February 2024
We wish to celebrate and honor our Caritas Colleagues and share their contribution and commitment to Caring Science. This month we are celebrating: Sasha Jacobs, BSN, RN, NCSN, Caritas Coach®, Caritas Leader® Faculty Guide, School Nurse Consultant, Children’s Hospital Colorado.
My Journey
I enjoy being on faculty for the Caritas Leadership Program™ (CLP) mentoring and learning from others on this journey. I believe the work brings us back to our roots and reminds us why we signed up for careers in the human caring profession. What I have found to be so inspirational in leading the CLP is when leaders are willing to be vulnerable and open up they find many in similar leadership roles feeling the same way. They previously felt isolated as wanting to connect the theory in practice as a leader, but the program shows them others who feel and desire the same for their leadership in action. It is wonderful to bear witness to leaders connecting within their hospital systems to begin to start to put this theory change into action, even by pausing and listening to others’ stories rather than immediately jumping into action or solving problems that cannot always be solved. The stories shared of allowing a staff nurse to talk about how hard it is to be a direct caregiver without them requiring more than just their leader to listen allows the leaders to slow down. One CLP leader shared that was the connection point they were also craving and why they were inspired to become a leader in the first place. Caritas allows the slowing down that being authentically present requires. The platform opens these leaders into sharing the heartache and heart stress they have when making the decisions that may need to occur for the organizational success, but individually may cause strife. I enjoy checking in with leaders post CLP and hear many are still connecting with some from their group. This is how we start to make the ripple effect of the small but mighty force of caring healthcare leaders.
The work brings us back to our roots and reminds us why we signed up for careers in the human caring profession.
Contributions to the legacy of Caring Science
I started my Caritas journey when I was a newish bedside nurse pregnant with my first child. Jean Watson's community (communitas) offered my first introduction to a group of people who care about humanity. The discussion was around adding more of that into life rather than using boundaries or closed off practices as the path to preventing burnout. I graduated from the Caritas Coach Education Program® (CCEP) in Cohort 3, as a staff nurse on an inpatient medical surgical floor at a children’s hospital. I have incorporated the foundations of Jean Watson’s theory not only into my career, but I was fortunate to take this as I was also learning how to be a mom to a new baby . The principles have become the foundation in the ways I view and interact with the world. I have truly felt in my core that Jean Watson's theory of human caring is our path to shared humanity and how we heal our healthcare providers through this work.
I am continuing my journey this year in becoming a conscious breath healer. I believe it is a technique that can help healthcare workers heal some trauma. The sessions offered during breath healing allows strong emotional situations to work through the body and be released. It continues to provide a connection point for me to offer healing directly to healthcare workers.
Areas of Expertise
- Yin Yoga
- In training to become a Conscious Breath Healer
Location
Denver, CO USA
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