 Hi, my name is Denise Danine, and this is Holistic Happenings. I'm really excited to have Jan Lucier here, and Jan is a holistic nurse. Thank you for coming, Jan. Thank you. I'm delighted to be here. I'm so happy to have you here. We have a lot of information to cover, and so I guess we'll just start with, what is a holistic nurse? Can you give me a little bit of information on that? Sure. Nursing is an organization for nurses that's a specialty, just like it might be if you were a critical care nurse, pediatric nurse. And so there's special training that you take, and there's an exam that you take to become a certified holistic nurse. It takes about two years. It's a very new specialty. It just came about in the 1980s, and it came about through a physician, Norm Shealy. Some people know his name in integrative medicine circles, and he was speaking to the founder of Holistic Nursing, Charlotte McGuire, and they decided, though, there would need to be a nursing wing, not just a physician's wing of holism. I love that idea. And you have been a nurse, a registered nurse, for how long? 35 years. For 35 years. Yes. Wow. Did you just naturally be drawn to becoming a holistic nurse, or is it something that you just, with your teaching, because I know that you're a professor too, and you teach, right? Well, it was sort of a synchronicity as I see the spirit moving through people's lives and through my own life. It evolved. Nursing is my second career. My first career was really, I felt called, both to be a nurse, but also to be a spiritual healer, and I was a pastor and a missionary when I was like 19 through 35. Oh, I didn't know that, Jan. Yes. That's interesting. And so through a number of experiences, not all wonderful in my life, which really sort of shattered that dream. I went into nursing because I needed to have money to pay for my four children. Yeah. I was a single mother. And I saw a little ad after I'd been a nurse for 10 years in advanced nursing as a magazine for nurses, and it said holistic nurse training. And I had like a visceral reaction. My heart was pounding, and I heard, you need to go. So I went to the training, and it really filled in a hole that was in my nursing practice that really was lacking the spiritual element. And that's really the most important piece for me in healing or in being a healer and being a nurse is that there is a transcendent part of our being. And I hadn't really experienced that in nursing. Holistic nursing kind of brought me full circle, and I was able to implement that calling, that mission that I have to be a nurse and a healer. So that just happened so organically for you. Yes. And in nursing, it really is the mind, the body, and the spirit. Yes. Is that right? And the environment. And the environment. Yes. So when you were a registered nurse for quite a while, and then you became interested in the holistic nursing, did you say it was a two-year training? It's about a two-year training. Okay. All right. And you do, you're a professor. Yes, I am. Yes. And what is your concentration, and what do you do? Is it the nursing program that you're working there with? I work in the baccalaureate nursing program, the BSN at Elms. I've taught also at AIC and Annamariea Colleges, and UMass a little bit as well. Nice. Yes. So I teach mental health nursing, and I teach community public health nursing and a seminar course at the Elms. That's very important. Yeah. And with the mental health of the nursing holistically, is there anything that you can, that stands out as far as what you teach with that, with the mental health, with holistic nursing? What would be the different component for your clients? To be a holistic nurse at this time, there's very few that can full-time be, say, a practitioner of holistic nursing. But we bring our holism into everything we do, whatever your specialty, if that's teaching, if that's med-surge. It's really about being totally present and really utilizing nursing as a science and an art. So it's really using the artistic part, the presence, sort of using a lot of mindfulness. Many people are familiar with mindfulness and being present with people and kind of waking up. Oh, right. So you bring that sense of presence to all of your nursing, whatever that might be. In mental health nursing specifically, and holism, we, there's more mental health nurses who are holistic nurses than any other specialty. Well, that kind of makes sense to me, because I believe it's such a hard area to be in for nurses, because you see such a huge range of mental health issues from very severe to maybe just situational. Correct. And I think that you need all that support as a nurse for yourself when you're dealing with that. Is that something that you address to with your students? Absolutely. And how do they self-care? So if you work in the field, whether that's a psychiatrist, a social worker, a nurse, mental health worker, we see things in the mental health populations that we serve that shows you something's going on besides on this plane. There's something spiritual going on. There's a spiritual crisis many times. There's other spiritual elements that we can't really deal with. And so we know that we're just touching the surface in the way Western medicine approaches mental health crises. And so that's partly why we look outside, what can we do to really help these people really get to the core of what's going on with them? And holism, because it addresses the whole person, is really a wonderful modality and a framework and theoretical framework from which to address this. Right. Yeah. Mental health, you must have seen so many changes happening within your career. Besides holistic nursing coming about in the 80s, is there a crisis that you can see maybe that's really coming about now with some of the patients or clients that you have or even with your students, maybe it's social media or things that are happening around what's going on in the world today? Is there one thing that you think that's really impacting us, our mental health? Well, that's a good question, trauma is really what I believe to be. When we talk about addictions or mental health, a lot of times they say, what's the gateway? Well, I believe the gateway to mental health issues and addiction is a traumatic experience. And our world is full of, unfortunately, fragmentation, people being abandoned, stigma, all the different isms, racism, and ageism, all the different isms that separate us. And so our whole world, people are being traumatized at different levels all the time. And so that shows up in people's inability to cope with what's going on. And so they might turn to a substance or they might have a mental breakdown of some kind. We used to call it a nervous breakdown, not being able to cope with the stressors that are in our world. Life is very difficult at this time. So we see a rise in really almost every one of the different diagnoses in mental health among children. You see great rise in autism, ADHD, depression, yes, and suicide, yes. And small children, young children. And it's very, very serious. And we're not really doing a great job in providing the care people need to recover and to reclaim their lives and go on and be empowered and be a productive member of society. I think we have a lot to do, a lot of work to do in our society when it comes to mental health. And I think that we just scrape the surface of it. So with the holistic nursing, I know it's subjective when someone has trauma and how you recognize that and working with a patient or client, they may not even know this is something that could be hidden for them. And with your students, it kind of has to be kind of you touch upon it, right? Is there one thing that you bring to them that they can take home for themselves? Is there something that you really emphasize on taking care of themselves for self-care for a nursing student or anyone, any profession that's taking care of the public? Well, the students and all of us that work as nurses from a holistic paradigm where we practice self-care and we see ourselves as wounded healers. So out of our own struggles to find peace and wellness within ourselves, we're able to share with others that and I do that with my students. A lot of them have test anxiety, severe. And many of them come in with their own trauma histories. They come on with anxiety, depression. Almost all of them have a relative that is touched by addiction or mental health problems. So it touches them very deeply. And I teach them and we go to the clinical settings. We go in the area to all the inpatient sites. And so I tell the students, look for that thing that's well within your patients. There's a part of them that's well, that's functioning highly. And you want to connect with what's right rather than what's wrong. Oh, I love that. And I teach them to not, of course, stigmatize, give trite advice or be judgmental to just really provide a healing presence and a safe place for people to share their suffering, their struggles in different ways. And the students do well with it. It's quite beautiful. They're very afraid the first few weeks. Well, they're still young, usually, right? Well, I mean, they're so old, they're students. Right. But most of them are young. Right. And they're just getting to know themselves. Right. So they're up kind of against the wall at the beginning and afraid in the door locks. And then after a few weeks, they'll have a meaningful conversation. And they'll feel like they're really connected on a heart level with someone. And a lot of them then want to become a psychiatric nurse. Right. At the beginning, I'll say, how many of you want to go into mental health nursing? I usually get one. Right. Right. And by the end, it might be five or 10. Wow. But at least they find it meaningful. And I also teach them therapeutic communication skills. So how how they're able to be with people that are in suffering, how to be with someone with trauma and what to say and just hold space for them. And holding space is really important when you're there with someone and not having to feel that space or that quietness or just being. And that may bring up a lot for themselves. You know, a lot of healing. And it could be healing for them, too. You know, and then maybe the journaling and in that kind of self care does help, too. I teach them to breathe, you know, some very simple self care things. But we do breathing before we go on the units. We before exams, I lead them in some sort of simple Tai Chi exercises, breath work and really sort of using mindfulness techniques. Sometimes I make them laugh. Just just to loosen them up. Right. And they they find that to be helpful. And then they the students when they're working on the inpatient units will do a group. So they'll do some of the many times a holistic more kind of a group. Maybe that's being creative with drawing. Maybe it's using music or drama, talking about different tools for stress reduction. And they bring to that their own skills. Yes. Well, they're everyone's new, unique and well, they express that. And the client will pick up on different things. Right. Yeah. And for themselves, too. Now, you also just told me that you became an elder. Oh, yes. Right. Yes. And can you explain that to me? Yeah. To the public. So holistic nursing has local chapters. There's also a national organization. There's about fifty five hundred holistic nurses right now. And then there's chapters. And so we have one big national conference usually in June this year. It's an Albuquerque. Nice. First week of June. I oftentimes do the drum circle. I bet you'll be going to that. But locally, we just started a chapter and it's meeting at base state. It's the third Thursday of at five o'clock. OK. And I could give you more information. Yes. So we'll have that up at the end of the show. All that information that is it each month? It's every month we take maybe one off in the summer when people are vacationing. And what we're trying to do is to provide a support system for one another. We have speakers. You're able to get CEUs that you need to keep your license. And we're going to open it up to massage therapists and physicians. And really anyone who really cares about holistic kind of wellness and health topics to come together. It's a way to network and to talk with one another, support each other because it's difficult in this Western medicine to hold your place with the holistic framework is different. It doesn't it's more like a round peg, say in a square hole. We don't quite make it. Right. Right. And you need all that support that you can get from. Right. Yeah. Your colleagues. And yes, absolutely. That's a beautiful. And I would love to to check that out. So what next, what February? Well, we just met last night. OK, so it will be whatever the I don't know. Yeah. So and I was asked. It was my honor to be asked to be the elder of the group last night. There's officers, president and treasurer, those kind of things. And I had my first meeting and they've asked me to be the elder because I've been a holistic nurse around 15 years. Wow. And so what does that mean? What does that entail when you're an elder kind of just like olden? Well, I have a lot of experience nationally and different. I've done modalities in this for a long time. So I have a lot of experience and maturity to bring most of the other officers just became holistic nurses this past summer. They just took the training. So they're very sincere and there's a real beauty about them, but they're young and so I can give them the wealth of my wisdom experience that I've gained over the years. And you do have a lot. Thank you. Yes. Can you tell me a little bit more about all those other healing modalities that you have that you you've kind of built up over the years that I really love how you weaved it all in to what you're doing. And I do know about the shamanic and the drumming because we've had you at Amethyst Brook, which I've never done before prior to meeting you. And it really is something that just hits the core of your being. And you can't really explain it. It's something that you you have to try and experience it yourself. But I would love for you to tell me a little bit more about. Sure. All those other. So in our it was introduced to many of the holistic modalities when I was taking my training in holistic nursing. And we they have different specialist experts and say aroma therapy, guided imagery, music, therapies, all the energy, healing, Reiki, therapeutic touch come in and train us. And we have like a little sample of that work as we're being trained. So I was introduced to many different modalities. And they tell us the leaders as they're training you. Certain ones will pull at you. Certain ones you'll feel like, oh, I want to do that. I want to learn that. Right. So the ones that really jumped out at me, the first was drumming was therapeutic drumming. And I took training through. Remo drums has a training called health rhythms for those in the health care professions to bring it to they use it through cancer connection will use it with their clients. We do it, I've done it all in mental health on all the inpatient units, addiction uses it. They use it in jail settings in the forensic nursing area. There's also just I do it community drumming circles. They're on the beach, there's drumming everywhere. And there's research that shows that it does change your immune system. It builds community and it's creative and every in you participate, you're not just sitting there watching music, you're all producing music. And so there's an entrainment that happens that's quite healing. It's almost like a cellular level, isn't it? Yes, it is. The sounds, right? Yeah. Yeah. So that really resonated with me. And since then, I've done groups for years. And I play Native American flute and many percussion instruments. I also make drums and rattles and. The flute is beautiful. Thank you. Yeah, I love that. And then the next thing I went on to was aromatherapy. Yes. It's about a two year training. I want to tip my hat to Kathy Duffy, who is my, she's a local herbalist and aromatherapist. Nice. And she was my trainer for that. And I was trained in 35 different essential oils and their uses. And then you have to do a research project. Wow. And two years in that is really, is that how you're making your own oil? You'll learn what they're used for. And then I can do, I'm trained at the level of in a hospital setting, I can make custom blends for whatever someone needs. And do you use that a bit? Do you use that? I use it more, I haven't had the opportunity in a hospital yet. Yeah, I'm sure. They've not allowed me to use it. I'm sure that could be an issue. I know at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, they do. Kathy Duffy actually did use it on the inpatient unit and they still use it there. Good for them. Yeah. That's nice. And I use it in my private practice for healing. I make them for people that come to me. For healing sessions. And I also make a flower essence that I use as well. Yeah, those are amazing. So you have a business? Yes, I do. And what is the name of that business? Wind Horse Holistic Strategies. Yes. And you have that out of your home? Correct. And I work out of different wellness centers. Which is a beautiful, it's a gorgeous space. I love that space. And yes, and you, quite a few different places. Yes, I do in the Valley. Yeah. Yeah, and I educate. I do classes on different things related to shamanism. Which is one of my... What is shamanism? I know that. Okay, shamanism has been around, it's the earliest spiritual, I guess it would say, way of life that's found in every culture for 100,000 years, however long we think the earth has been here. And most of us now would think of it as the person that in a tribal society or culture was the medicine person of the tribe. And they did healing, physical healing. They might do something with the weather to help with hunting. They were like a counselor. They were like the priest. They were the person that people went to when they needed help or guidance for whatever body, mind, spirit was going on. A lot of responsibility. It was. The crops, the rain, right? And there has been a great resurgence and interest in shamanism over the past, I would say maybe 50 years. And so we have those practices coming back. And there's a lot of interest in it. I think it's how many people are moving somewhat away from the religious systems established because they find them, might find them stale or not really vibrant and able to relate to today. So it's more of a spiritual orientation. And it's a direct experience of the divine that each person is able to connect with. And that really resonated with me. And I really got into a lot of my healing work myself through an Inuit shaman named Mika, who did a soul retrieval on me that helped me recover from my trauma. From your trauma, because you had quite a lot of trauma. Right, earlier on. Now, this isn't something that you just take a weekend course to become, right? No, no. Tell me a little bit about that. It is a way of life. It's a practice, just like you might practice Hinduism or yoga or different other kind of practices. What exactly did you pass me? How long would it take someone to become a shaman if this is something? I would not want to say it. Shamanic practitioner. Shamanic practitioner, not right. Is that, there's a lot of, there's a lot involved with that. I teach a number of classes. My teacher is Sandra Ingeman. Yes. And I teach an introductory introduction to shamanism class, which is a one day or a weekend training. And that would be to teach you to learn to journey and connect in the lower middle and upper world. Then I do classes on death and dying. Shamanic practitioner, you learn to help spirits that haven't crossed over after death to cross over. It's a very beautiful work. I love doing that work. And it goes well with nursing and hospice. It goes with the hospice part of that. Very much so. Really being present with someone. That would be really something wonderful for someone. Is there someone, could you do a CEU with that? Could you tie that? A death and dying, would that be included? It could be, yes. Like a death doula, it would be sort of on the line of a death doula. I teach classes, I would teach a class on extraction, depossession, which is, might seem a little odd to our audience, but I believe there are spirits that can sort of influence us, whether that's from the ancient lineage, karmic kind of a thing, our spirit that hasn't crossed over can become attached and cause illness or discomfort or anxiety or something of this nature. So I do that. I do house clearings as well. Soul retrieval is my very favorite, and I think it's my best modality, which is really looking at, if a person experiences a traumatic experience, a part of them moves off and splits off. It gets closed off. Yes. It's like almost they disassociate that part. Exactly. Because they don't want to remember it. Exactly. And so as a shamanic practitioner, I've learned to journey and find that soul part and bring that back to the person so that they can become more whole, which is really the whole point of holistic nursing, is to help someone find wholeness and balance in their body, mind, spirit. So that practice really can help someone who's experienced trauma. When they go for counseling, so to speak, all of them is not there to receive healing. So to have that part be retrieved and integrated into the individual helps them to be present and then to find recovery and healing and integrate all their parts back. No, it's so complicated, isn't it? And with a Western medicine, it doesn't touch upon any of this really. A lot of the mental health part of it or the spiritual part of it. And we are spirit. And we have so much that we take in that we don't even know, right? And so this is where the soul retrievals are just, I've had it done. So it was just an amazing experience and it helped me quite a bit. And I've had it done as well. Yes. Yeah, that was my doorway, so to speak, into the world. Yes. Yeah. And you did have a lot of trauma healing and teaching that you went away for not too long ago. Yeah. I've developed my, well, there's a thing called trauma-informed care that you do find all over everywhere in the United States and many counselors, social workers, nurses, have trauma-informed care as a foundation for the work that we do with mental health patients. However, in the vein of the wounded healer, which I live by, I've had to seek help from my own trauma. And through that, besides soul retrieval, another avenue that's been very helpful to me is the work of Thiel Swan. She's based in Utah and she has a very significant, powerful story, really heart-wrenching of really being a slave, a sex slave to a man in her teens and he abused her in every possible way. And she received a lot of revelation around that and she's a very interesting person and she's developed her own, some of her own methods for addressing trauma. And one is called the completion process. So I'm one of her practitioners and I went and trained for this. And the idea behind this is going to the root cause of someone's trauma. We may have traumas as an adult, but many times it's linked to something in childhood, usually in the first five years. And so using sort of a guided imagery, kind of a framework, you lead someone back to this first time they had the trauma and then you use different kind of talk therapy and kind guide them along in order to bring back parts of themselves and change that story so that it has a different outcome in their life rather than having all the fragmentation and destruction that trauma usually has. Right, with the communication. It's amazing everything that you're doing. And I highly suggest that if anyone is looking to do some inner work, self-care work or are trying to figure things out, that seeing like Jan, someone like Jan, would be a very good place to start. I do spiritual direction as well and I volunteer at the hospital as a spiritual counselor. So I really love that work as well, sort of again weaving in the spiritual part into helping someone recover from their suffering, whatever that is. Well, I'm so happy that you were able to come on today. Thank you very much. And I think we could probably do a couple more shows. And I think that having you come on first and drumming would be really great. Oh, I'd love that. All right. Thank you, Denise. Thank you for coming on. It's been my pleasure. Well, thank you for joining us today. And remember, get inspired, get healthy, and have some fun along the way.