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Real Nurse Stories

Real Nurse Stories

By Eva Storey

Real Nurse Stories emerged as a tribute to nurses during the 2020 International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, honouring Florence Nightingale's 200th anniversary. Our mission was to empower nurses by providing a platform for them to share their journeys and find solidarity in their challenges.

Going beyond recognition, we aimed to modernize the image of nursing careers, highlighting the diverse opportunities available today. This served two crucial goals: educating the public about the demanding training nurses undergo and offering new graduates valuable career insights.

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Currently playing episode

Samantha's Story - a Koori woman from Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri country and closing the gap.

Real Nurse StoriesDec 16, 2020

00:00
01:03:45
"Empowering Nurses: Margot's journey with Nurse Coaching"
Mar 18, 202447:60
Unleash Your Nursing Superpowers: The Surprising Mindset Shift for a Confidence Boost

Unleash Your Nursing Superpowers: The Surprising Mindset Shift for a Confidence Boost

Welcome to Real Nurse Stories! In this episode, I address a common issue among nurses - the struggle with confidence, especially in new roles. Acknowledging that this is a universal challenge, I share a powerful mindset hack: adding 'yet' to negative statements. This simple adjustment transforms self-talk, opening up possibilities and fostering a growth mindset. With practical examples, I illustrate how this small change can rapidly boost confidence. Tune in for valuable insights and share your experiences with this mindset hack!
Feb 23, 202410:28
Jackson's Story - learn about the diversity that a nursing career can provide.

Jackson's Story - learn about the diversity that a nursing career can provide.

Welcome to Real Nurse Stories! Today, we're joined by Jackson Heilberg, a passionate entrepreneur and a nurse, who recently established The Nurse Collective. Jackson's journey into nursing is a story of unexpected turns and a deep desire to make a meaningful impact. Starting with an Arts degree, he eventually fell in love with nursing, a profession that offers a world of opportunities.
In this episode, we explore the diverse avenues that nursing presents, from bedside care to leadership and management roles. Nursing provides remarkable flexibility, allowing you to travel and make a global impact. Join us as we uncover the unique world of nursing and the countless career pathways it offers.
So, if you're curious about the dynamic and ever-evolving field of nursing, keep listening as we dive into the captivating world of healthcare with Jackson Heilberg.
Oct 23, 202355:47
Lorna's Story - how to be successful as a nurse entrepreneur, co-founder, Chemo@home

Lorna's Story - how to be successful as a nurse entrepreneur, co-founder, Chemo@home

In this episode, I interview a remarkable guest, Lorna, whose journey from an unexpected
entry into nursing to becoming a successful entrepreneur is nothing short of inspiring.
Despite initial reservations, Lorna's nursing career took her from a strict, militaristic hospital
to the customer-focused world of private healthcare. Along the way, she made lifelong
friends and faced personal challenges, including divorce and raising three children. But
Lorna's determination led her to pursue a master's degree in advanced clinical nursing,
setting the stage for her incredible entrepreneurial achievements. Stay tuned as we dive into
Lorna's remarkable story of resilience, grit, determination true passion and business
success.
You can find out more about Lorna and View Health here
Oct 02, 202301:06:35
Liam's Story - bedside nurse to coaching graduate nurses to be successful with job applications.

Liam's Story - bedside nurse to coaching graduate nurses to be successful with job applications.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing Liam Caswell who is a nurse, a life coach and Director of Liam Caswell Coaching and Podcaster of High-Performance Nursing.
Liam and I are kindred spirits and have many things in common when it comes to coaching and nurses. We share the same passion for making coaching accessible to nurses everywhere and share an ambition to make every nurse a coach.
We talk about mindset and how it can hold you back and how to change your mindset, the importance of taking opportunities and trying out as many specialities as you can in your first three years of qualifying. This interview will also give you a great insight into how coaching works and how it can help you in your nursing career.
Liam is an expert when it comes to helping newly qualified nurses apply successfully for their first job. If you are a newly qualified nurse this episode is a must listen for you! If you are a nurse and wondering how coaching can help you then this episode is also for you!
It was a real privilege to interview Liam about his nursing career and journey into becoming a life coach.
Liam can be contacted here
You can also listen to Liam's Podcast here
Are you interested in working with me as your coach? Find out more here
May 02, 202357:23
Teresa's Story- Nurse Entrepreneurship, becoming the CEO of your own company

Teresa's Story- Nurse Entrepreneurship, becoming the CEO of your own company

Welcome to a new season of Real Nurse Stories.
In this episode, I interview Teresa, a nurse and an entrepreneur from Kansas in the midwest of America.
Teresa is a vocal major who never expected to become a nurse and have a 32-year-long career in nursing!
Teresa shares her journey into nursing and becoming the CEO of her own hospice that started as a $6000 investment and grew to over $3 million.
Teresa candidly shares her experience of major depression and what she learnt about herself and how to prioritise her self-care along the way.
Teresa is the founder of the movement 'Nurses feed their young' which is a global movement designed to support early career nurses.
You can find out more about the 'Nurses feed their young movement here
Feb 21, 202359:04
Why as nurses do we find it so hard to ask for help for ourselves?
Mar 11, 202214:60
Iris's story - embracing rural nursing in Western Australia as a graduate nurse.

Iris's story - embracing rural nursing in Western Australia as a graduate nurse.

In this episode, I interview Iris who is currently a Grad nurse on placement in Rural Western Australia.
Iris never wanted to be a nurse and always thought that she would go into paramedicine but became hooked on Nursing
We cover her journey into nursing and her experience working as a Graduate nurse in a remote and rural site in Western Australia.
Iris's interview is energetic and her adventurous, bubbly and resilient personality shines through in this episode.
She describes how she took a leap of faith, taking a graduate placement in a rural area and has developed her nursing and critical thinking skills in ways that she would never have thought possible.
If you are a newly qualified nurse thinking about a rural placement take a listen, you will not be disappointed I promise!
If you would like to know more about the work that I do coaching Nurses or are interested in being coached by me you can find out more here
Aug 20, 202136:01
Cynarra's story - a rewarding career in disability nursing
Jul 15, 202147:31
Emillee's Story - Psychiatric liaison nursing in a regional ED western Australia

Emillee's Story - Psychiatric liaison nursing in a regional ED western Australia

In this episode, I interview Emillee who is currently working as a Psychiatric Liason nurse in ED in regional Western Australia.
Emillee always wanted to be a Doctor and entered into nursing thinking that she would become a Doctor at a later point. She wasn't able to get a grad position and was offered a post in a private mental health clinic as a newly qualified nurse.
She came to love working as a mental health nurse and has experience working with patients in an inpatient, outpatient, mother and baby unit, community mental health, and in the emergency department in her current role.
Emillee is a passionate advocate for patients who are struggling with their mental health. In this interview, we talk about the stigma of mental health both from a patient and a nursing perspective. Her interview is a testament to her willingness to take a leap of faith and learn about mental health nursing despite having had no exposure to the care of patients with a mental health condition during her training.
We also covered the importance of mentorship, clinical supervision and debrief as mechanisms to help nurses deal with the stresses of working in the challenging environment of mental health.
Emillee also shares her knowledge, experience, and wisdom in balancing life and work successfully.
If you have enjoyed listening to this episode please subscribe to my podcast to hear all the latest episodes.
If you would like to know more about the work that I do coaching nurses or would like to share your story drop me an email at
eva@evastorey.com
Jun 24, 202154:44
Jacqui's Story - nurse entrepreneur and founder of Heart Place Hospital for Carers.
May 13, 202156:16
Sonia's Sunny Street story as a nurse leader, entrepreneur, and CEO.

Sonia's Sunny Street story as a nurse leader, entrepreneur, and CEO.

In this episode, I interview Nurse Sonia Goodwin who is a passionate nurse leader, entrepreneur, CEO and founder of Sunny Street. Sunny street is a Doctor & Nurse-led outreach service providing primary healthcare and complex coordination services for homeless and vulnerable individuals and families across the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Fraser Coast regions. Sunny Street has a mission to facilitate community connections and improve access to health care options. Sonia talks about how she became a nurse and then had a geronimo moment when she took a massive leap of faith in response to a question that was asked at a palliative care event. The question that led to the planting of the sunny street seed was "Are you really doing the best and the most that you can do for the people who need it the most?" The rest as they say is history. I loved interviewing Sonia who is a passionate advocate for vulnerable people, nursing leadership and a positive role model for female entrepreneurs everywhere. If you would like to know more about the coaching work that I do with nurses check out my Linkedin profile or visit my website  If you would like to share your story please contact me at eva@evastorey.com
Apr 19, 202101:14:59
Samantha's Story - a Koori woman from Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri country and closing the gap.

Samantha's Story - a Koori woman from Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri country and closing the gap.

Samatha's story is the final episode of 2020 where I started out to interview a nurse a month as part of the 2020 International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Most of my interviews have been with nurses working in Australia and it seemed only right to include the experience of an Australian nurse who identifies as being an Aboriginal woman. This experience needs to be heard and understood and more importantly, storytelling is a large part of Aboriginal culture. Samantha describes "being caught between two worlds, a love of my people and a love of the frontline and trying to find the balance."
Samantha is a Koori woman from Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri country. Samatha is passionate about wanting to increase access to health services through telehealth for Aboriginal people and importantly for Aboriginal people to be able to speak to a health care worker who identifies as Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander. Closing the Gap is something that Samantha references throughout her interview. The Australian Government describes 'Closing the Gap' as being "underpinned by the belief that when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a genuine say in the design and delivery of policies, programs and services that affect them, better life outcomes are achieved. It also recognises that structural change in the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is needed to close the gap"
Samantha's interview highlights that there is still much work to be done if the trust is to be rebuilt amongst Aboriginal communities to facilitate and sustain aboriginal community engagement that addresses their health needs and influences the services that need to be developed as a result.
Samantha advocates and articulates passionately the health issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and has a dream to establish a mentoring program that can help and support Aboriginal nurses to remain in their country through accessing remote learning and mentorship from qualified nurses who identify as Aboriginal Torress Strait Islander. If you can help Samantha realise this dream please get in touch and I would love to connect you both.
Dec 16, 202001:03:45
Grace's story - a student nurse volunteering in Nepal, Kathmandu, a shining star experience!

Grace's story - a student nurse volunteering in Nepal, Kathmandu, a shining star experience!

Grace's story is one of my favourites so far! Grace is a student nurse studying to become a registered nurse. Her journey into nursing was inspired by a condition that she was born with as a premature 26-week old baby. Her love of human biology is testament to the great person-centred care that she received from her Paediatric team who educated and involved Grace about her condition with age-appropriate education throughout her childhood. Grace talks about her experience as a young 17-year-old studying to become an enrolled nurse and some of the challenges that she faced.
Grace had a three-week volunteer placement in Nepal, Katmandu, which she describes as "a shining star experience."
Her story illustrates that despite her young age she is a natural educator with fantastic critical thinking and project management skills and there are many examples in her story that illustrate these skills. Grace was awarded the New Columbo Grant and Award from the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a result of her volunteering experience in Nepal. Her story is truly inspiring and I have no doubt that Grace will continue to give back and contribute her time and skills, making a difference to everyone she meets. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.
If you would like to know more about the work that I do with nurses in leadership training and coaching you can read more about me here
Are interested in sharing your nursing story on my podcast, please contact me on
eva@evastorey.com to arrange a chat.
Nov 26, 202001:16:52
Athol's Story - from farming to nursing, burnout, and app development

Athol's Story - from farming to nursing, burnout, and app development

Athol grew up on a dairy farm and never dreamed of becoming a nurse. He had a love of anatomy and human biology and thought that he was going to study exercise science. His Grandmother suggested Nursing to him and the rest is history as they say!
In this episode we talk about Athol's nursing journey, men in nursing, his struggles with burnout and how understanding his 'why' helped him to recover from burnout and resume his nursing career after three years of pain and turmoil. Athol's story is a great example of how seeking to understand who you are as a person and what drives you to become a nurse and making wise choices for yourself rather than what others might expect of you can help you to grow as a nurse and learn to deal with the challenges of nursing.
Athol has put his experience of burnout to positive use by developing the FWards App which is designed to help busy nurses overcome stress.
If you are struggling with Burnout and need someone to talk to contact the Nurse and midwife support national hotline confidential support for nurses and midwives.
I teach leadership skills and coach nurses and midwives because nurses need nurturing too! You can find out more about the work that I do here
Nov 11, 202051:11
Nic's Story - navigating from clinical nurse into a leadership role, feeling a fraud and an imposter

Nic's Story - navigating from clinical nurse into a leadership role, feeling a fraud and an imposter

In this episode, I interview Nic who is a nurse and an entrepreneur. Nic runs her own business helping nurses who are new to a management role by offering training and support and is a passionate advocate in helping nurses to transition from a clinical to a leadership role.
Nic talks about her journey into nursing which was heavily influenced by her Dad dying when she was 13 and an acknowledgement that she didn't know what she was signing up for and how she went through a catharsis about what nursing was and what nursing is.
This is a fun interview with Nic and fun and humour was central to a lot of what we talked about.
If you are a nurse manager then this episode is for you and is jam-packed with takeaways!
Nic also shares candidly some of her struggles in her transition from a clinically proficient theatre nurse to a nurse manager in a leadership role. We talk about imposter syndrome and feeling a fraud and the elastic band of guilt that pulls nurse managers back to the floor. We also talk about the Xfactor of leadership that makes nurses want to stay in their job. We talk about Conflict but through a positive lens, tribal camaraderie, toxic positivity, mentorship and so much more.
If you would like to know more about the work that I do with nurses and midwives you can find more information here
Oct 15, 202055:55
Jacquie's Story - from midwife to senior nurse leader and everything in between!
Sep 17, 202053:20
Jamie's Story - how to stay positive in your career as a nurse.
Aug 31, 202046:40
Wes's Story - ED Nursing and how to set yourself up for success.

Wes's Story - ED Nursing and how to set yourself up for success.

In this episode, I interview Wes who works in the emergency department in Resus. Wes started his nursing career more by accident than planning. He began a business degree and then realised that he hated numbers! He enrolled on a nursing degree course as a way to get into radiology and after one year was hooked on becoming a nurse. Through a series of personal events in his life, it took Wes 5 years to complete his nurse training.
Wes qualified as a registered nurse at the end of 2018 and like many newly qualified nurses in Australia, he struggled to get a graduate placement. There are always more graduates than there are placements and Wes describes how he used LinkedIn as a way of connecting to a Nurse Unit Manager on LinkedIn and how connecting led him to secure a graduate position.
We cover a range of topics from how to deal with traumatic events, debrief both formally and informally, nurses and social media, tips for staying resilient, nursing as a gendered profession, and public perception around gendered roles in health care.
Wes is passionate about helping new nurses starting out on their career. He has developed a series of articles to help newly qualified nurses set themselves up for success and he can be found on LinkedIn as Wesley Woodborne.
If you would like to learn more about the work that I do with nurses helping them to achieve a healthy work-life balance through coaching please get in touch
eva@evastorey.com. If you are interested in being coached you can learn more about me here
Aug 10, 202043:04
Joanne's Story - how travel broadened nursing experience and applying resilience in tough times

Joanne's Story - how travel broadened nursing experience and applying resilience in tough times

Jul 30, 202057:34
Nurse Cannibals - Eating Their Young

Nurse Cannibals - Eating Their Young

In this episode, I interview Tracy Churchill and Emma Versluis who are senior nurses and the authors of a series of four articles that was published on Linkedin in June 2020. This episode explores how the authors became interested in the topic, along with the responses that they received as a result of publishing the articles. The articles and this podcast interview lift the lid on an important and taboo subject in the nursing profession and one that the authors agree is a shameful topic. Nurse stereotypes exist that portray a caring and nurturing profession, sadly not always towards each other. This year is the 2020 International Year of the Nurse and Midwife and both Tracy and Emma hope that in raising this important topic they can help to move away from "nurses eating their young" to a new culture where "nurses feed their young" through positive leadership skills and management.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode and feel that you would benefit from some coaching as a result please get in touch  eva@evastorey.com.

If you would like to know more about the work that I do coaching nurses, leaders and executives or would like to tell your story please get in touch eva@evastorey.com

Jul 09, 202045:15
A Midwife's Story - from the UK to Australia, how trauma and burnout affect resilience

A Midwife's Story - from the UK to Australia, how trauma and burnout affect resilience

This is a midwife's story who is working in Australia. The midwife's anonymity has been preserved for the purposes of this interview, which has allowed a candour to this career story. The story documents this Midwife's journey from her midwifery training in London in the UK to her present role. working as a clinical midwife in Australia. The story is raw and powerful and covers topics that are not often discussed such as burnout, dealing with the death of a baby and the effects of working in a stressful environment with little formal support or debriefing. The interview is an honest account of the struggles of working as a midwife in a pressured environment brings. This interview highlights how 'burying" traumatic experiences over time can negatively impact on personal resilience. It also highlights a dedication to wanting the best possible birthing experience for a mother and her baby. This midwife is passionate about midwifery-led group practice as being the way forward.
To the listener please remember that this is one person's experience and it is their story. This story will be different for every midwife interviewed. What matters is that someone else who might be experiencing something similar is able to relate and not feel that they are the only ones going through a situation.
Listening to this story may bring up some personal issues for listeners who might be able to relate to the experiences described in this episode. If you would like some help with this please get in touch
eva@evastorey.com or contact the 24/7 confidential national helpline for Nurse and Midwife support in Australia on 1800667877
Jul 05, 202053:05
Amanda's Story - Community Nursing with a passion in the UK
Jun 08, 202051:07
Leonie's Story - a retired nurse who experienced a bygone era of nursing in Geraldton, WA
Jun 01, 202051:40
Trish's story - a retired community nurse who has championed ageism and person centred care.
May 13, 202052:39
Hazel's Story - managing stressful situations as an emergency room nurse, debriefing and reflection
Mar 18, 202038:57
Rebecca's story - remote and rural nursing career,working with indigenous communities in Australian
Feb 21, 202054:12
 Jayne Nurse Manager Western Australia

Jayne Nurse Manager Western Australia

Welcome to Real Nurse Stories celebrating 2020 the year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Real Nurse Stories Podcast provides an important platform for nurses to talk about their career, share some insights into their role and pass on some words of wisdom and importantly celebrate the diversity of nursing roles that have evolved in modern-day nursing.

Jayne shares her story with humour and passion about her nursing career, her reason for going into nursing, her struggles as a nursing student and how she coped with being bullied, along with her passion for working with indigenous cultures. This interview takes a journey from Cornwall to Australia and a few more places in between.

Jan 12, 202048:41
January 10, 2020

January 10, 2020

Jan 10, 202000:34