My name is Michelle Pearson; I live in North Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband and four cats! In 1995, I qualified and became a Registed Nurse of the UKCC (United Kingdom Central Council); this has now changed and is presently called The Nursing and Midwifery Council. This is the governing body for nurses. I am a registered nurse on part 12 of the register - my speciality being the medical / nursing care of adults. Before qualifying, I was the Student Union President and within that role, I organised and chaired a conference on the 'Future of Nursing'. Since qualifying, I worked on an acute medical ward as a staff nurse, where I was a Named Nurse and Mentor for student nurses. I wrote information packages for students and staff as well as providing teaching sessions for students. I developed an interest in wound care and stress management. I was part of two research articles, one on stroke management care, and one for wound care. The work initiated with my stroke care package has led to a change in the clinical care of stroke patients. I also started to research if there was a need or requirement for a stress management facility. This was to be for all levels of staff, across all departments including students. The ultimate aim was to reduce sick leave, have a happy work environment, and a continued improvement/conversation between all levels of staff. Furthermore, I was looking to see if having a stress management professional with coping skill advice would be beneficial.
In 1996, I studied and passed my Psychology course with the Open University. I have completed and passed a number of study workshops/days. They were Anger Management, Ageing Mind, Resuscitation, (Silver card) amongst others that were directed towards nursing. During 1997, I became ill and was unable to return to nursing. Therefore, I focused my attention onto stress management. In 1999, I enrolled on an advanced diploma course run by the Stress Consultancy in Sheffield. The course itself is validated by Sheffield Hallam University. I have a certificate, diploma, and now an advanced diploma in Stress Management Training. I am a Stress Management Consultant, and a RN and hold a Degree in Nursing and in Science.
I am an "associate" member of ISMA International Stress Management Association. I am in the process of becoming a full member. As mentioned under general idea, ISMA is a governing body for everyone who works in the field of stress management; this means it has a professional code of conduct, which needs to be met, and followed, to maintain one's membership. I am a registered nurse with the NMC; they too have a code of professional conduct. Even the course I have completed had its own set of professional conducts. This means that I have to meet my NMC and ISMA's professional codes of conduct. The standard is high to ensure (as much as possible) that each member is of a high calibre, and can meet, and continue to uphold the ethics and standards of each organisation. This also means maintaining and continuing educating oneself to keep up to date with all new practises and theories. Since starting in Stress Management, I have organised and ran small stress management sessions. I have also done a number of individual one on one sessions. I am used to speaking to a large number of people, the largest being 250. I am in the process of working out a programme for possible workshops. If you are interested please Email:michellepearson@worldonline.co.uk.
