Detroit area Nurses Inspire Nurses support group takes off nationwide
(FOX 2) - All of them are caretakers, and now taking care of each other.
The nurses offer encouraging words and coffee talk in a monthly meeting like a support group. They call it Nurses Inspire Nurses.
"To realize you've changed the course of someone's life, like what greater gift is there than that - or to let them know they're not alone," said Cat Golden, who's the founder of the group.
You might think she is talking about her patients. That's what nurses do, after all, provide care and comfort to those in need. But in this case - those who may be in need - are her fellow nurses.
"We get enjoyment from taking care of other people, obviously (it is) why we entered the profession," Golden said. "But then our own care gets put to the wayside."
Last year she noticed her fellow nurses were stressed out, tired and in need of some support. She also noticed there was no support group for nurses, so she started her own support group, hosting monthly coffee talks and a nurses' party - spreading her message: Nurses Inspire Nurses.
"I slapped Nurses Inspire Nurses on a T-shirt not thinking anything of it," she said. "I thought I'll just sell these at my event. Everybody was messaging me that this is so cool."
Now she's filling thousands of orders for those T-shirts and sharing her support group through social media. The group has 20,000 followers on Instagram. Golden is reaching people nationwide, and beyond.
"I wanted to empower people like, 'Hey you can do this where you live - you don't actually need me,' it's not about Cat," she said. "It's about nurses helping each other."
Nurses like Megan Sturgis, who found Cat and her message on Instagram, could instantly relate.
After all, nurses deal with life and death, worry about their patients constantly and work crazy schedules. Offering one another support has made all the difference.
"In the past year I feel like I've transformed because of having the support of the community," she said. "The coffee talks, I go to those as much as I can, so I feel like that really has empowered me to want to be better version of myself outside of my job so that I can better give back when I’m there."
That's what it's all about, after all, sharing stories and supporting each other.
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"No matter how long you've been a nurse - everyone kind of relates," she said. "We've all had the same experiences we all have the same fears and it's been cool once you start verbalizing that - we have so much more in common than we think."