Mapping the Right Direction for Your Career and Life: Talking Inspiration with Susan Farese
Susan Farese, a Force of Nature
Susan has been a nurse, but has also worn many other hats as she’s moved through life. Currently, Susan runs SJF Communications – her own PR firm – where she helps pretty much anyone, including nurses market themselves and find the directions for their own lives they’re most excited about.
It’s invigorating to listen to Susan as she is full of positive energy and believes in people. She knows nurses are powerful forces in their roles, but also sees that many nurses need other outlets. Whether it’s a hobby, a side job, or a new career path, she’s here to help.
Susan and Beth talk about coaching and why it’s so important to find a coach or a mentor to help find your direction in life. They also talk about the importance of finding outlets – especially with the world of the pandemic in which we’re all living, which has broken many spirits.
They also talk about finding inspiration, career mapping, as well as Susan’s book, which has recently been re-published.
It’s an exciting and inspiring conversation that will certainly get you thinking about how best to shape your own lives.
Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!
About Susan
Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN, a native of New Jersey, is the owner/ president of SJF Communications, San Diego, CA. SJF Communications, originally established in 2002 in San Jose, CA, provides communications services including Public Relations, Publicity, Marketing, Websites, Filmmaking, Acting, Social Media, Writing and Public Speaking, Photography, Mentoring, Coaching and Legal Nurse Consulting services. Ms. Farese has diversified experience in health care/communications, including clinical nursing practice, management, education/training, research and consulting.
She has a Masters Degree in Nursing in Adult Health from Seton Hall University (NJ) and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Widener University(PA).
Susan has presented numerous continuing education classes, seminars, and keynotes. Susan is the author of the book Poetic Expressions in Nursing…Sharing the Caring (1993 and 2021), currently teaches ‘Capturing Your Creativity with Haiku’ workshops and has published poetry and articles on a variety of topics…
In addition to her being on the advisory board of San Diego Film Week, Susan is a member of SAG-AFTRA, American Legion Post 43, Veterans in Media & Entertainment, San Diego Writers Ink the San Diego Press Club, the Southern California Writers Association, the Army Nurse Corps Association.
Since 2017, Susan has been a Volunteer Mentor in the San Diego State University Aztec Mentor Program.
Complete list of clients at https://sjfcommunications.com/list-of-clients/
Contact SJF Communications at: 408-398-5940 or sjfcommunications@gmail.com.
Links
-
Intro/Outro:
Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young, a nursing podcast with your host, Beth Quaas. Before we get started, we have a few quick notes. Don't Eat Your Young is a listener supported podcast. To learn more about becoming a member and the perks available to you for becoming a patron yourself visit patreon.com/don'teatyouryoung. You can learn more about the show, share your story to join Beth as a guest, or connect with our wonderful community in our Facebook group. You can find all those links and more at Donteatyouryoung.com. And now on with the show.
Beth Quaas:
Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young. I'm your host Beth Quaas. Today we have Susan Farese with us. She's been a nurse since late in the 1970s. As she's worn many hats, including serving in the military. She's taught continuing education to nurses. She's been on Joint Commission document review and worked as a consultant for them as well. And also a legal nurse consultant. Today she's focusing on helping nurses find their way through writing and creative work. And she's written a book with her second edition coming out of Poetic Expressions in Nursing. It's a wonderful book and it really is inspiring. So please welcome Susan to the show.
Susan Farese:
Thank you, Beth. It's always nice to talk to a nurse podcaster. It's the best. So thanks for having me.
Beth Quaas:
Yes. Well, and you've been on a few because you are out there moving and shaking with what you're doing. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Susan Farese:
Where should I start? I mean [inaudible 00:01:55].
Beth Quaas:
Well, you've been a nurse for a long time.
Susan Farese:
I have been a nurse for a long time. I've had many lives too. I started my nursing career on the east coast. Went to school in Pennsylvania at Widener University and got my BSN there in the late 1970s. So I'm dating myself here. And I immediately joined the military as a nurse. Spent three years in the Navy in general medicine and cardiothoracic step down in the San Diego area, which is where I am now. Back full circle. And then transferred to the Army Nurse Corps for about nine and a half years and worked in a variety of areas. Trying to think here. Oh yeah. Surgical intensive care, recovery room, ER, nursing education, orthopedic surgery. And then I went and got my master's in '86 at Seton hall University and studied the adult nurse practitioner clinical nurse specialist track of adult health, got the masters and then still was in the Army at the time. The Army had sent me for my master's and then, actually let's see, outpatient surgery. No, I'm sorry. Outpatient clinic, nursing education and advanced care or ICU, a smaller ICU.
So that was my military career that ended in 1990 and upon 1990 in December as a present to myself, I went to a course on the Myers Briggs, the personality assessment. And I decided to take this course and become a consultant with that and start as a nurse entrepreneur with continuing education courses that I spoke all over the Florida area at the time. And I've done lots of nurse consulting, some legal nurse consulting, Joint Commission preparation, lots of CE programs and collects preparation. I don't know if I said that. Auditing, medical bills, clinical research, you name it.
Beth Quaas:
You've done it all. You've done it all.
Susan Farese:
No psych, no OB, no peds basically. So I think [inaudible 00:04:01].
Beth Quaas:
We covered this span.
Susan Farese:
Yeah. No OR either.
Beth Quaas:
So you worked for the Joint Commission, we all make jokes about the Joint Commission. We all do in nursing. What can you tell us about the Joint Commission?
Susan Farese:
Well, I actually didn't work for them. I worked as a consultant to, I remember it was a home healthcare agency preparing them for documentation review from Joint Commission. So I analyzed their systems in documenting and this was way back in the nineties when we didn't have electronic health records or anything like that. So it was all the handwritten stuff. And so I gave them guidance. We did a needs assessment and just kind of looked at their trends and what they can improve upon for a inspection. And just for quality.
Beth Quaas:
That's important. Absolutely. Because we all know what it's like to go through those Joint Commission inspections. And I've been in nursing too for just about 30 years and it's a lot different than it used to be, but we all still get our hackles up when we hear Joint Commission is on the way. I think that they probably do some great work. But what do you think?
Susan Farese:
Well, I think that if you're competent, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Look at the standards, have good teamwork, good communication, good quality. Be serious about your craft and you should be fine because there... I mean, I have not been through a survey in a really long time myself, but that's my intuition of what it could be to have a positive outcome and just definitely take care of yourselves for stress, with self care, not to get too anxious about it and just feel confident in what your group or process is doing.
Beth Quaas:
Right. It's not punitive. I think we all thought it used to be. I think the Joint Commission folks that come in that I've met in the last few years have been very kind and accommodating and they really are there to help. So we will continue to make fun of when they come in. But I think they are there for a good reason.
Susan Farese:
For a good reason. Yeah.
Beth Quaas:
So Susan, tell us what you're doing now.
Susan Farese:
What I'm doing now. I love what I'm doing now. I absolutely love it. I am the owner and president of SJF Communications and that stands for Susan J Farese, my initials. And I provide PR, marketing, websites, social media, some filmmaking. I mean, you name it I do it. I'm trying virtual assisting, event promotion, some legal nurse consulting every once in a while. I'm an actor. I'm an author. And so just not even an hour ago, I had a Zoom call with a author who wants to have me help open the door or possibly getting his books made into a television series.
I've worked with artists that want to get the word out about their artwork. Many authors about how to publicize their books because many authors don't think about publicity or promotion while they're writing their wonderful masterpiece. They kind of keep that to the side or they're into the process of writing or they're really introverted in that process. And yet promotion is getting it out there. So I've helped a variety of clients from theaters, musicians, actors, filmmakers, artists, authors, and businesses, and most recently nurses as well. So I'm also a coach.
Beth Quaas:
I was going to say you were an entrepreneur in nursing before it was as big as it is now. And now I think it's really growing. What would you tell nurses today that are looking at moving out of bedside care and into some kind of entrepreneurial direction?
Susan Farese:
Number one is to be confident in you and what you've done in nursing and see how you can translate that into some kind of a business, whether it's healthcare related or not. My nursing license is always kept up since 1978. And although I don't work in clinical nursing, I treat my clients in publicity and promotions and PR as if they were my patients. I still assess. I plan. I implement and I evaluate and I reevaluate. I just constantly going through things in my mind to help them be the best that they can be in getting their word out, personalizing it. So, but if you want to be a nurse in business, do your homework, research what you're going to see that you'll be doing.
See if there's any competitors. Follow them, learn about the craft of starting a business, go to wherever you live and look online to see if you need a license or if you need to incorporate, any of the paperwork, the stuff. Think about a mission statement. Think about how you're going to promote what you're going to be doing. Cultivate your followers or your audience, or your constituents, your clients, with some social media, and find somebody that might mentor you.
So there's so many elements to being in business and it's much more complicated than it was when I started. But somehow I started back in 1990, getting the word out. We hardly even had email back then. I mean, I don't know how we did it.
Beth Quaas:
Really. Yeah, absolutely.
Susan Farese:
But I think another thing about if you're going into business is to have a passion for something. Have a passion. What are you so interested in? Or how do you want to make a change? How do you want to make a difference? What lights your fire in nursing or in life? If you have a creative art, that's always helpful too, to be able to film whatever you're doing or journal about it or blog about it. Be open to change, adaptation, and communication. Because it's always, communication is always key. Whether you're a nurse in the bedside or out in the world, doing whatever you're doing in nursing or in business. I hope that helps.
Beth Quaas:
Absolutely. And I love that you aren't just working in nursing. Your business is really for anyone. So to those nurses that are thinking about moving into a different business, there's opportunities everywhere.
Susan Farese:
Definitely. Now I could have gone the more of an academic track. I got my master's and I could have gone on for a doctorate, but my spirit, my personality, and all, lends itself to business and being entrepreneurial and creative. So feel comfortable with your gifts, whoever you are. One of the things I say about me is I'm an apple in a basket of oranges. I've always been very different. I did not fit the mold of a typical nurse typical someone in the military, typical business person. I am an individual that has because of geographic relocations and just circumstances in my personal and professional life, as well as in my family life, have had to embrace change. And I think many people are so timid with change or reluctant about it or afraid of it, that it holds people back. And now's the time to start your new venture.
If you have a good idea, you have good intuition, a good hunch. You have support of your family. You need the family support to encourage you. If you have a little nest eggs or to keep working a little bit on part-time, at least while you're starting your business, that will help as well. I've been through so much with so many clients that no one is typical.
My normal age ranges that I work with is definitely over 50. And I just told my husband today that this isn't the third client today that I'm just taking that is 79 years old. Wow. I mean, I work with people that are really seasoned and they still have energy and vibe and verve and are really ready to still make an impact. So don't give up just because you're in your forties or fifties or sixties. Keep going. Keep going.
Beth Quaas:
That is fantastic advice because we do, especially in nursing, we have so much to give. We all do. We all, like you said, we all have gifts that we need to just realize what they are and if that's what we want to move forward with, we can do so much. So I am so happy that you said that.
Susan Farese:
Yeah.
Beth Quaas:
So you're doing some coaching. Who are your clients?
Susan Farese:
I say the sky's the limit because I've been a mentor at San Diego State University for the last five years. And I've been mentoring, coaching students of different disciplines, whether it's communications, public health, health communications. But there weren't any nurses that reached out to me in the last five years. So that's why now I'm getting the word out because it's a very valuable thing to have a mentor or coach. So the typical person who would be my client is someone that's either struggling with role conflict, or stress, burnout, just searching for something else in life. And I can help by looking at your resume, getting you established or looking at your social media and seeing if where you're at that way and see what your needs are, what your goals are, what your values are. Because it takes some introspection whether you're starting a business or not.
But if you need a coach, something is sitting inside of you that you need someone to be your cheerleader, basically. Cheerleader, but objectives cheerleader. Not I'm going to agree with everything you're saying, but let's look at it analytically. Let's do some critical thinking as a coach on what this person needs. And nursing of course is great with critical thinking. We've got that skill.
Beth Quaas:
Yes we are. And I've had coaches. I've talked to many people and mentors. I have people helping me as well. And we all need that. You can't know everything and you don't have to. You really can find the right person to work with that can help you through those things that seem insurmountable, but they're not.
Susan Farese:
Exactly. And a mentor. It's not your family member necessarily. It is not your boss necessarily. But it's someone that says you did really well, or you need to take a vacation or you need to change where you're working, which happened in my very first job when I was burned out, did not know that I was. I was working general medicine back in the late seventies. I was in my twenties. I was handling death, disability, disease, quick pace, cross country from my family, a new graduate, a whole bit. And one day my evening supervisor was making rounds. And she said, "By the end of the day, I'd like you to tell me where you're going to work when you come back and how much vacation you're going to take." And I looked at her like, what? I was burnt out, did not know how to express it.
She saw something in me that was just my faces or just my demeanor that was not myself. And thank God for her because she changed my life. I was burnt out as a brand new nurse. And I hear about this now all the time that the new nurses, especially during the pandemic that started in nursing are having a tough time. And so this is something for faculty to take a look at seriously. The schools need to address this. There needs to be a course in stress management for nurses. A course in what is your first year going to be like? What about that first IV that you actually start coming from a simulations lab. So I know we're getting on different tangents, but if you're burnt out, a coach might be helpful.
Beth Quaas:
I agree.
Susan Farese:
Struggling with something internally. There are nurses that are out there to help you or coaches of different disciplines as well. So you'll try to find the right match for you and see if you have like-minded values and such and go for it. Go for it. It's very valuable.
Beth Quaas:
I think sometimes in nursing or anyone that's struggling, sometimes having someone that you don't know, but understands what you're going through is [inaudible 00:16:33] valuable because they're going to listen. They're going to understand. And like you said, be objective and talk you through those things.
Susan Farese:
Right. And diagnose in our own way, troubleshoot, guide, facilitate. Those are kind of the magic words that I think of with mentoring. I actually have written a poem about mentoring. I don't know if you've read it in the ebook, but it's all about giving gratitude to the people in my life that have helped me as mentors. So I value them.
Beth Quaas:
I do want to talk about that. And I talked about it in the introduction. The book that you wrote back in '93, and now you have a new edition out, Poetic Expressions in Nursing. And one of my favorite poems in that book was Giving Thanks.
Susan Farese:
Oh, Giving Thanks. Yeah.
Beth Quaas:
Because it says what we see as nurses, we see it all and our patients need to know that as well. But you talk about the smells and the colors that we see and what we gathered from all of that. That one really struck me.
Susan Farese:
And that's one of the beginning poems in the book. Giving Thanks, right?
Beth Quaas:
Yes.
Susan Farese:
Yeah. Wow. That's cool.
Beth Quaas:
I'm very thankful for the experiences that I have. I'm very thankful for the patients that I've been able to care for. And I know you have poems in there as well that speak directly to the patient.
Susan Farese:
Absolutely.
Beth Quaas:
And I want them to understand what nurses are going through too.
Susan Farese:
Yeah. My book, the typical genre for nursing poetry are nurses that are my clients or the readers [inaudible 00:18:15]. But the book is also for anyone that's caring. Caregivers, first responders, humans. Humans need love. They need caring and they need concern and empathy and all that. And there's a lot of that in the book. And that's why the title is Sharing the Caring, Poetic Expressions in Nursing. Sharing the Caring. Because I believe in giving back and sharing rather than keeping things close to the heart, close to the brain, just not sharing and being protective of everything. If we don't share what we do, if we don't communicate it, no one will really know what our day to day struggles are as nurses. I mean, we take on a lot.
I don't think I could do it clinically at this point in my life. It's that intense. It's an intense role that it requires so much of a person. And now to hear about violence in the healthcare place, racism, I mean all the big issues and COVID has just made so many people very, very stressed out, depressed, anxious, suicidal, even. So we have to address this and I believe looking on LinkedIn, if you're following LinkedIn and you follow different groups and individuals that are leaders, I believe that this is coming to the forefront and more people are focusing on resilience, burn out and all that. But tangibly, not just fufu in the sky quotes. Really help us with tangible options to combat it. And so one of the things that I like to do is the creative arts in so many different ways. Whether it's nature photography, the poetry, filmmaking, theater, whatever. So I hope that nurses would cultivate some kind of a creative art or a passion, whether it's the arts or cooking or exercising, just something that they're very passionate about for self care.
Beth Quaas:
Because when you leave at the end of your shift and you feel so broken down, know that you've done the best you can do. You've taken care of people that can't take care of themselves and to go practice something totally different, like you say, I think could be so changing for them.
Susan Farese:
It's changing. It's cathartic and therapeutic. You can heal. You can heal from journaling even. You can heal from blogging. You have to be careful, of course, with HIPAA. And you can't name patients and you can't be specific. But in general, even just to keep it to yourself, if you journal, just jot some thoughts down from the day, get it out because it's all inside of us. Think about if you're a staff nurse, how many patients you've interacted with. All of their families. The whole shift, how many people, and then every week, every month, every year that you've been cumulatively carrying all this burden of everyone. All these dashed hopes sometimes. And with all the death that we've seen with COVID that a nurse would experience more in two years than ever in her whole lifetime as a nurse, or his, is just devastating.
Beth Quaas:
We have to have change come soon [inaudible 00:21:38] out caring, and their families and friends. They are affected by that as well.
Susan Farese:
Absolutely. It does. Carry on.
Beth Quaas:
I agree with you that I think change is coming. We just, a couple weeks ago had the National Nurses March, and I'm hoping that that brings more awareness to the public because until we affect the consumers, we will not change the healthcare administration.
Susan Farese:
Exactly, exactly. And the top, the CEOs and such too. And communicating. The way that you're doing your podcast is reaching out to people. People that are in nursing should communicate in some form whether it's a print article in a journal, a book, the podcast, a film. There are so many avenues that you can take to get the word out, but we must express what we do in a concise way, in a deliberate way and non nebulous way. Really tell people what you do and value it.
Beth Quaas:
And I think stand up for yourself. Everyone's worthy. Everyone's worthy of their own rights.
Susan Farese:
Right. And the other thing is, if you don't know, say you're a new nurse this year, and you're just not comfortable with a procedure or whatever, speak up. It's okay that you don't have everything absolutely right your first year. It's okay to be vulnerable. And it's okay to cry if you need to go to the break room and cry to let it out. Again, unburden the burden.
Beth Quaas:
I love that you say that. And I think you had a great experience with a manager that was able to help you and see something in you that said you need to take a break or something. I think managers and supervisors right now are, they're not educated in how to do that role. And they're so bogged down themselves.
Susan Farese:
Right.
Beth Quaas:
It's hard for them too, but we need more of that. We need more people helping our nurses.
Susan Farese:
Like career mapping. When she did suggest that to me in 19, whenever it was, '80 or '81, I said, "Okay, where should I go?" And I went from general medicine to cardiothoracic surgery step down where we prepared everybody for open heart surgery and then had them after the ICU with telemetry and step down and post-op and teaching and discharge planning. And it was like a whole new world for me.
And so maybe nurses should think about that. When they're in their role, if they're struggling with role conflict or just something that's not right, think about other areas you'd want to work with. Maybe write it down. Look at it as a goal. One of those smart, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, you know that one and with timing, smart goal. And say by the end of whatever, I want to transfer to this unit or explore this unit, or at least learn about it, take a CE class on a different area in nursing. And look ahead. Don't just stay stagnant if you don't have to. And if you are ready for a change.
Beth Quaas:
Yeah. I think that's very important. If you are physically ill or mentally, you're not able to get to work because you really can't or don't want to do this job. It's probably a good time to start looking at something else. People don't have to stay in jobs for any reason other than to help themselves.
Susan Farese:
Right. And this is not to say we don't like stability. There is a case for people that do stay in the same areas for years. That's fine. But it's not fine for everybody. Everyone's a human individual. And if you listen to your intuition and your gut talking, it may be time for a change. And I absolutely embrace change. I am the queen of reinvention because I've moved geographically many times. And with family situations, like I said, and getting married and my husband's corporate career, we moved a lot. And every time we moved, I would think to myself, do I need to get the license here, my nursing license? Where are the good places to work?
So I would do that evaluation every time, but it led me to acting and other ventures and ultimately PR from all of these moves. So I'd be happy to connect with people that are listening, if you're stuck, or if a light bulb goes off on our conversation, because we are here for you. I mean, we're serious about this, right?
Beth Quaas:
Yes, yes.
Susan Farese:
Definitely serious about this.
Beth Quaas:
And we have a lot of years of experience to maybe help people see things a different way, or maybe tell them about something that they didn't know existed in nursing. And that's kind of the goal of this podcast as well, to talk to a variety of people so that nurses that may not even know about something you've done or I've done, any of my guests have done, open up those opportunities.
Susan Farese:
Exactly. Yeah.
Beth Quaas:
What is one thing you would like to leave with nurses today to inspire them?
Susan Farese:
So many things. I think we touched on a few. I'd like to read one of my poems.
Beth Quaas:
I would love that.
Susan Farese:
Would that be okay?
Beth Quaas:
Yes, please.
Susan Farese:
One of my last poems in the book is called Sharing the Caring. It goes like this. Sharing the Caring. Let's open up our hearts and share the caring. Merge visions, ink and syllables so daring. Life's fragile, short and sweet. Grasp rhythm, pace, and beat. Catharsis of emotions we've been wearing. We've seen it all, the panic, pain and fears of newborns to centenarians in years. From births to life's demise our knowing makes us wise. Yet prose as catalyst releases tears. Brave and famous poets we need not be. But writing from the heart that sets us free. Through poems, we tell our stories, share pain, grief, caring, glories. Regardless of our nursing specialty, no need to build the walls to hide the memories we've buried deep inside. It's good to let it go. Allowing words to flow. Stand back and let the power be your guide.
Beth Quaas:
I love that.
Susan Farese:
You want me to also read the one you liked?
Beth Quaas:
Yes, please.
Susan Farese:
A tribute to you. This is called Giving Thanks. Nurses know the paleness and coolness of shock. The dusky blue hues of sianosis. The significance of impending doom. The fear in their eyes when fate is unknown. The wails of terminal pain, the scent of pseudomonas, the tenacity of suction secretions, the fruity breath of ketoacidosis, the predictable patterns of kussmaul breathing, the jello non rhythmic quality of ventricular fibrillation, the bedlam in a code, the frustration when a patient's non compliant, the intensity of patient care, the thank yous that mean so much. Be thankful nurses know.
Beth Quaas:
I just think that speaks to so many of us. And I appreciate that, Susan.
Susan Farese:
Oh, thank you so much, Beth. I appreciate it.
Beth Quaas:
I thank you for being on this show. I want people to reach out to you. I think you have so much to give and share with others and all of your links will be in our show notes. And so I encourage people to reach out. I think you have a special gift as well.
Susan Farese:
Thank you. And likewise. I love what you're doing. I love the title of your podcast.
Beth Quaas:
Thank you.
Susan Farese:
I love that we could find you all over and I just wish you so many more years of this because we need you.
Beth Quaas:
Thank you, Susan. I appreciate it. Have a great day.
Susan Farese:
Thank you.
Speaker 4:
( singing)
Intro/Outro:
Don't Eat Your Young was produced in partnership with True Story FM. Engineering by Andy Nelson. Music by The Light Hearts. Find the show, show notes and transcripts at donteatyouryoung.com. If your podcast app allows ratings and reviews, please consider doing that for our show. But the best thing you could do to support the show is to share it with a friend or colleague. Thank you for listening.