely, so, I went and got one patient from the lobby, and
I had on my mental health matters shirt, and he came into
my office, sat down, and he also stole my mug sitting there on.
That's because well, they don't have matters and he said, you
really care, don't you? And I looked at him and I was
like, care about what you really care about mental health.
I said, absolutely. I said, I am Ashley all things
mental, health Evans, and he was like, wow.
He said this isn't just a job for you.
I said, it's my life. That's a really good segue into
Into how you became a nurse and how you decided to be a psych
mental health, nurse because your Journeys really interesting
starting in the corporate world, kind of realizing that there was
something missing. When, did you decide to become a
nurse, and then walk me through your steps through nursing
school and then to your master's degree.
I will make it as concise as possible.
But when I first went to college, I went I obtained.
My undergraduate degree from Florida State University, go
knows we won't hold that against you here, but Head and I wanted
to become a doctor. I wanted to become a
psychiatrist. Okay, interesting.
So if pre-med psychology after the second psychology class, I
look like this is for the birds. This is the best thing and then
I started delving into the math and science courses that had to
take for premium. I am I'm going to have to change
my major because I cannot tell my dad that I'm going to fail a
class. Because it's so difficult and
I've always struggled in math and science.
Well, let me just say my health has always represented an
opportunity for improvement to me.
I love how you worried about that's fabulous because it's his
right. Love that absolutely changed.
My man. International Fair, something
totally different age classes graduated.
Yes to Birmingham, Alabama and started working for Blue.
Cross Blue Shield. I'll be a month.
And when I started working there, I started out and claims
and told my husband I said, well I'm going to go back and I'm
going to get a masters in healthcare administration.
I've decided I'm going to climb the corporate ladder.
This is for me. I love Administration.
I convinced myself that. That was good enough.
I went back to school attain that Masters and eventually we
went into another position there at Blue Cross, but I still had
that now. Nagging urge that kept telling
me pulling on me. This isn't what you want to do.
I ignored it. Why?
Because the money was good. I mean, people say it's the norm
in handcuffs, right? And they say that there's the
salary is the price. You pay to let go of your
dreams. Like, yeah, that money was good.
Okay. I was getting my regular
paycheck one Friday and the next Friday.
I was getting was known at that company as PB people.
Foreman. Spaced a and honey, my bonus is.
I mean they were awesome. I stayed there for a couple of
years because the benefits were so amazing.
Good. Yeah.
No, they can catch it on that.
It was affecting my mental health.
It was a very good job. People stay in jobs that are
dead in and, you know, psychological safety and jumps
where there's no support encouragement inspiration.
Operation. And they do it all in the name
of a benefit, right? And to me because it's affecting
your mental health. Were you having mental health
issues out this job or work? Okay.
So it was just you were still having that nagging feeling that
you were meant to do something else.
And I was like what I just I really want to go back and do
something else before I really listened to myself and my
husband and I we had a baby this is when I develop postpartum
depression at Time after we had a baby and my mom had died when
I was 15. And so, I had, I had my first
son when I was 23. And I tell people all the time
when I speak about grief that I did not fully understand nor
process, my mother's death until I had my first son, it's me to
bring a child into the world to really process loss of her.
And what that law is Resented and because maternally, you
expect for your mother to be there with you during this
incredible time in her life. And she was not then having all
of the hormones in my body, just going through so much.
That is when I develop and I ended up seeing a psychiatrist.
He really changed my life and I saw him at the urging of my
husband who noticed that I wasn't the same.
That he had known for so many years and I'm so thankful that
he noticed that and me now this person who was crying all the
time. Didn't want to hang out with the
baby, didn't want to make our price limit of.
It was just not me. Right?
And I'm thankful that he encouraged me, but the one thing
I said went because I didn't immediately say, okay.
I'll go see the doctor when she said, maybe going to see a
doctor. I was like no you need to go.
Yeah. I was just thinking that.
Yeah, with being African-American, we the beat
Community. If we're going to move the
needle, we have to do it in a very honest and transparent
fashion. Okay.
Yeah, and so I was part of that group of people.
I stand here before you part of that group of people.
So myself, mental health does not exist in black people
because we are too strong, but it was which is the exact
opposite its exact opposite. It's the strong that I asked for
help like that's vulnerable T. That's the strength and
vulnerability and in my weakness.
I was like, yeah, there's no way I'm going to do that.
That I mean, it doesn't exist from too strong, like the first
person in my family who's ever going to college, like I started
naming these things. But those things have nothing to
do with your hormones and neurotransmitters in your body,
increasing and decreasing and making you feel sad.
So, how did you overcome that? How did you overcome that?
The stigma, the culture, your own rap sheet of success.
How did you say? All right, I'm going, that's a
great question. I listen to my husband and I
said, what I have a little one it is best for me.
To go and see if I need to talk to someone about how I'm feeling
because I was crying all the time and I knew that wasn't
normal, right? And so when I went to the
psychiatrist he treated me with such respect.
He was a Caucasian male and I know I was so blessed.
I was so blessed to have someone who treated me.
Ethically who treated me with beneficent who treated me with.
With respect who didn't rush me, but wanted me to fully process
the grief that I had held for so long.
He is with me through those things, and I decided at that
point. I've got to go back to school
because I want to help people like he's helping people.
And so that's what made me end up talking to my husband about.
Hey, I've got to get back to go back to school again.
He's like, oh God, again because I had already finished my
masters and Buster's. And probably.
Yes, I have to I said, but don't worry.
I'm just going to go and get an associates.
I just want to be a nurse. Okay.
I just want to be a nurse and so I went back and we moved back
home over so that we can have some help with our little one.
And I started going to school after work at the community
college and in Auburn Opelika, and I finished that degree in
2012. But his saddle for I don't sell.
Okay, I keep going like the Energizer but and so I started
working in a NICU then my husband and I we decided that we
would be moving to Texas before. Then.
I say, well I need to get back to school and get my BSN because
that's the only way that I'm going to be able to really make
changes and in and get back into Administration as a nurse.
And I said this is it. I'm not going back to school
after this. I go back to school and we moved
to, Texas. Is and I completed my BSN, and
that's when I started working for the VA.
And, oh, my God, it was such a wonderful experience.
I love working with that. And when you love doing
something, when you're passionate about something, and
you can be more impactful, if you get additional schooling,
you're just gonna do it. And I'm just gonna go, I'm about
to have my husband yet again. But at this point, you've
condition them. He's ready for it.
I'll get this point. Okay, but you were to go to
school. So I said, babe, just one more
time. I want to go back and get a
nurse practitioner degree. And so he knew how much I loved
psyche. And he said, absolutely here.
I am. And I'm already having a
conversation about. Should I do the PHD?
Should I do the DMV? So we're not done.
He's now, I love your hunger for knowledge.
I love for your hunger for self-development.
And to continually improve your ability to impact patients lives
and I share your love for the veterans.
I also work with veterans and I absolutely love the population.
It's actually the population that I felt like, I meant to
work with just because they are so real and raw.
And they tend to be in that age group that I love.
I'm an adult nurse practitioner board-certified.
And so, that's really what I like, or just the older adults.
And so, it's just a total optic, complete Hospital older.
So like this is like my playground.
I love this this place which is sweet, man, that story about
country that gave so much for for us to be free.
It is so easy to just, enjoy serving the veterans when you
see that they gave up so much so that we could be free.
The least I can do is just take care of them.
Well, so I completely aligned with you and I again it does
give you a different sense of purpose when you go to work.
I only work two days a week, but But I do go in and they say, how
is your baby? And I'm like, oh, he's good.
And they're like, I remember you were pregnant when you went out
and I was worried about you or they brought me gifts when I
came back to work. And so I just think there are
some of the salt of the earth people and more nurses need.
If you are burned out or tired, go work at the VA is a
population is incredible. You will enable weigh them and I
have enjoyed them. So I love that you're sharing
that I will pay every veteran. And some of the most transparent
people on the Earth. I agree.
They don't have a filter and I love, it was wrong.
They're going to tell you. And in the sight of you love
that because you don't want to have to go fishing and pulling
out things that or asking questions about things that are
not pertinent to them. The most part veterans, tell you
exactly was going on. They tell you what they're
thinking, what they're having a difficult time with it.
And in the population that I see in the clinic, these people deal
with lots of nightmares, they deal with lots of
hyper-vigilance and the PTSD is very strong, and they also deal
with lots of schizophrenia and bipolar as well.
But the, the population is amazing and I absolutely love
it. And I love how when they come in
very. Draw meeting the treatment
needing to get stabilized on meds.
But being a little untrusting like I don't know if I really
want to take these medications and then you do your
psychoeducation with them do Psychotherapy, give them
medication. Give them some group therapy and
they come back in a few months and they are transformed like is
wonderful to see them in that. Lets you make them up believer.
Hey guys. Thanks for listening.
The podcast, I hope you're enjoying the conversation.
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let's get back to the conversation.
Ya know. It's Funny that you say that
because I had a patient recently, I treated, and he had
said, I need to go see my side doctor, because, or my site
nurse practitioner because he's like, oh, these meds are
working. And I was like, okay, let me tag
her real quick on a note. So, I tagged the nurse
practitioner, but it was just, it was just, he was wrong.
He came in. I was like, I don't think he's
meds are working. My mom's driving me nuts.
So it was just a moment of just, yes, it was like where he was
that day. And he was okay and nothing
concerning was going on, but he was just wrong and I was like,
yeah. I love this population and Lou
much. It's totally my jam and it's
what I meant to take care of because I really, really like
that. So actually tell me a little bit
about a challenge that you had to overcome in your career.
A moment that you felt like this is Ashley's out.
She's not going to make it but then you overcame whatever that
was. You have an experience like
that. There are many times that we
make decisions that we later regret.
And I remember I was in a cute site.
At the VA and I work there for maybe eight or nine months and I
saw a management position come up and I was like, I've got a
plan for this. I've got this and apply and I
got the job. And I remember finding out cuz
the the lady who I would be reporting to the nurse manager.
She was hiring to assistant nurse manager, and I remember
finding out who the second assistant.
Manager was going to be and there's always going to be
people who Aura and whose life does not align with yours.
You hear the talk about them, but you know, you know know 100%
but you're kind of like pretty certain that this person isn't
of the earth type of people. And so I remember finding out
that this person was going to be your counselor.
Yeah. Yeah, and and I prayed about it
over the weekend. And like I got the job offer and
I prayed about, I told my husband, I said, you're not
going to believe this, we prayed about it and we were just like,
what just go ahead and do it. Hopefully, you'll be in a
separate case. And so I ended up calling that
Monday and I spoke to a manager and I said, hey am I going to
have a separate office? And she said, yeah, who are
still having separate offices? Well, I never did sell her my
concerns. I just told her I wanted to
separate. And I remember starting that job
from the time that I got in that job.
This person was trying to sabotage me and essentially just
ruined my, my career ruined my credibility and who I am
everything that I stood for as a person this person was trying to
dismantle and I didn't understand why and come to find
out. He was doing this because a In
that he was saying, on the unit that we have worked for, I was
friends with and he didn't like the fact that he, that she and I
were friends. So he was trying to ruin my
reputation because I was trying to instill worthiness and hers
to tell her that she's worth more than being with a person
who treats her so poorly like he was treating her.
So poorly. This is oh my goodness.
That is that is some psych drama is the true.
Tiny. And so, when he found out that I
was saying those things to her building her up, he was livid.
But I didn't know about that because she didn't tell me.
He started saying all these ugly - things dismantling my like, oh
my gosh. Oh my gosh, ever.
And what happened? I talked to my nurse manager and
I said, hey, I'm going back to keep site and it was only after
about seven months at the end of the day, money doesn't matter -
A matters who I am matters, what I stand for matters, but piece I
went back to a cute site and I should have never left because
as soon as I found out, who's gonna be my peer, I knew it
didn't feel right. But sometimes you do things that
don't feel right. And back to the unit and I gave
the unit 1000%, I may have been given nine hundred and
ninety-nine percent before giving them a thousand percent.
Now. And went all in and was able to
bring in ideas that I had brought changes for on the
previous unit. That I was working for.
Those eight months that seal see, which is the residential
area for geriatric patients, and was able to implement some of
those ideas that I created there and brought them over to a cute
side. So that's cool.
But it was an incredibly difficult experience that I was
able to get. Through and able to give back up
even more. Once I got back to the place
that I really loved and see what I love about that.
You think that would that wasn't great, but you still walked away
with so much knowledge, so much experience.
And so even though you tried it and it wasn't for you.
You still are better because of it.
And I really want my nurses and nurse practitioners that are
hearing this podcast today, to let that sink into your soul,
not every decision you're going To make you're going to fit in.
It's going to be perfect. Absolutely.
It will make you stronger and you will come out of it.
A better NP if you allow it to or better nurse and you'll be
more chiseled in a way that that experience caused you some type
of learning or some type of Gap closure or something that you
go. Alright, that wasn't the best
experience but I still learn something from there still a
lot. I can I can throw from that
discomfort for me represents an opportunity for me to learn and
For me to get more comfortable with something that I would
usually walk away from nursing in my regular life before I
became a nurse. If something got difficult, I
would walk away from it. When things go in a Direction,
you don't want to go in, nursing is such a robust feel, you can
literally like apply for a job today and have another job
tomorrow. And that's what's so wonderful
about nursing and that's the reason.
Then why I was able to get through those eight months as
the assistant nurse manager. Because I knew that the options
were Limitless. I wasn't bound to stay in that
place. It was just a matter of time
before I put my mental health first and made the decision to
not worry about the money but to worry about my health.
First me first over the paycheck-to-paycheck.
Yeah. It will come, you know, yes, I
love that. And that resiliency, I know is
something that you put into your business and you put into your
t-shirt business, that fervor that you have for mental health.
And that, and that passion that you have is being displayed.
In your t-shirts. It's in the messaging that
you're conveying to your patients.
And I think the best thing we could do as nurse practitioners
is to remind people that they're worthy of Love, worthy of
attention. In worthy of time and that
messaging is just something that I think a lot of us don't get a
lot as children. And so you just become adults.
I still need those things just because you're different ages.
That mean those things are not important.
I love your journey. I love how that time that you
were, you were taking care of the adolescence, it helped.
You still see those same needs in the adult population and then
you're looking to kind of fill in that Gap with subliminal, but
not. So subliminal messaging of you
are worthy. Mental health matters.
That's your passion and that you have found it and you are
operating in your zone of strength and in your zone of
passion, which is, which is perfect, which is just the
perfect zone for for your career.
You know, it really is and one of my many mentors.
Oh God, you're going to say. One other thing that I would
like to say. I think it's know many patients.
So many people who have a mental illness.
They believe they are the mental illness that they have.
Does that make sense? That is definitely true, they
identified themselves as actually the depressed person.
I am depressed. That's who I am.
I am depressed. Everything I do is depressed.
Like, we have to get out of that mindset, though.
You are not the illness that you have.
My name is Ashley Evans. I am a child of God.
That's who I am. I might.
I have depression and anxiety which I do.
Thankfully, they are under control, and I'm stable.
But what I am saying is that they don't Define me as a
person, they don't I love that every day.
My job that I have for myself, is to debunk the stigma that's
associated with those who have mental illnesses, because most
people think they are poorly functioning people.
Belen, is just not true. Give me a very highly functional
person and suffer with mental illness.
So, that's one thing I want to draw out that you are not what
you wear your struggle with not. Yeah, you're not the diagnosis
that you carry. Yeah.
Absolutely. I get this word picture of like
the body, right? And so you like arms, and you
have legs, and you have hair, and you've got nose and years
all these different body parts and you don't walk around to
finding yourself by your nose, or Your ear, you're a total
picture, right? It's everything.
You're the, accumulation of all these different things and
parts. And so it's the same thing with
past struggles or depression, anxiety, or diagnosis that you
carry. I mean, people with cancer all
these different things. They had that same Mantra of
like I am not this, I am this by focusing on what you are.
You can Elevate yourself up to that spot.
If you focus in on the bad parts, the things that aren't
working. Well, things that are, everyone
has Little something. So well that doesn't quite work
the way it used to anymore. You can't look at that.
You have to look at all that you do have, that's working and
functioning. Well, powerful.
The brain is powerful and really focus on the - Sandra.
Then that's exactly what's going to manifest in your life.
Let's see you to daily reframe. The cognitive distortions that
you struggle with. Please don't think that I am.
Perfect. In my thought life is just not
true. No one is.
Come on. Okay.
Where you're thinking something - you have to daily reframe it.
Santa. Thankfully we can do that
because the brain is neural plastic and that neuroplasticity
allows him to reframe. All of those things that you
have dwelled on a ruminated on consistently in.
In your life, you can reverse it right now.
Yeah, I posted today. That how amazing is the soul
that both the devil and God are both after it.
And it is so true because it's this battle, right?
This battle between submitting, your thoughts.
Either to positive things. Things that are true or
submitting. Your thoughts of the things that
are not true and you are not your depression.
You are not your anxiety. You are so much more than those
things and so leaning onto the Earth holding onto it.
I look at it like just holding on for dear life.
Off the side of a cliff just holding onto the truth.
And just saying, this has got to work because this is all I got
is kind of the picture that I'm getting to.
I don't think you described any mentors along your way.
But sounds like your husband's been.
Your biggest Mentor, coach. Keep you going.
But have you had any nurse mentors along the way?
As a matter of fact, I did not have a mentor until about a year
and some change ago. Emma last position at the VA.
I was the high reliability organization lead and I know you
are familiar with her liability because you're at the VA as
well, but I was the leave for our organization here in
Central, Texas. And so for those who don't know,
could you explain what that is? So how reliability is really
awesome. It is a type of organization
that Understands that it has many high risk in the
organization. But so, do you have lots of
high-risk hospitals? Do they have lots of high-risk?
You still want to have a very low adverse event rate and so
really organizations Pride themselves on giving their staff
or instilling in their staff. Psychological safety, which
empowers Them to speak up when they see a safety concern
because it allows the organization to work proactively
and not reactively. Split it h.
R0 is. And we have been on this journey
as an Enterprise in the va's, just 2019, but slowly were
trickling to each system to spread High reliability which is
going to take a while because it's 160 facilities and over 15.
You see box. But anyway, I'm sorry.
I was actually thinking of empress.
She knows, I don't even know the need for over a year and it
still pumps in my veins. I still get very excited and the
whole incident with the nurse about a week ago, a redundant.
Oh my God, I posted about that. I'll have to share it with you.
But that has everything to do with high reliability.
Nursing. It is really at a Crossroads
with that verdict because Because nurses are on the
Frontline day in and day out. If the system is not in
stirring, safety for patients and nurses, then it's the system
that is failing. Us is not the nurses that are
failing because we're percent of the there should have been
systems in place to prevent, and this is all high reliability.
There should have been systems in place to prevent redundant
from from Some of the errors that she made in that incident,
but because those systems were in place such as her ability to
give the the medication without scanning it, because she's in
the Pet Scan room. Don't care.
What room you in. You need to stand the man area.
That's bad failed. Run Tonda.
Okay, this she met are absolutely.
But guess what? Ashley has made an error.
I guarantee you've made an are we Humans, that's why doesn't
this system has to protect its human.
But this goes if in mind with this because through high
reliability is when I met the most wonderful, most awesome
nurse. She was actually a colonel in
the Army. Her name is one of Janka.
Shoutout. So Colonel Jenkins, I love her
was a charm. Roll executive coach, and she
served me in that capacity. So I was able to come Day or
night with any problems at hand very quickly.
When you meet people Sandra and I know what to do, even though
it's in a professional capacity. You very quickly, learn to be
friends with her. I'm saying, you think to
yourself. She loved her like her fervor,
which is the energy energy that know that finesse her ability to
talk to everybody in the c-suite.
We because it's like she created the c-suite.
Yeah. No, I know what you're talking
about. Oh, I love that.
Yeah, and she is God of the earth.
Most wonderful person very selfless and will literally sit
in the back while you do your thing, and she has totally
helped to prepare you and she sitting in the very back and
doesn't want the microscope on her.
She's totally good with you being.
The front that makes her day. You are pinpointing her ability
to be a humble leader. She would rather create leaders
around her and through that creation getting it makes the
baiting herself, but she doesn't think that's what she's doing.
She's just she's elevating others, but it's through doing
that. That other people then go this
person is awesome. Even though she's doing is
working on making everybody else.
Awesome. I remember a couple of months
ago before I exited the position and I went into mental health.
She said, Ashley, I need you to put in to become a presenter at
emphasis emphasis is a conference and they do this
conference two to three times a year and is for healthcare
professionals, but you're presenting to military
Healthcare professionals. Right?
And I was like, I've never done a presentation before.
Like like not that kind of right like where you have delegates
who are coming and they Hearing you as the expert of whatever
you're thinking about right now is the time.
But not in that way. Miss Wanda.
She was like, well, that's what you're about to do.
I love that. So she said, what I want you to
put together something and I didn't it was chosen and I
present it at a conference for the very first time.
So just things like that, that she inspires me.
I never want to let her down. So when she asked me to do
something, I'm gonna kill ya. No, the main point I'm hearing
in that is by taking your time and investing in others, you
will grow yourself, even though you don't even know you're doing
it and people, you will change people's lives in a lasting way.
It'll be your legacy. And so I think that's
incredible. And that's what she's doing
either intentionally or not. But it sounds like she's a
pretty intentional person. So I'm sure she's intentionally
doing that. So for the last question of our
podcast interview, it is about A piece of advice that you would
give to a new nurse starting off that you wish, you would have
known go back to that, Ashley, who's just, like, I want to help
people that you wish you would have known a piece of advice to
toss and a piece of advice to keep toss and keep one of each.
So I would love to give you this piece of advice, no matter what
mistake you've made speak up. No matter what mistake you've
witnessed speak up. And the reason why that's
important Sandra is, because if the error was made to mr.
Jones, we want to prevent that same error from happening to
another mr. Jones, or whoever else don't be
afraid of how you quote on quote made.
Look, throw that out of the equation.
And what I tell people all the time is to do the substitution
test because of mr. Jones were your dad.
Your brother if he were any of those people and you were in the
room, wouldn't you want that nurse to speak up and let people
know what happened with mistake. I respect people much more who
are transparent and don't try to hide things over people who try
to hide things and are very mischievous about it, because
you're not admitting what we all know to be true.
We all make Okay, so that's one thing that I want to tell people
because in nursing school, it is drilled into you that you have
to be perfect. I don't know about your nursing
school sander, but that's how you can't make mistakes.
You got to be perfect. But y'all that's false.
It's an illusion is not reality. So it makes nurses walk on
eggshells. The standard is unattainable
being perfect as completely unattainable.
And so, what, what I also want to drive home.
At, I think it's good that you're saying is I know that
what I've come forward with a mistake in any capacity that
I've worked in patients, are way more receptive than if you did
not tell them. And then you continue on.
As if you were in that perfect State, I have received more
grace and more covering. When I've said we made a mistake
here and I've owned up to it in the moment.
I've let the family know the patient know and that same vein
of what would I want? And to my family member and I
have always been received with thank you for telling us and we
trust you more now because you took that moment and you could
have covered it for your ego, but you humbled yourself and you
said, I'm not perfect. I made a mistake here and
there's a humility that I believe that nurses need to have
should have probably mostly do have.
And I think that's also why the redonda case bothers me?
Because she came in and said, I made a mistake and so I think
that When we confess, and we say, Hey, listen, I screwed up
here. We need to be met with and we
typically are with from a patient standpoint were met with
with Grace. And so again, there is I think a
lot more to gain by being honest than being just an estate trying
to cover to look like a certain way.
Absolutely, one thing that someone told me and it made so
much sense. I don't know if you are going to
want to remove this from the podcast.
If you do, that's totally fine, know if you purchase it like
that, it stays Ashley people Sue.
It's so true. He sent when you are honest and
you tell people I am, sorry, I made this mistake.
I was overwhelmed. I don't know what happened.
But I made an error. He said, those are the people
who get through. Those aren't the people whose
families press charges. It's about what they did.
The people who Ooh, hide the same.
It's very difficult to reconcile.
I agree. It's been very disturbing for
healthcare professionals. Because Physicians have also
been like this is terrible. Nurses, of course, are up in
arms. Like this is super scary and
what it will do, it will drive us away from the bedside.
Like it will drive good nurses away from the bedside, which is
not what we need right now. Don't think you need to be
perfect. Be honest.
That is that is the most beautiful thing, you can do with
your nursing career, because you've got people Grants and
honest, there's one other thing I'll say is to be authentic and
you can go home and know that you've made a difference.
Be the difference. Don't worry about the naysayers
that work the say Susie Q was always trying to brown-nose
somebody, girl. Listen, who cares about what
these people say. They are jealous because you
have a fire in you. I love that.
That's what we ended on love that.
Last part of the interview is the rapid fire.
Questions. These you cannot prepare for and
they will come at you fast and you will have to just spit out,
whatever comes out. What's your holiday Christmas?
What is your favorite beverage water?
I'm so boring. Oh, that was so boring.
It was not expecting that. I was born like, like a
margarita. You seem like, you like have
fun. And what would you call?
What would be a spirit animal that you could look at animal
and go? I think I'm that animal.
You're going to laugh which one I've tiger tiger.
Because baby, I'm a go-getter Tigers honey.
They sit back. They have a vision.
They create a plan and baby. They parents own it.
Thanks for listening five times today.
Thanks Ashley for sharing your journey and for just being so
animated and fun. It's been a great time and I'll
put it in the show notes where to find your t-shirts.
If we have any mental health nurse practitioners, that are
wanting some cool swag where they can find and pick up some
of those items so that they can support their patients and just
tell people that they're worthy. And that mental health matters,
and all the wonderful messaging that you're providing on your
company. And yeah, thank you so much for
your time. Thank you.
It was a pleasure. All right, guys, continue to
enjoy the journey. So that's a wrap.
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The information on this podcast is for educational purposes.
Only and the information should not be used in substitute for
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The information in this podcast is Not represent medical or
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