Fairfield School of Nursing & The Mindful Couple

[HTML1] Nurses often develop extraordinary and lasting relationships with patients and families . . . and part of that connection comes from learning to respect people’s spirituality, as well as their mind and body, all part of cultural competence and sensitivity training. In our first two segments, “Nursing School: Mind, Body & Spirituality,” Life, Love and Health: Special Edition Executive Producer Christopher Springmann speaks with Suzanne Campbell, associate dean for academic programs, and Joyce Shea, an assistant professor with clinical experience in mental health, both of the Fairfield University School of Nursing in Fairfield, CT. These two educators discuss the importance of spiritual training as an integral component of health and medical instruction in nursing school. There’s a reason for this. The field of nursing has changed immeasurably since Florence Nightingale’s leadership turned caring for the wounded and sick into a profession. Likewise, the education of nurses has changed dramatically. Students are entering the School of Nursing as the focus is on preparing them for a rapidly changing world of health care. Dr. Campbell and Ms. Shea discuss cultural competence, diversity, sensitivity training, healing, and their goal of establishing a caring, diverse academic learning environment that provides one of the world’s highest standards of nursing education.

Our third and fourth segments are called “The Mindful Couple: Can Relationship Conflicts Cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?” We hear from psychologists Robyn Walser and Darrah Westrup, both of whom work with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California and are co-authors of the book The Mindful Couple: How Acceptance and Mindfulness Can Lead You to the Love You Want. With strategies drawn from the powerful therapeutic approach called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), The Mindful Couple will help you identify your core values and discover, as a couple, the beauty that is available to you and your partner when you bring greater awareness and values-guided behavior to your relationship. Each chapter explores a key issue, such as passion, fidelity, and the balance between dependence and independence, and includes specific practices you can do alone or with your partner to help you build a vital relationship. Drs. Walser and Westrup are fascinating, candid speakers, and we think you’ll benefit from what they have to say… wherever you are in your relationship.

Segment A (0:00 – 11:00)
Life Love & Health: Special Edition producer Christopher Springmann speaks with Fairfield School of Nursing’s Suzanne Campbell and Joyce Shea about what nurses really do.

Segment B (11:01 – 22:00)
Suzanne Campbell and Joyce Shea on nursing, spirituality and mental health

Segment C (22:01 – 33:00)
Christopher Springmann speaks with psychologists Robyn Walser and Darrah Westrup about their book The Mindful Couple.

Segment D (33:01 – 44:00)
Robyn Walser and Darrah Westrup on stress in relationships

More about Suzanne Campbell
Dr. Suzanne Campbell graduated with her Nursing BS and MS from University of Connecticut and her Nursing PhD from University of Rhode Island. She earned her post-master’s certificate as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner from Boston College. She has been an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 2001. Dr. Campbell is the Associate Dean for Academic Programs and the Project Director for the Fairfield University School of Nursing Robin Kanarek Learning Resource Center, an Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program, and a CCNE site visitor. She has taught at Fairfield University since 2000. Dr. Campbell is the country coordinator for Ireland and from 2002-2006 served as Director of Research and Special Projects to the Board of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA). She sits on the Accreditation and Approval Review Committee (AARC) on Education in Human Lactation and Breastfeeding. In August 2010 she was elected into the Nursing Academy of the National Academies of Practice. She is co-editor of Simulation Scenarios for Nurse Educators: Making it Real.

More about Joyce Shea
Joyce Shea is an Associate Professor and the Undergraduate Program Director at Fairfield University School of Nursing. She is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN), with Board certification as an Adult Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist with more than 25 years experience working in multiple modalities and diverse settings. She has completed train-the-trainer courses through both the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium and the Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium. Ms. Shea recently participated in a yearlong Faculty Learning Community through the Fairfield University Center for Academic Excellence, focusing on the integration of simulation as a pedagogy at the School of Nursing. In the summer of 2008, she was one of 12 individuals chosen nationally for the Hartford Institute’s Summer Geriatric Nursing Research Scholar Program at New York University.

More about Robyn Walser
Robyn D. Walser, Ph.D., is a psychologist who serves as a consultant, workshop presenter, and therapist with TL Consultation Services, her private business. She also works at the National Center for PTSD in the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California. She earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, and has clinical and research expertise in traumatic stress, substance abuse, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). She is an internationally recognized trainer in ACT and has co-authored journal articles, book chapters, and two books on this intervention.

More about Darrah Westrup
Darrah Westrup, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with the National Center for PTSD at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California. She is also an attending psychologist at the Women’s Trauma Recovery Program, a ten-bed, 60-day residential treatment program for women veterans with military-related PTSD, and program director of the Outpatient Women’s Mental Health Center. Dr. Westrup received her graduate degree from West Virginia University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the behavioral medicine department at Stanford University. She has clinical and research expertise in PTSD, substance abuse, stalking behavior, and experiential avoidance as related to psychological dysfunction.

© 2011 by On the Path Productions, LLC.  All rights reserved.

About Christopher Springmann

Christopher Springmann is Executive Producer and Senior Correspondent of Life, Love and Health, the award-winning health and wellness program that reaches millions daily on multiple news, talk and sports channels including Sirius XM, CNN, FOX, NPR affiliates, American Forces Network, and HealthRadio.net.

Life, Love and Health is also Mr. Springmann’s latest endeavor in a journey of “creative convergence” that started as a photographer for Time, Fortune, National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines. He moved into writing leadership profiles for Chief Executive and California CEO magazines, which in turn provided the inspiration for creating Life, Love and Health: to fulfill the unmet need of telling America’s health story. Mr. Springmann meets this need in entertaining and emotionally engaging ways, with the authentic voices of real people, including a diverse group of doctors and nurses, patients and their families, plus researchers and innovators in the health-and-wellness field. He relies on the credibility and persuasiveness of people’s passionate storytelling to get the point across. People identify with the experiences of others and are encouraged to take positive, attainable actions to improve their personal and family health.

Christopher is also the Host of Life, Love and Health on WomensRadio. Life, Love and Health seeks to ultimately make a difference in people’s lives by encouraging individuals to take positive, attainable actions to improve their personal and family health.