Inspiring Conversations with Jannel Gooden of Novice is the New Nurse

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jannel Gooden.

Hi Jannel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised in Bronx, NY to Jamaican parents. Like most Caribbean families, a traditional educational path was always valued and encouraged in my household. I actually don’t recall any other career options apart from doctor or lawyer being highlighted as a choice for me. The lawyer option was very short-lived because my very Christian grandmother quickly reminded me that “lawyers lie” and that I couldn’t remain in integrity with myself and lie for a career. I now know that isn’t the entire truth about lawyers but as an impressionable child, becoming a lawyer was no longer a viable option so I set my sites on becoming a doctor.

While in college, I quickly realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life and I had what I refer to as my “quarter-life” crisis. I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor but I wasn’t ready to abandon healthcare altogether. My mother encouraged me to look into nursing and through my research, I felt like it resonated more with what I desired for myself. At the time, I had no idea it would open up a world where I could explore gifts within myself that I had no idea existed. I didn’t know my purpose was on the other side of my “yes” to nursing. I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Science from a small private school in lower Westchester, NY and landed a position as a Pediatric Critical Care RN at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx. I loved it. Serving my community. Advocating for children who looked like me and came from similar backgrounds. Being relatable to those families. I was building trust with a demographic of people who have such a long history of mistrust with the medical field. Yet still something else was tugging at my spirit. The nursing profession itself was missing an element to support new nurses. We were feeling burnt out within our first year from our own anxieties and disillusionment about nursing. We create these fantasies around how nursing will be for us and we graduate and it feels nothing like that. It’s much more challenging than we could have ever imagined.

Physically, mentally and emotionally. I struggled but I knew early on I didn’t want any more new nurses to struggle the way I did. I started journaling through my process. Creating strategy for myself. Strategy that would later turn into my mentorship program for new nurses. I decided after three years of nursing at my home hospital that I wanted to see more. I began my travel nursing journey. It’s how I came to California. I took my first two contracts in the bay area and quickly decided SoCal, specifically Los Angeles, was more my speed. That was five and a half years ago. During my time here, I have deepened my passion for helping new nurses. I co-founded Novice is the New Nurse to dedicate my time to creating the bridge over the gaps in new nursing that I knew we all needed. We needed encouragement. To not feel isolated in our experiences. To feel seen and heard. I expanded that to social media via @NoviceistheNewNurse. Through the platform, I realized I had a voice that was resonating deeply with my peers. My time in the social space inspired me to create an affirmations book for new nurses which I recently published titled ‘Lavender and Peppermint Tea’. All the ways in which I’ve been inspired to help new nurses has anchored me deeper into my purpose and revealing to me all the creative ways in which I can show up in this world in service of others.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has surely never been paved enough to feel smooth but it has revealed so much to me about myself. Most of the struggles I’ve encountered came from within. Overcoming my own doubts and fears while simultaneously supporting other nurses as they overcome their own has been a journey for me. I’ve shed so much skin while living in Los Angeles and each time has been a beautiful but painful experience. A continual birthing process. Watching myself evolve into more than just a bedside nurse has posed its own challenges as well. As a first-generation American, the path to creating your own is always a tough one. Supporting my patients and their families during their healing felt like a walk in the park for me compared to learning how to operate a business. Finding trusted resources in business to learn from was difficult initially. I was transitioning from solely patient care into a world that I knew nothing about. That learning was and still is steep for me. I’ve been leaning more into my own intuition in regards to my business and that has given me a lot more discernment as I continue to evolve.

As you know, we’re big fans of Novice is the New Nurse. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Novice is the New Nurse focuses on the wellbeing of the new nurse as they transition from student to licensed professional. I support the new nurse’s experience in a variety of different ways. One being through content creation on social media. I provide bite-sized information to enhance the way nurses function in their new roles. This ranges from mindset activities to actual concrete ways to implement better communication and time management while at the bedside working as nurses. For the new nurses who desire to truly shift away from the anxiety they experience and practice more confidently to create a foundation that leads them into the nursing career of their dreams, I offer an eight-week mentorship program. In my program, we focus our time on improving the way each individual shows up in their practice as it relates to their overall confidence, communication skills, time management, organization and ability to pull the entire picture together about what is happening with their patients daily.

I’ve recently published my first book for new nurses titled ‘Lavender and Peppermint Tea: Gentle Affirmations for the New Nurse’. Lavender and Peppermint Tea is a book of affirmations with reflections and journal prompts to support the new nurse while they navigate the common challenges experienced in the first few years of this profession. Each affirmation was created to shake the new nurse from their limiting beliefs around their abilities and gently push them into their power as a unique and invaluable members of the healthcare team.

I am most proud of the impact I’ve had on the new nurse experience. Each time a new nurse can move into their personal power, we continue to facilitate the deep healing our patients deserve.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
COVID 19 has further solidified for me the importance of non-attachment. In both my personal and professional life. The pandemic brought me back to the basics in every form. Life is always in flux. I am learning how to embrace that with more grace. Becoming more comfortable opening my hands and not holding onto any one thing too tightly. Allowing the winds of the storms we encounter to bring in what we need as much as we allow it to clear that which is no longer for us. As I often remind my new nurses, everything around you is allowed to change form. You are too. How one adapts and responds to the shifts is where the growth lies. While life as we knew it shifted last year, I had to remember my purpose. Allow it to continue to evolve while not attaching to one particular way in which I wanted to support my community of nurses. That looked like shifting some conversations in my mentorship program to solely create space for my new nurses to grieve and feel. I’ve learned that non-attachment is a scary but beautiful place to allow all the possibilities for your life to unfold.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@noviceisthenewnurse.com
• Website: https://www.noviceisthenewnurse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noviceisthenewnurse/
• Other: https://www.lavenderandpepperminttea.com