Self Care for Nurses: Small Doses for Wellness

Natalie B. May, PhD, transitioned to the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing after 30 years as Associate Professor of Research in the Division of General Medicine in the UVA School of Medicine. She is a founding member of the UVA Center for Appreciative Practice. Certified as an Appreciative Inquiry facilitator and lead author of Appreciative Inquiryin Healthcare, she enjoys developing appreciative inquiry projects and teaching appreciative practice workshops at her home institution and beyond. She is an experienced qualitative researcher, and her current work focuses on mattering in medicine and the wisdom of nurse managers. She is co-author of Choosing Wisdom: The Path Through Adversity, and co-producer of a PBS film, Choosing Wisdom. She is now the project manager for an HRSA-funded training grant, Wisdom and Wellbeing Peer Support Training, for healthcare workers and first responders at UVA and in Central Virginia. She earned a BA in economics and urban studies from Wellesley College, an MA in creative writing from Boston University, and her PhD in educational research from the University of Virginia Curry School of Education.May lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, Jim. Her most consistent and effective self-care practices are modern quilting and walking near water, especially the James River and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN, FAAN, began his professional career as a performing artist and clown. As a clown, he worked for two organizations that changed his life. The first, the Big Apple Circus, employed him to perform as a clown doctor at Boston Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, and Hasbro Children's Hospital. Concurrently, he volunteered for Clowns Without Borders (CWB), performing in various refugee camps, war zones, and other global zones of crisis. He later served as Executive Director of CWB. It was in pediatric hospitals and refugee camps where he witnessed and began to learn about the true meaning of resilience and self care. This performance work inspired him to pursue a career in nursing, and so Cunningham completed a second-degree nursing program at the University of Virginia. He became an emergencytrauma nurse and worked clinically in Charlottesville, Virginia;Washington, DC; and New York City. It was during his time in New York City that he completed his doctoral degree in public health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Cunningham is the former Director of the Compassionate Care Initiative at the University of Virginia, where he had the opportunity to work closely with Drs. Fontaine and May as this book came to fruition. Hecurrently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and serves as the Co-Chief Well-Being Officer for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University. He also holds a joint appointment as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Cunningham began his academic journey receiving his BA in English from the College of William and Mary in 2000. For self care, he is an avid runner and wanna-be gardener. He loves any chance he can get to swim in the ocean or meditate as the sun rises.

Dorrie K. Fontaine, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Dean Emerita at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing, where she served as dean for 11 years until 2019. A champion of creating healthy work environments in clinical and academic settings, she is a Past-President of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. In 2009 she created the Compassionate Care Initiative at UVA, which has grown to be a guiding force in transforming the culture of the school with a focus on fostering human flourishing and resilience for students, faculty, and staff. A noted author of critical care texts, a leadership book, and multiple papers and presentations on creating healthy work environments through compassionate care, Fontaine credits a retreat at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe in spring 2009 with the Abbot, Roshi Joan Halifax, for setting her on the path of mindfulness, meditation, and a renewed focus on self care. She attended Villanova University and the University of Maryland and received her PhD from The Catholic University of America. Her four-decade career of teaching and academic leadership includes positions at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and the University of California, San Francisco. Fontaine lives in Washington, DC, and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her husband, Barry.