Mental Health Trailblazers: Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up

Welcome to Season 4 of Mental Health Trailblazers: Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up! This season, titled "50 Years - Reflect and Project," premieres Monday, June 11, 2024, and is dedicated to celebrating the 50th anniversary of the SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association. Join us as we pay homage to five decades of groundbreaking contributions by visionary psychiatric nurs...

Wonkyung Chang made the big move to New York City from her native South Korea to pursue her dream of a career as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Soon after taking up residence in the big city, COVID swept through transforming life in ways she had never imagined. In addition to the pressures on health care workers was the rise in anti-Asian sentiment that ultimately led the young re...

Substance use disorders, the impact on adolescents and young people and what behavioral health professionals including psychiatric mental health nurses can do to address the rising toll on the mental health and wellbeing of American youth is in the spotlight for this episode of Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up! SAMHSA Minority Fellowship at the American Nurses Association Al...

Our conversations on the mental health related challenges facing young people in America continues with a discussion on the importance of belonging for the mental wellness of adolescents and youth. Public discourse in America today laments increasing polarization, a society wide retrenchment into siloed communities defined by characteristics which can include race and ethnic identity, religion, po...

Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up’s seasonal focus on the mental health challenges facing adolescents and youth from ethnic and racial minority groups in America continues with a new episode focusing on the experiences of young people who identify as LGBTQ+. SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association alumnus Dr. Austin Nation joins host Indrias Kass...

SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association alumna, Faven Mesfin joins Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up host, Indrias Kassaye, in this episode on the youth mental health challenges that immigrant adolescents and youth face in America today. Young people from recent immigrant backgrounds are the fastest growing segment of America’s youth population t...

As with any kind of illness, the proverbial adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ rings true for mental illness. If simple measures can stop what can become lifetimes of suffering, bring it on. As we continue our exploration of the mental health challenges facing adolescents and youth from ethnic and racial minorities in the United States today, our guest on this episode of the SAMHSA Minority Fe...

SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association Alumna, Dr. Daisy Lara, joins host Indrias Kassaye for a conversation on the mental health related challenges facing the fastest growing adolescent and youth population in the United States today, Hispanic young people. While the Hispanic community is not a monolith with plenty of diversity and nuances, as a group, reasons for c...

With Dr. Bridgette M. (Brawner) Rice Gun violence and what should be done about it continues to be the subject of raging public debate in America today. Beyond the headline generating partisan back and forth regarding gun control is the mounting and inadequately addressed toll that gun violence is taking on the wellbeing of the nation, including on youth and adolescents from minoritized communitie...

Alarm bells have been ringing about rising rates of suicide among young African American youth for several years now, with present trends suggesting the situation is not getting better. In the not too distant past, however, these same rates were far lower in black communities when compared to the general population. Dr. Frieda Outlaw, Executive Academic Program Consultant and alumna of the SAMHSA...

Native Americans, including adolescents and youth, have consistently had the highest rates of death by suicide from among all other racial and ethnic groups in America. The need for effective action to save young lives and reverse these trends has never been more dire. SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association alumna, Dr. Beverly Patchell, an enrolled member of the Cher...

Mental Health Trailblazer’s focus on youth and adolescent mental health continues with a conversation around bullying. According to the US Surgeon General, one in five high-schoolers in America report being bullied, and one in six have experienced cyberbullying. The mental health consequences can be severe with consequences for the victims, the perpetrators, their families, communities and wider s...

Season 3 of Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up! takes off with a conversation on the impact of social media and internet culture on the mental health of adolescents and youth from marginalized communities.   As alarm bells ring, warning of the youth mental health crisis across America, social media and the online experiences of adolescents and young adults have been flagged as...

Season 3 premieres Monday, April 24, 2023! Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up, is back for a third season of conversations with psychiatric mental health nurse scientists from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds.  Our focus this season is nursing’s response to the deepening mental health crisis among adolescents and young adults from communities of color across America.  Tu...

Dr. Erica Joseph grew up on the  Allendale Plantation (former slave quarters) in Port Allen, just outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with her single-mother and grandparents. They made their living as sharecroppers picking cotton in a rural community where modern health care was inaccessible and folk relied on home remedies to treat most ailments.  (Sharecropping is a type of farming in which families...

Dr. Schola Matovu’s journey from a girl in Uganda to completing her PhD at the University of California, San Francisco, one of the leading nursing schools, is an inspiring story of achievement against great odds. Dr. Matovu was raised by her grandmother in a village in Uganda in East Africa. Her childhood memories are filled with marvel for her Jaja, as she affectionately calls her grandmother, an...

Dr. Udaya Thomas’ journey to becoming a Ph. D trained behavioral health nurse scientist begins in the Indian state of Kerela from where her parents immigrated to the United States when she was just a toddler. Growing up in the American mid-west, Dr. Thomas recalls being challenged by a constant dose of bullying because of the color of her skin and her ethnicity, experiences that have helped mold h...

Why are maternal mortality rates in America, the wealthiest country in the world, the worst amongst economically advanced countries? And why, despite knowing the reasons mothers are dying in the process of giving life and what should be done to improve things, are things getting worse, especially for women of color? Season Two, Episode Nine of Mental Health Trailblazers takes a hard look at matern...

Season two of “Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up,” continues with an intimate exploration of historical trauma with our host, Indrias Kassaye, and MFP alumna Dr. Cynthia Greywolf, a psychiatric nurse scientist beginning her second year as a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Greywolf’s scholarly pursuits are influenced by her personal experience...

Air Force Major (ret) April Ames-Chase got her start in healthcare volunteering at Provident Hospital, a predominantly Black hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Her mother “unknowingly signed her up” to work there as a candy striper at 15 years old. Inspired by the life-saving work provided by professionals who looked like her, Ms. Ames-Chase went on to receive her Bachelor’s in Nursing from Coppin S...

Season two of “Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up,” keeps the conversation alive and meaningful with episode 6. This week, our host, Indrias Kassaye, is joined by Mr. Uriah Millen, a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) student, former Nurse Manager for the intensive care unit at St. Joseph's Hospital-North who recently moved on to behavioral health nursing. Mr...

The second season of “Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up,” episode 5 isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions. This week, our host, Indrias Kassaye, digs into the life and research of the forward-thinking Duke University School of Nursing PhD candidate, Lisvel Matos. Ms. Matos went from being a high school dropout to becoming a PhD candidate at one of the leading universities in...

Looking for more on the overlap of psychiatric nursing and cultural diversity? You’re in the right place! In the fourth episode of the second season of “Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up,” our host, Indrias Kassaye, discusses the importance of having nursing educators that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of nursing students and the wider community with Professor Grise...

Season 2 of “Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up!” is in full swing with episode 3 guest, Mr. Pak Chau, and our host, Indrias Kassaye. Together, Pak and Indrias highlight the importance of culture, community, and alternative treatment options in the mental health field. Pak Chau is a master’s fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and is slated to graduate i...

Welcome back for the second episode of the second season of “Mental Health Trailblazers, Psychiatric Nurses Speak Up,” with our host, Indrias Kassaye. This week, Indrias discusses community engagement in research, the impact of elder care on caregivers, and Alzheimer’s research with Dr. Kalisha Bonds Johnson, PhD, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC. Dr. Bonds Johnson is currently an Assistant Professor, Tenure tra...