We had a Veteran stay in our Acute Inpatient Mental Health unit over the past month who was very mentally ill and who had to be put in restraints and given IM medications quite a few times, so that she could stop trying to hurt herself and hurt staff. In these circumstances, medication and even restraints are used to hold patients safely until they are able to fight their destructive impulses. They had one main nurse for this patient over the course of her admission.

Every day, Michelle assessed and educated, and advocated for this patient. Every day, even the day after Michelle herself was a target of violence. It takes a phenomenal nurse and a phenomenal heart to approach someone who is physically violent and verbally assaultive towards you with caring and empathy. Michelle did not accept any verbal abuse, would not compromise her own boundaries, and worked very hard to help this Veteran reestablish her medications and become a nonviolent part of our unit.

Michelle brought her whole heart to work with and for this patient every day. Michelle worked especially hard throughout this patient's care to advocate for treatment that would improve her mental health. She then directly offered that treatment in a manner that did not accept noncompliance but also understood the difficulty of compliance and did not look down on the Veteran for needing help getting back on her medications. Michelle brings this same whole heart to all her patients daily, and she furthermore brings her whole hard-working self to our unit every shift. Michelle is an invaluable part of the AIMH team.