I have been in the healthcare field since 1979 and wanted to be a nurse since I first saw nurses all in white on Pill Hill in Oakland, CA. I began as a certified nurse assistant out of high school in 1980. I shortly thereafter joined the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. I returned to school here in Oakland, California, in 1986, obtaining my Associates Degree in Nursing in 1992, becoming licensed in March of 1993. I accepted a position at a free-standing psychiatric facility in San Diego and instantly I knew that psychiatric nursing was the specialty I wanted to develop my career in. I have held positions since in various mental health settings including prisons and jails-all in psychiatric units or programs within these settings. I have held positions as a staff nurse, nursing supervisor, house supervisor, and now Clinical Nurse Educator III at Herrick Behavioral Health in Berkeley, California. I returned to academia in 2003 and finished my Masters in Nursing with an emphasis on Nursing Education in 2008 and later a Master's of Psychology, graduating in 2011. I recently sat for the ANCC's Psychiatric Mental Health Board Certification Exam and passed in July 2025. I am dedicated to the patients we care for as an advocate, teacher, role model, and nurse. In the future it is my hopes to obtain my Doctorate in Nursing Practice and become published.