Brandie Mitchell Spotlight Series

Peter Giza
Hey and welcome to the nurse coach spotlight series. I’m Peter Giza registered nurse and co founder of the nurse coach collective, and I’m super excited to have with me here today Brandi Mitchell. After spending a decade as a licensed massage therapist, Brandi attended the University of Texas Health Science Center nursing school, and became a registered nurse in Texas. As a passionate advocate for integrative health and wellness, Brandi was thrilled to discover the field of nurse coaching and became a nurse coach soon after graduating from nursing school. In her private practice brandy integrates manual therapies with women’s wellness coaching. She offers private in person virtual coaching and recently

created a group coaching program called the well women collective, which is for women cultivating radical self care. Randy’s passion is supporting women and families and she finds joy in inspiring, healthy self care and vibrant, courageous living. Brandy. That’s one heck of an introduction. Thanks for being here with me today. I’m so excited to be able to speak with you in this capacity. Could you start by sharing a brief background of your history as a nurse or your history? Maybe you could combine your history as a nurse with your history as a massage therapist, because I know they are just so intertwined.

Brandie Mitchell
Thanks. Yeah. And it’s really great to hear that introduction. You know, read by someone else. I’m so used to like reading it and tweaking it for my website and everything else. It’s really cool to hear it back and really own that. That’s me. So you know you said it. I have been I was a massage therapist for about a decade before feeling really called into nursing. I didn’t really see myself, I was quite confused actually, because I was looking at a lot of different pathways. I was looking at social work or I had an undergraduate in a degree in nutrition. So I was looking at like masters work in nutrition, and also natural apathy. I visited last year university up in your neck of the woods, and you know, I just really kept coming back to nursing and I really only knew of nursing in the context of like working in a clinical setting at the hospital or in you know, a doctor’s office and I just really didn’t see how my gifts fit into that and but I did it I jumped into nursing school and said yes on you know, really a lot of faith and thankfully, you know, like you mentioned I discovered the field the emerging field of nurse coaching when I read a an article in the holistic nursing journal. And that’s when I was like, Oh, this is it. This is why I’m becoming a nurse like this. This is my language, you know, the language of healing and partnering with clients, not patients. It was just I just resonated with all of it. And it felt like it really gave me a sense of purpose in my in what was otherwise feeling really isolating and alone, like in nursing school because I literally, I just did not feel that I belong to there. I didn’t feel like I fit into a lot of what I was learning. And so thankfully, I did discover, you know, a path and at the time, that was in 2011. So they were just getting started with establishing the board certification. And yeah, so I you know, move forward with becoming a nurse finishing nursing school and became a nurse coach. At the Same time. Yeah. So it’s kind of a lot. And, you know, looking back, I realized at the time, I didn’t think it was all that, you know, brave or courageous or, you know, unique. I think I was used to doing things out of the box, I guess. And so, but looking back, I’m like, wow, you know, it was really freaking brave of me to, like, take some of my school loan money and, you know, go pursue this field that, you know, none of my other nursing student colleagues were even remotely interested in, you know, so looking back I can really like give myself credit for being so brave and fearless in a way so yeah,

Peter Giza
indeed, you are Brandi.

That’s so cool. Can you describe a little bit more about

like that feeling of isolation inside of nursing school, and how That was shifted like how that was mitigated when you found nurse coaching when you found that tribe, that group?

Brandie Mitchell
Yeah, thanks. It really did feel like I

found my tribe, my people and

so the feeling of isolation, I felt like I wasn’t allowed to use all of my gifts if that makes sense. For for 10 years I had been cultivating my gifts of like intuition and touch healing touch through massage therapy and you know, some energy therapies as well. craniosacral therapy Reiki, and like I

it was sort of

that’s the way I describe it and I was able to do some processing work but the way I just like, like years later about it, but I described it as like, I felt like I had to walk around it within the clinical setting and through school with like blinders on. Like I wasn’t allowed to use My intuitive gifts to, you know, care for patients in a holistic way. It was like, here’s the protocol. This is how we treat the patients follow the directions, follow the slides. And these are the rules and I’ve never been great at following rules I’ve always thought outside of the box and you know, not for the purpose of just being rebellious but like to say, like, we could be doing this better, you know, like, there’s why aren’t we touching our patients, for example, is one of the things that I remember thinking my first semester in nursing school, when they said, you can give back rubs and foot rubs to your patients. And I was like, you know, super excited about that, because that was what I you know, I knew how to do that very well. It felt like something that I could easily do, but I’m pretty certain I’m the only student who did that like who went to the supply closet and checked out some weird goofy lotion and like massage patient’s feet, but you know, I guess what felt isolating is that I could see some areas for growth in our profession. And I witnessed, you know, so many nurses and nursing students just like burning themselves out, you know, and not really caring for themselves. And so it was just really hard. It was hard to witness at all, you know, coming in with a lot of experience with guiding, you know, many people through, you know, challenging times and helping support their self care for those many years that I was doing that as a massage therapist.

So finding my tribe,

you know, so finding the tribe, it was like, oh, like nurses and advanced practice nurses who were also yoga instructors and to spoke the language of, you know, energy work and energy healing. And we were talking about that from, you know, place of like, how to integrate that into the clinical setting and I

just felt like,

like a deep exhale, you know, like, I could just me like, Oh, I can be myself here. You know like, I’m not too whoo for these people you know?

Peter Giza
Yeah, these are my people. Yeah. So cool. What I think so unique Well, it’s very unique about your situation brandy is that from? Like you have been a nurse coach and exposed to that modality for as long as you’ve been a nurse. How do you feel like that’s giving you just a great advantage in the way that you practice?

Brandie Mitchell
Hmm. Wow, thanks. It’s a deep honor really, because as I’ve continued, you know, on this path of claiming being a nurse coach and believing that this really is a very necessary and revolutionary way to be a nurse, I feel Yeah, just really a super honored you know, just super honored to have seen it from nothing and But pretty early on, you know, and

I yeah, I, I kind of forgot your original question.

I just I think it overwhelms me honestly, like with just a feeling of gratitude and humility to have been able to, to be able to say that I’ve been a nurse coach, as long as I’ve been a nurse feels really it feels really humbling and really super awesome. Because it’s also like, you know, I chose that I chose that path. And I, I really hope that there will be opportunities and I totally believe actually that there will be opportunities for new nurses to to go you know, to see nurse coaching as like another option for them in their career just like any other, you know, any other path in nursing.

Peter Giza
Yeah, I appreciate you saying that Brandi. And the reason that I asked like how being a nurse coach for as long as you’ve been a nurse has been advantageous to you. You’re nursing practice and your philosophy and the way that you’re able to show up for patients is because, you know, I’ve had the honor of speaking to so many different nurses and some of them are, have been practicing for a very long time. You know, and they were like, I wish I had known about nurse coaching, you know, so much earlier. So it just, I just wonder, you know, what would be different if, if this was something that had been taught to nurses from the very beginning. And, you know, some of some nurses are going to latch on to it more than others. Right. But it’s, it’s just fascinating that you have that unique lens that I’m not sure I know anybody else that that has that Brandi?

Brandie Mitchell
Yeah. Well, thanks for thanks for repeating the question because it really it’s empowered me to keep going like it’s kept. It’s given me permission to keep advocating for holistic care and to just stay true to my my beliefs and my passion for seeing people as whole and for believing in healing and taking a stand for that, and that’s looked a lot of different ways. And I will say, you know, my my story is also unique. In that I found out that I was pregnant with our first daughter who’s now seven, the day before I went to New York for our for, you know, to begin my nurse coaching journey. So I was still in nursing school, it was quite a surprise and it was just kind of that’s a big part of my story, because then my focus shifted to, you know, becoming a first time mother and wife and also a brand new nurse, also a brand new nurse coach. So I’m actually so grateful that I had that tribe on board because my nurse coach tribe, walked with me through that powerful transformational time. My life personally, and so I was able to receive just a level of support and community that

was really, really life giving. Yeah. And yeah, just felt like

it was exactly what I needed, you know.

Peter Giza
So cool. Yeah. And thanks for sharing that piece.

Brandi and I actually received our training through the same organization, international nurse coach Association. And I think for both of us is very eye opening experience. You know, for me, I had been in the nursing field for, like seven years before that, and I’ve just never known that something like that existed. And I think it’s so cool that you were able to cultivate that in from the very beginning of your nursing career and also to have that as you had that massive like transition in terms of creating a new family. I’m along board with starting a career as a nurse and, and learning nurse coaching all of those things at the same time. How long has it been at this point? Brandi since you completed your training in nurse coaching?

Brandie Mitchell
It’s been about seven and a half years. Yeah. Yeah.

Peter Giza
How have you, like, how have you noticed your practice evolve over that seven and a half year period? You know it as a nurse, but also, I guess, specifically in the field of nurse coaching, like when you think back to seven and a half years ago of like, what did you think nurse coaching was and how did you show up as a nurse coach?

Yeah.

Brandie Mitchell
Well, interestingly, I had the opportunity to work with the international nurse coach Association. And so and I think because I was a brand new nurse and I didn’t at the time qualified to even You know, take the board certification exam. In nurse coaching, I was I was grateful to have the opportunity to work with Inka and be able to, you know, talk about an advocate for this whole emerging field of nurse coaching to other nurses that were, you know, had been in nurses for many years, some of them advanced practice nurses from all over the country and to be able to, you know, have phone calls with them and, you know, talk to them about what this whole field of nurse coaching is, you know, I was, I guess so I started as an advocate. I started as you know, brand new nurse, brand new nurse coach, advocate, and it took a while and work time and personal growth and development development work, some of which I did with you, that in order to really own you know, the fact that I wasn’t nervous even though I was really out of the box and to get my Self permission for that to be okay, from, from my journey to look however it needed to look and to recognize that I’ve been I had been, you know, integrating the skills and the, the healing space that we hold for our clients I had been, you know, implementing that from day one from my nurse coach training and so I’ve evolved from, you know, advocate and feeling like on the sidelines, you know, like, Well, I’m not really a nurse, you know, I’m like, I’m like sort of a nurse, you know, yes, I have the credentials. Yes, I did all the work in the training but not really a nurse You know, that’s how I I just assumed that position for a long time. And so then, you know, making the decision to claim it and really not just for myself, which feels good, you know, it feels good to own our gifts and own like, what were the work we’re here to do in the world. And, but it was

also like, for

My sisters and brothers like other nurse, other nurses who are feeling called to do something different that happens to be called nurse coaching, you know, to serve and show up for our patients in a totally different way to take care of ourselves in a whole different way to really become leaders. I think that’s part of why I’m I don’t mean to sound so like, saintly, but like it’s not just for me, I feel like owning my my role as a nurse and a nurse coach, but it’s also to hopefully inspire other nurses to do the same thing.

Peter Giza
I think you I know you definitely do. Randy. I think you have such a inspiring and unique story and your passion for nurse coaching is just so evident. Not only the way that you speak about it, but also just in all the work that you do. It’s just, it’s amazing. Really Brandi, you have like, always been a business owner for just Really, really long time? How did you fuse nurse coaching? Like in this moment in time? What is your practice look like? I know it’s taken many, many steps to kind of get to, to this moment where you’re at right now, but you have some like really cool things going on. And I think you just have this unique perspective on having been a business owner for going on two decades or more. I don’t remember the exact time frame. You have that perspective, you have your perspective of being a body worker, and all of the inherent awesomeness that comes along with that. And now you’ve really locked in locked in some elements of the nurse coaching process as well into that. So what does your practice look like in this moment in time and like who the people that you’re serving and, and all that?

Brandie Mitchell
Yeah, yeah, thanks.

So my practice is called well family massage and coaching and we We serve mostly women in the prenatal and postpartum time. But the great thing about connecting with women during that time is then we develop really a lasting relationship with them, and we have the opportunity to serve their whole family. So, meaning we teach infant massage to moms or dads or any, you know, partners, grandparents, we work with children as well for pediatric massage therapy of children of all abilities. And, you know, being able to coach women, you know, through such a powerful transition of you know, becoming a mom, whether it’s for the first time or you know, adding a fourth or fifth child to their crew. It’s, it’s really such an honor for me to be able to walk with women, you know, through that experience, whether they’re coming to me for you know, just massage therapy. They’re not there so many times that I hear from my clients who are coming for Massage, you know, we didn’t know, you were going to be, you know, you didn’t know this was going to be a therapy session at same time or whatever, you know, and I’m like, Yeah, actually, I didn’t know that because I show up you know, in in the fullness of, of who I am and what I have to to bring so so in our practice, it’s myself and I haven’t two more massage therapists are on our team. And then I have another nurse coach who’s available in a part time capacity with the great thing I think about nurse coaching is you can make it you know, whatever you want it to be whatever works for your life, like whether you want to jump in and you know, do it full time in a private practice, or have a couple clients on the side or do a project that’s more like one of the projects that we did this spring was a three month group coaching program that was a blend of online and in person coaching. And that other nurse coach like co facilitated that with me And it was really, it was so fun to collaborate with another nurse coach, and to, you know, give her space to bring her gifts and to also witness, you know, her style and how she, how she coaches and how she shows up. You know, as a nurse coach, it was really, really fun to collaborate. So I hope to do more of that and plan to do more of that in 2020. And so we also have a couple, you know, potential partnerships in the works and it’s a lot of it is centered around supporting women in the postpartum time, I really have discovered that that is a true gap in our healthcare system. And I believe nurse coaches can bridge that gap. Many fantastic postpartum doulas are doing that work. And that’s wonderful. I just know there’s such a tremendous need. There’s so many women that are getting kind of forgotten and lost in that time and the postpartum time is when it can really kind of make or break Literally, like, body can feel broken, when we don’t get the support and the healing that we need during that time. So yeah, that’s that’s my vision for this coming year. And I’ve been, you know, each year getting a little closer to actually really implementing that. And I really believe 2020 is going to be the year to do that. Yeah,

Peter Giza
so cool.

I’ve always admired that about you Brandi, in that your understanding of that realm of health is just so intricate, in a way that I could never for my own personal experience for there to be. But I, I just love that you’re serving that population because it’s, you know, it’s really brought to my attention, just how underserved that population is and in the gap that’s inherent in in that realm. I also want to know if if you’re okay in talking about this because, you know, seven and a half years ago you started a family you also started being a nurse coach, but you’ve been continuously building your business at the same time and you’ve always that’s been always your primary income is that this business and this practice of yours? I know many nurses who are also have families and and they they often have concerned in this regard. How have you been successful in that arena? I know there’s been tons of challenges, right? The challenge of just motherhood and being a partner and all of that, how have you managed to be successful in creating the pretty awesome business for yourself sustainably for years and years and being able to grow it while also having a family that you support?

Brandie Mitchell
Well, I think my husband would agree that I’m very stubborn

And when I, when I know there’s something I want I mean, I really I really go for it and so I, I think that’s part of it is just having, you know, whether whether you relate to yourself as being stubborn or and the strength and stubbornness is perseverance, right? So, I think being very persevering and willing to, you know, stay committed to your, to my vision, the willingness to stay committed to my vision has been really what’s carried me through and believe me, there’s been so many times when I’ve gone to my husband and just like, I’m just going to go work in a hospital, like I just wanted salary and benefits and I just want all those things, you know, it sounds so appealing. And he has taken a stand for who he knows me to be. And,

you know, just said no, you know,

over my dead body, you’re not going to do that, you know, this is this is your passion, your work. And, you know, I’ll say it’s been messy, you know, I’ve taken on some debt i’ve you know, had to navigate No changes. Of course, I didn’t see coming as always happens, you know, but I’m just I think really honestly, it’s a commitment to,

to the work that I believe I’m here to do.

And, yeah, perseverance,

so many other things, you know, having support is incredible. You know, having a supportive partner is really important and are something that I’m really grateful to have.

Peter Giza
And

Brandie Mitchell
I guess a willingness to, I’ll say, Peter to like, look long term, you know, and I it’s funny to hear myself saying that because I don’t really have not traditionally thought of myself as a very like a planner oriented person or like someone who can look very far into the future. But I think, you know, as I get older and hopefully a little wiser, and I’m like, okay, that’s that’s a good thing to do. It’s good to have vision and it’s good to think about, you know, the seeds that I’m planting. My life, how what will they look like for my daughters when they’re

when they’re adult women? You know, what will? What will this be like this whole

thing? I think about it pretty often lately actually like, what will it be like to look back at it, those of us who are kind of just bringing this work of nurse coaching into the forefront? What will that look like in 20? Some years, you know, it’s I’m really excited to see hopefully, but you know, thinking lot more long term and

sticking with it. Just sticking with it. keeps showing up.

Peter Giza
Awesome. Yeah. I love those elements of perseverance. And so I think that you’re speaking to something really important brandy, which is that long term vision, that multi year vision, almost like a delay of gratification, right? Because it’s not necessarily we can’t have everything that we want in this moment in time. But if we look out into the future, like that’s where all of this possibility lies. Would you mind sharing just a small snippet of where your head’s at in terms of where your multi year vision may take you?

In the realm of nurse coaching,

yeah, right, which one which area?

Brandie Mitchell
In the realm of nurse coaching, um,

I mean, I’ve spoken with you about this, I would, it really lights me up to give other nurses a platform to do what they love to do and to do the coaching work and not necessarily have to mess with the business side of things. I think you and I both agree that that can be like a barrier for for many nurse coaches who feel like that’s just also overwhelming. And for, you know, I took that I’ve taken that for granted in the past that I know those things and those are skills that I’ve been cultivating because I just think I always was like, Well, whatever. I love to do my website and I love discovering new technology and, you know, taking payments and sending invoices, you know, whatever just felt like no big deal. But I realized that’s not the case for everybody. And not everybody wants to spend the time to learn those things. So it really lights me up to think about, you know, what would it look like to give the nurse coaches an opportunity to do the coaching to connect to clients and

have the system set up for them? I’m not

there yet, but that, you know, that’s a bigger,

bigger vision goal. Yeah. And, you know, partnering with Oh, yeah, I know, you do. It’s, you know, it’s just a huge opportunity, right? It’s there are I believe so many nurses who are coming alive with this work, right, and who want to serve in a way so it’s like, that’s another thing I’ve been observing over my seven half years of being a nurse coach is just how the field is evolving. You know, slowly but surely, it’s it’s becoming a lot more

well known. And we still have a long way to go. But

to just, you know, there are many, many more nurses coming alive into it and, and becoming more brave and courageous and saying, wow, you know, like, our system is not working and I want to be part of the change, you know, so I’d love to be able to

be part of getting some opportunities to to bring the change.

Yeah. And so and, you know, another way that could look is partnering with organizations, and that’s why I’m pursuing these conversations with, you know, large health organizations and I’ve had some feedback, not failures in that area, you know, just like what it takes to step into the big giant, you know, hospital conglomerates and feel like a little tiny like, Oh, you know,

I have this belief, I have this vision, you want to talk about it, you know, and it’s just

always learning about that. But yeah, I mean, I definitely see that that’s the way to go when we can present ourselves as nurse coaches who are experts in this field that many don’t even realize exists. And then to offer our services, you know, in partnership with organizations who

are so ready and need it,

need what we have to

offer that really also excites me.

Peter Giza
So cool. Brandi, what would you say that your biggest piece of feedback of learning has been in reaching out to those bigger organizations?

Um,

Brandie Mitchell
what like what have

I learned just to not take it too seriously, you know, like, Don’t take it personally if they’re not, if they didn’t read the email that I sent, explaining who I am if they

total like one example They

clinic thought that I was showing up and bringing lunch for 12 of their staff and I thought I was just coming to introduce myself, they were treating me as if I was like, you know, pharmaceutical rep, like coming in and there’s just, you know, unspoken rules to the game that I didn’t even know existed. So, you know, not going into a shame spiral, not feeling like, you know, who do I think I am? Which of course, those voices always they want to show up, right? Like they want to, they want to really take us down those voices of Who do you think you are, you know,

going in here and like pioneering this new this new way. And

so, you know, I think my biggest learning is just like, don’t take that personally, to to think about it as feedback and not failure I can really credit you for, for helping Give me that language, you know, to see everything as a growing and learning opportunity. Yeah,

Peter Giza
yeah. Awesome. I love that story. I

think it’s so it’s so, you know, our field is so nuanced, you know, we have all these unspoken rules, we have our own language for crying out loud as nurses. And those things are super important to learn from that I just appreciate your stance on not going into the shame spiral around it. And I imagine that we can laugh about it now. It’s funny now. And even in that moment in time, I imagine that was like, Whoa, that was a that was quite a big Miss. But, yeah, I think that’s just such an invaluable learning experience. Because going into organizations or even smaller clinics, it’s different than having those one to one conversations and there’s definitely certain rules of engagement that need to need to be taken care for.

Brandie Mitchell
Yeah, and you know, even just,

as you’re saying that, that to me, I realize it’s another thing to learn is to take ownership for what what hours and then let the rest go because,

you know,

that was not only my miscommunication You know, there were multiple back and forth communications and I realized, well, I probably what’s happening in a lot of healthcare settings? It’s a lot of my my perception anyways, it’s a lot of scrambling and not not as much mindfulness as there could be right. So, you know, that’s another big thing to realize is like, Okay, what is mine to own in this, you know, learning experience? And what can I just what can I just

Peter Giza
let go? Okay, let go the rest. Love it.

Brandi, what’s been your favorites, client success story to date, without like naming any personal identifying information, just like some broad broad overview of like, what that relationship look like and like how you helped someone in that regard as a nurse coach. Yeah.

Brandie Mitchell
Well, I think the one that stands out the most is a woman who came to me in pretty significant pain back pain that she had had since her birth with her, her daughter who was maybe two at the time and mothering a toddler is very physically demanding. So she was just having a real hard time like, doing basic things like bathing her child and all the lifting and bending and everything else. So

what was most,

you know, what stands out the most is that through her process of healing and our work together, she was able to discover that there were other elements to her pain that were also you know, emotional, relational, and she, she discovered that she was in she knew that she was in a toxic marriage, but she began to take ownership for herself of herself and what she wanted and needed and was able to take the steps towards separating from him and is now divorced and, and doing

really well.

So, yeah, I mean that that was that’s one of the most transformational experiences I’ve had with a client where she came in, you know, for one thing and discovered that it was much more integrated with all of her life than then she knew and then was able to take really powerful steps to to take care of herself in a whole new way. So yeah.

Peter Giza
Awesome. How is out of curiosity, like how did that unpacking impact her actual physical pain?

Brandie Mitchell
It helped tremendously. I mean, I will say we were doing hands on work, you know, body work, as well as the coaching and they actually go really well together. So I think you nurses can learn Healing Touch therapies, it’s totally within our scope. And I highly recommend integrating touch if you can in your practice because it’s a it’s a real great way to establish trust pretty quickly too, because of the

magical hormone of oxytocin.

So, you know, she she was able to experience her pain in a whole new way like she was and she was able to make new connections around her pain related to her relationship with her husband like Wow,

my pain got really bad over the weekend when we have this go on, you know?

So it was it. It’s the way I love to relate with my clients, which is just in you know, totally safe space. Fully holistic, you know, everything. It’s all everything is game as far as like what we discuss in our sessions and you know, what may lead them to healing

Peter Giza
Yeah, And that is abundantly clear in the fact that you’re able to take not only that holistic perspective but also to talk about things that are hard to talk about and to hold space for it and to speak truth into bring truth into the conversation and into that relationship. Yeah.

How are

you successful in showing up in a relationship like that like in a professional nurse coaching role, fusing it with elements of body work as well? How do you have those? What can seem like very heavy conversations, intense conversations, powerful conversations? How do you have the courage to ask the questions that lead that person there? and simultaneously not carry that weight with you as a practitioner when you go back home to your family, huh?

Brandie Mitchell
Wow, really appreciate that. That question.

I think staying connected to my why,

like, why am I doing this? Why? Why am I going to work today? Why am I leaving my family on a Saturday, which, by the way, I’ve been struggling with quite a bit lately. So I think that needs to

shift. But you know, just really

seeing what I do as a choice. And instead of,

you know, I have to do this work, it’s like, I get to do this work, I get to show up and serve people in a really powerful healing way. And when I can stay connected to that, then I don’t feel so worried about, you know, what, offending them or saying the wrong thing or saying too much or not saying enough, you know, all the self doubts that can creep in. And I think also asking permission, you know, and that’s sometimes it looks like, you know, I’m sensing this and you can take it or It, but I’m just going to share this and I probably 99% of the time, it resonates on some level with them. So, and I think it’s just like anything the more we practice it, the easier it comes, the easier it becomes to to speak it like transparently and from our intuition. Yeah. And as far as not taking it home, you know, gosh, that’s like ongoing work, right. It’s ongoing work to stay stay connected to ourselves and and continue to check in how am I doing? What do I need and you know, having having rituals as well, obviously, as a massage therapist, just like with nurses that are in other clinical setting, you know, we’re washing our hands all the time and that can be a really powerful ritual for just like

letting it go.

Breath work visualizations, all kinds of, you know, self care that I do. And yeah, I mean, I’m I have value transparency and I will say that I’m in a place Now I realized, wow, I need to reset or on my self care, you know, as as we up the way we’re showing up in the world and for our clients, then it’s like we got to up that self care game too.

Yeah. So we’re kind of in that place right now, where I realized I’m

holding, I’m holding a lot for a lot of people. And

I need to make sure that I’m holding myself to. Yeah.

Peter Giza
Beautiful. Yeah, thanks for speaking to that Brandi. And I think just such a great point, you know, not only for any nurse that’s listening, who’s considering the field of nurse coaching, but as nurse coaches, you know, it’s so important to walk that talk. And if you’re thinking of going into private practice, or just doing something bigger, it requires that you slow down and take care of yourself. And so, I love that you have been in business for so long, but it’s this continuous process of innovation. And when you start growing into, you know, you start saying like 2020 you won’t want it to be this awesome thing. But in order to do that, you also need to like focus on self and things like Saturday’s, maybe we’ll see we’re going to do some work around the Saturday environment, but taking the time to slow down and to focus on what’s important to us because, you know, self care is so subjective and dependent on season of life and the person and, and what we are growing into.

Yeah, totally.

Awesome. Randy, what words of wisdom would you give to a nurse, a new nurse, coach and nurse who’s considering going down this fields? Given that you are someone who’s been there from close to the inception of nurse coaching? Hmm.

Brandie Mitchell
Without a doubt, I think what’s been most helpful for me is to stay connected to other nurses, other nurse coaches and a lot of like, for a long time, that was just really virtual connection, you know, through Facebook groups through email, you know, texting, whatever, whatever, you know route. And thankfully, I have now like a local tribe of nurse coaches emerging and so we’ve been getting together monthly not for very long but it’s really been so great to see what can happen when we just get together in the same space, whether

it’s physical or online or whatever. And it provides your

thinking it provides, you know, validation

it and just essential connection.

And there was another word that I thought of, but it’s not coming to me now, but just I think for me, feeling not alone in the work is just, I mean it’s essential actually. So I would say connect to others. nurses that share similar beliefs and passions. And if you don’t know where that is, I think the nurse coach collective is a great place to start. Because there’s such a you guys have we have such a growing community

of nurses who are intrigued and interested in looking for ways to make a difference in a new way as a nurse, so yeah, connection, it’s really important.

Peter Giza
Perfect, thanks for sharing that. And I’m so happy that you have that local crew. I think that’s remarkably important too. And I think it’s amazing because nurse coaches are now like in all parts of this country. So even if there’s only a few of us there are those local cells almost of of really forward thinking individuals that were able to get them to it. So I think that’s right there is truly inspiring to not isolate but to find the people who are You can share what you know about nursing to be true for you and send the way that you want to practice and the way that you see healthcare going without feeling like you’re the oddball out. 24. Seven?

Yeah. Awesome.

Brandie Mitchell
Yeah. And I think if I, if I could add another thing, it’s just to, to really, and this goes hand in hand with staying connected to other nurses for that validation piece and not feeling alone. I think that that alone gives us confidence to step forward and whatever areas we’re feeling called in or whatever opportunities are coming our way. And there’s just abundant opportunity for our work, really, and so self confidence, just really cultivating that in a way that is not about the ego, but it’s really about like, purpose, you know, purpose driven, like, why am I nurse like, what do I really care about with this work and what really makes me feel alive in this world. What gives me joy? What?

You know, what will fuel me to want to keep showing up every day? And?

Yeah, I just feel like I’ve observed a lot of nurses who do not see their value, they do not really see all that they bring. And I think the more we can own that, and the easier it becomes to do this really life giving work. Yeah.

Peter Giza
One more question that popped up. Why do you have so much confidence around the fact that there is such abundant opportunity for this type of work?

Brandie Mitchell
Well, I mean, it’s one of the reasons I was actually intrigued by nursing in the beginning was that that’s something I kept hearing is that you could work in so many different settings, you know, like there’s so many different pathways for nurses. And then when you think about as a nurse coach, we can work in any of those Areas of nursing practice,

then. I mean, it’s just seems like

we can never get bored if we, whether we want to bring the nurse coaching skill set to the bedside, or, you know, be in private practice or, you know,

create creating a job

at a facility or any number of,

you know, the ways that we can bring nurse coaching. I mean, I guess it’s because there are, but there’s abundant need. There’s abundant need for connection and healing in this world. And we can look anywhere, go to the grocery store, and you can see opportunity for you know, humans that need to be seen and heard. And

that’s a lot of what we do.

Peter Giza
Yes. I wanted to hear that in your words. So thank you so much for for sharing that. Brandi, anything else that you want to share on in this conversation before we sign off?

Brandie Mitchell
Oh, just

not just gratitude, just full gratitude for for you and Heather and the way you guys have, you know, we’re, we are collaborators and, you know, pioneering this movement along with many, many other nurse coaches, whether they identifies that or not, you know, it’s, it’s just really exciting to be part of it. And yeah, I’m honored. And I’m excited for the many, many nurses that are coming. I just know know that they are.

Peter Giza
Likewise. Awesome. Well, Brandi, thank you so much for your time here today. It’s been a pleasure getting to dive into some of those elements of your story that I haven’t heard in that light before. And I’m sure this will be valuable to so many nurses who are listening. So bottom my heart, thank you for the incredible work that you do down there in Houston, Texas, and I will talk to you soon. Sounds good. Thanks so much

Transcribed by https://otter.ai