The Nurse Wellbeing Mission Podcast

Helping nurses and midwives prepare for emotionally challenging work. Research, tools and powerful stories.
Our Podcast Episodes

Ep 1: The Origins of Nurse Wellbeing Mission

Show Notes — Welcome to the introduction to the Nurse Wellbeing Mission podcast! In this introductory episode, your host, Dr. Nathan lllman (Clinical Psychologist), discusses his professional journey with supporting nurses and other healthcare staff and how his personal experiences led him to commit to helping the nursing and midwifery workforce. The podcast is designed […]

Ep 2: What does preventative mental health for nurses look like?

Show Notes — Nurses have a huge responsibility of taking care of different kinds of patients. This role, from a broader perspective, subjects nurses to several factors that lead to increased stress and there is a high chance for this stress to deteriorate their well-being. Hence, it is necessary to take preventative interventions before the […]

Ep 3 – Punishment of whistle-blowers, BME bias and unfair disciplinary procedures: A conversation with Narinder Kapur.

Show Notes — In today’s episode, I talk with Professor Narinder Kapur, visiting professor of neuropsychology at UCL in London. Narinder is not a nurse, but has done incredible work to support nurses after his own harrowing experience of unfair dismissal within healthcare. Narinder suffered an extremely stressful unfair dismissal earlier in his career and […]

Ep 4: Can effective nurse wellbeing be done in 5 mins at work? Interview with Darcy Copeland, Prof of Nursing

Show Notes — Professional quality of life greatly affects the overall well-being and work performance of healthcare workers. It is important to address the factors that negatively affect this and form habits through brief interventions. In this episode, Darcy Copeland, a Professor of Nursing and Nurse Scientist, talks about the study she conducted on brief […]

Ep 5: How do we better prepare and support student nurses for critical incidents? A conversation with Tiffany Hood

Show Notes — Tiffany Hood is an Associate Professor of nursing at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She has a highly varied nursing background and in the latter stages of her career has focused more on research. In this episode we talk about her research examining student nurses’ responses to critical incidents at work, […]

Ep 6: Should I go to therapy? Removing barriers to accessing support.

Show Notes — There are times when we already know that we should seek help because of the changes that we are noticing in the way we deal with things in our life. The problem is that many barriers stop us from taking action and make us think twice about getting help. However, thinking about […]

Ep 7: Stress management programs for student nurses – effective, or not? A conversation with Becky Petley.

Show Notes — Interested to know more about stress management programs for student nurses? Then you’re in the right place. We talk to Becky Petley in this episode. Becky is finishing her Ph.D. at Winchester University in the UK and was investigating what aspects of wellbeing programs for student nurses actually work. In this conversation […]

Ep 8: Self-forgiveness for nurses and midwives: The foundations

Show Notes — It is normal for people to make mistakes and it is also completely normal to feel guilty about it. However, dwelling on the past and excessively thinking about the future effects of what we did wrong will oftentimes make it worse. It will greatly affect our practice, our overall health, and our […]

Ep 9: Jennifer Wild on preventing PTSD in nurses.

Show Notes — PTSD can reduce the quality of life for a long time but it is a treatable condition. The earlier it is detected, the better it will be for the person being crippled by it. Furthermore, in a workplace that has a high risk of facing traumatic experiences, taking the steps to prevent […]

Ep10. Making the case for self-compassion in nurse education. A Conversation with Jasna Schwind

Show Notes — In today’s episode, I talk to Jasna Schwind, professor of nursing at the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing in Toronto about self-compassion in nurse education. Jasna is an RN and nurse educator who is interested in the humanness of care and ways to enhance nurse student learning via mindfulness and compassion. If […]

Ep 11: How to coach and support nurses through difficult times. A conversation with Jackie Dominick

Show Notes — Being in a healthcare team is a tough job and even more when you stand as the leader. You have to be someone your team members can rely on especially during the most difficult times. It’s not enough to have the courage and strength of a leader. It is most important to […]

What are Schwartz Rounds and how do they benefit nurses? A conversation with Prof Jill Maben, RN, OBE.

Show Notes — Schwartz Rounds provide a safe space for healthcare staff to share many aspects of their work with others. This results in reflections and realisations that enable staff to be more compassionate towards themselves and others. In this episode, Nathan Illman sits down with Jill Maben to discuss Schwartz Rounds and her evidence-based […]

Ep 13: How to reduce fatigue in shift workers: The role of evening light. A conversation With Despina Artenie

Show Notes — Fatigue is a common problem in the workplace. It’s even more common and well-documented in people who work night shifts because of the lack of sleep they experience. It can cause different problems in our body systems that can, later on, affect the quality of our lives. It’s a good thing that […]

Ep 14: Key sleep tips for nurses and midwives

Show Notes — In this episode, Nathan talks about the importance of sleep for wellbeing and shares some insights into some of his favourite tips to get better sleep. This episode is part of a series that will cover general sleep tips (today’s episode); ways to tackle insomnia; and how to improve sleep for night […]