Carrie's Story - Mental Health Nurse, Coffs Harbour

Carrie Lewis
Mental Health Nurse
Coffs Harbour Hospital

When I was at high school I never thought that I might one day be mental health nurse. I gained a business degree and thought that I would go into management or IT. I worked at a lot of jobs before coming to the realization that nursing really interested me.

While my mother was in hospital before she died, I watched nurses at work and thought "I could do this”. I knew I could manage the study because I enjoy learning, and I felt that the side of me that likes people and caring for them would be well served by a career in nursing. It was also appealing that you could travel with a nursing qualification.

I graduated two years ago and did a rotation in mental health in my post graduate year. I found the work intellectually engaging and stimulating. I was fascinated by mental illness and had a thirst to know more about it, so I chose to work in this field.

I like working in mental health because it isn't straightforward, it"s never boringly predictable or humdrum; it’s always challenging and deeply interesting. I get a lot of joy from seeing those people who come in really unwell and leave a completely different person. Also unlike other nursing workplaces, mental health nursing isn’t so task oriented; you get to talk to patients in more than a superficial way. Sometimes it’s a challenge to dig deep and make a genuine connection but you do it. When you have experience making meaningful connections talking to mentally ill people, you find that out in the real world you can talk to anyone. Mental health nursing gives you a lot of transferable skills.

I live in a lovely country area with wonderful beaches and national parks. I enjoy camping and bushwalking and appreciate how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful part of the world. One of the special things about mental health nursing on the north coast is that you can gain the same kind of acute care experience here as you can in the city. You don’t have to deal with the stress of city life to move ahead in your career because there are plenty of opportunities here. You can also study while you work with easy access to local universities

Another thing that I love about my work is the people. I always know there will be laughter at work.