November 2021 APNA President’s Message

The Time is Now to Activate Our Voices!

APNA President Leslie Oleck, MSN, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, LMFT

By any measure, our value as psychiatric-mental health nurses is rising. Pandemic-fatigue, greater risk for individuals living with severe mental illness, and increased substance use and suicide rates have added mental health to everyday conversations in our communities. The time is now to activate our voices. And that is why I have selected Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses Activating Our Voices: Who We Are, What We Do, What We Need as this year’s theme.

As an associate faculty member for Indiana University School of Nursing and psychotherapist for 25 years, I can attest that it can be challenging for us to recognize the experience we can pass along to others. We usually call it “doing our job.”

But now is not the time to be invisible. With the Call for Abstracts for the APNA 36th Annual Conference opening in January, I encourage you to submit an abstract to share important research, best practices, or unique ideas that are energizing your work. You will be activating your voice—enriching the knowledge of your fellow PMH nurses and yourself!

I am honored to serve as your APNA President this year and look forward to working with all of you to activate our voices and drive our profession forward!

Leslie Oleck, MSN, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, LMFT