LAUSR

Mental health is foundational to whole health! (American Psychiatric Nurses Association [APNA], 2020; McLoughin, 2016). Without such a key perspective, we are disadvantaged in our efforts to prevent mental health disorders and support recovery while navigating the complex social determinants of health affecting our patients, their families, their communities, and even our own workforce. Indeed, to advance who we are and what we do as psychiatric–mental health nurses, these social determinants of health must be at the fore as we consider our future. Decades of psychiatric-mental health nursing scholarship has brought to light some key pillars that support both our science and practice in addressing challenges inherent in social determinants of mental health. These pillars or “IDEAS” to advance whole health are Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and de-Stigmatizing of mental health disorders. I have chosen to focus on these novel IDEAS and how they help move whole health and our profession forward during my year as APNA President. I look forward to exploring these concepts with you through many arenas, including in this column, during the APNA Annual Conference Call for Abstracts (opening in January!) and at the APNA 37th Annual Conference this coming October 4 to 7 in Orlando, Florida. Moving to the United States in 1995 required that I navigate a field of changing identities. As a nursing student in a new country, I began to experience situations that shaped my burgeoning professional identity. For instance, as one of the first male African American nursing students to graduate from my program, encountering racism, discrimination, and prejudice increased my awareness of structural processes impeding health care delivery and engagement. Certainly, I resolved to pursue psychiatric-mental health nursing in response to the profound calling to serve vulnerable populations. Yet, I am certain that my decision was reinforced because I tended to “see” more nurses that “looked like me” and were tolerant, if not always welcoming, of variations among people. Perhaps such experiences resonate with you? The recent APNA (2022) psychiatric-mental health nursing workforce report provides us with baseline data on ethnocultural representation, shining a light on where we can build on success and in which areas we need to progress. As psychiatric-mental health nurses, we are adept at determining solutions to challenges, not just focusing on the challenges themselves. Thus, I propose that a lack of diversity is not the problem that causes discrepancies we observe in mental health care utilization, access, and outcomes. Rather, diversifying the workforce while systematically combating structural racism is a critical solution for addressing disparities in health care utilization, access, and outcomes. The same could be said for Inclusivity, Equity, Access, and de-Stigmatizing of mental illness: these are critical solutions for advancing whole health! In my Board of Directors columns this year, I plan to highlight how these novel yet fundamental IDEAS can support the science and practice of psychiatric-mental health nursing. In this first column, it is worth orienting the reader to these IDEAS as they relate to psychiatricmental health nursing.