Eastern State Hospital/Central Kentucky Recovery Center (ESH/CKRC) holds Magnet designation. This is the first time ESH/CKRC has received this honor. ESH is also the first state psychiatric facility in the country to receive this honor. ESH is managed by UK HealthCare who received Magnet re-designation at the same time. Magnet status is a prestigious designation awarded to hospitals by American Nurses Credentialing Center, an affiliate of the American Nurses Association.
Congratulations to Amani Kappi, PhD, MSN, RN, BSN BH WELL Project Assistant, for graduating from the UK College of Nursing with a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing.
The University of Kentucky Public Relations and Strategic Communications Office provides a weekly health column available for use and reprint by news media. This week's column is by Lee Anne Walmsley, Ph.D., an assistant professor in UK’s College of Nursing and research team member of Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning (BH WELL). She serves as the chair of the Work-Life and Student Wellness Council.
Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning (BH WELL) research team member Madelyn “Mady” Strong, BSN, RN, was recently awarded UK HealthCare’s Pam Branson Award for her research on new nurses and COVID-19.
Strong, a 2019 graduate from the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, presented her study, “Being a New Graduate Nurse in the Middle of A Pandemic: An Exploratory Analysis Of the Effects of COVID-19” during UK HealthCare’s Annual Nursing Research Papers Day.
Before receiving both her BS and Ph.D. in Nursing, Dr. Stephanie Kehler earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering. From 2014-2015, Dr. Kehler worked as an RN in the Intensive Care Unit at Good Samaritan Hospital, Lexington, where she provided care to critically ill adult patients. She completed her Ph.D. at UK in 2017.
Lella Still is a Doctorate of Social Work student in the Work Learning Program doctoral cohort and is Director of Social Work at Eastern State Hospital. As part of her studies, she is working on a research initiative titled Caring Contacts which aims to enhance patient transitions to outpatient community mental health centers.
What is the relationship between the experience of trauma and substance use among healthcare workers? describes types of healthcare workers who encountered trauma and discusses the connection between trauma and substance use risk.
Congratulations to Zim Okoli Ph.D., MPH, MSN, PMHNP-BC, APRN, NCTTP, FAAN for being selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. This milestone accomplishment follows years of evidence-based practice and research to improve access and care for individuals living with mental and behavioral health challenges. Dr. Okoli is also an expert in tailored tobacco dependence treatment for the behavioral health population.
Amani Kappi is a PhD candidate at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing (UK CON) with an expected graduation date of December 2021. Her research focus is to promote parental awareness about childhood behavioral and mental health illnesses such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. While pursuing her master’s degree, Amani worked in the pediatric neurodevelopmental unit where she saw numerous parents who required assistance with their children who were receiving late-diagnoses with ADHD, anxiety, and other mental illnesses.
Ohoud Alosais is a PhD student at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing (UK CON) with an expected graduation date of December 2022. Ohoud chose to come to UK because it is one of the top research universities in the US. She found that many UK CON faculty had funded research projects in which students are encouraged to participate. She chose UK so that she could gain research experience, learn from the faculty, and have guidance for her path in academia. The director of the UK CON Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning (BH WELL) research team, Dr.
Sarret Seng received her BSN from the University of Kentucky College of Nursing (UK CON) in 2019. During her undergraduate career, she worked for the UK CON Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning (BH WELL) research team and as a peer tutor for the Work Learning Program (WLP), an academic-practice partnership between UK CON, UK HealthCare, Eastern State Hospital, and BH WELL. Within and beyond this work, Sarret observed research projects of nursing faculty members who seemed like family.
Bassema Abu-Farsakh is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing with an expected graduation date of December 2022. Her research interests include Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), nicotine dependence, and depression.
Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning (BH WELL) executive director and University of Kentucky College of Nursing professor Zim Okoli PhD, MPH, PMHNP-BC, APRN, NCTTP has been selected as president-elect for the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA).
Meet the art director for the BH WELL comics, David Bryan Blondell! He comes to us with many years of experience creating Fine Art action sports portraits for the NBA’s Orlando Magic and UK athletics, as well as providing illustrations, caricatures, computer graphics, and directing initiatives for several Orlando Ad Agencies. For many years, he further combined all these skill-sets with writing, editing and serving as Publisher for the PGA TOUR’s regional golf magazine in Central Florida.
Assistant Professor Lee Anne Walmsley, Ph.D., Eds, MSN, RN, a BH WELL team member and chair of the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Nursing’s Bringing Action Right Now to Mental Health and Wellness (BARN) council, supported the production of a dinner theatre promoting mental health needs of farmers. The pilot Farmer’s Dinner Theatre was a collaboration between BARN and the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Students from the Warren and Logan County school districts performed in the production hosted at the Logan County Extension office.
Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning (BH WELL) honors the life of Dr. Peggy El-Mallakh, an inaugural BH WELL faculty member, who devoted her professional career to psychiatric-mental health nursing research and teaching.
Congratulations to Hunter McKenzie, BH WELL Project Assistant, for graduating with a BA in Architecture! Hunter began work with BH WELL his sophomore year and has continued with the team through graduation. He says he was drawn to work for BH WELL because of the great people and the opportunity to make a difference. As a project assistant, Hunter assisted with graphic design, web development, survey development and data collection.
Dorothy “Dotty” K. Berryman is the artist for BH WELL’s The Dimensions comic book series. She creates each page by hand from rough sketch to inking and coloring! Berryman says her niche has been art as long as she can remember. Art is her form of self-care-- the process of turning a visual in her mind into something readers can see and touch is therapeutic!
