63: Nurses Overcoming Addiction- Kacie Salas, BSN, RN, NC-BC

63: Nurses Overcoming Addiction- Kacie Salas, BSN, RN, NC-BC Transcript

00:00

Welcome, everyone, to the Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION! podcast. My name is Nicole Vienneau. I am your host, and I’m also a Board Certified Integrative Nurse Coach. And I have the pleasure of welcoming an exciting guest to the podcast today, all the way from Calpine, California, where I guess there’s only 300 people in Calpine, California.

However, the best part about… one of the best parts about being a Nurse Coach is that our reach can extend far and wide. So we’re welcoming Kacie Salas. She is a debriefing facilitator with Debriefing the Front Lines. She also has a private practice.

And her main focus is on helping women with trauma, addiction, and sobriety support. So this is going to be a fascinating and much needed conversation. So I’m very, very happy to welcome Casey Salas.

Kacie Salas  01:01

Thank you, Nicole. I’m so happy to be here. This is very exciting. Thank you.

Nicole Vienneau  01:05

It is exciting. It’s always so wonderful for me to connect with fellow Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION. All graduates from the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy. And so we love to take a little trip down history lane and discover why you became a Nurse.

Kacie Salas  01:27

Thank you. Yeah, I was thinking about that question today. Well, I think about that question often, actually. And, you know, I think that I kind of always wanted to be a Nurse. I’ve always kind of been a caretaker. And I remember in high school—  I must have been, I don’t know, a sophomore, maybe—  I did a program where you could go into the hospital, and actually the hospital that I work at now.

Small community hospital, and I went in and shadowed different Nurses and people around the hospital that did different kinds of jobs. And I was like, I want to be a Nurse. This is it. This is what I want to do. And I actually work at that hospital now in my hometown.

Nicole Vienneau  02:10

That’s really cool. What was it like as a young girl to be shadowing and going to see what’s going on following Nurses around?

Kacie Salas  02:19

It was really fun. And it just seemed exciting. And like I said, I’ve always been a natural caretaker. And it seems sort of, I don’t know, the natural path is to go into Nursing. And I shadowed a Nurse in the ICU. And I feel like I always kind of had wanted to be an ICU Nurse.

It just really kind of hit me home there. And interestingly enough, the Nurse that I shadowed way back when in high school, you know, 20 plus years ago, I actually worked bedside with her in that ICU when I started, when I came to the hospital there, which is pretty wild to think about.

Nicole Vienneau  02:55

So wild to think about. How cool is that though?

Kacie Salas  02:59

Yeah. And I never really imagined that I’d be, you know, living in my little hometown. Not in Calpine. But in Truckee, that’s where I work at the Community Hospital, and you know, serving my community. I never imagined that I would end up back there. But I love serving my community and taking care of, you know, people that I grew up with, people that I know, and just my community in general.

Nicole Vienneau  03:23

So you mentioned intensive care. Tell us a little bit about your journey in where you arrived.

Kacie Salas  03:32

Sure. So I started college in San Francisco. And then I ended up moving to New York City. And I went to Nursing school in New York City, I went to Hunter College in Manhattan. And then I went to Nursing school in Staten Island at Wagner College. And so small time girl, small town girl goes to New York City, which was also quite the experience.

You know, I had to get as far away from home as possible, I thought at the time, and it was a wonderful experience. And very different from, you know, how I grew up and where I lived, you know, to be in one of the biggest cities in United States. So I was there for four years, graduated Nursing school, and I had accepted a job—  I realized I wanted to come home, that I didn’t want to stay in New York.

So I accepted a job near home at a trauma center and as a new grad and went straight into their cardiac ICU and was an open heart surgery trained Nurse taking care of cardiac patients. Yeah, I was there for three years. And then I ended up coming to the hospital that I work at now in my hometown, small community hospital.

Again, a big change from going from a big trauma center to a little tiny 25 bed hospital. So I work… I’ve been at Tahoe Forest hospital for 15 years now. I worked in their ICU for eight years and I am currently now a Break Nurse. I work part time, and I cover breaks in pacu, ICU, med surg, and labor and delivery.

And I know a lot of people don’t have Break Nurses, unless you’re from California. So it is a pretty special thing, a pretty special job. I know a lot of people are grateful for the Break Nurse. And I love it because I’m trained in all departments.

And it was just kind of a nice change from full time ICU, to go and be able to still go into the ICU, but not be there all the time. And be able to gain a bunch of different skills going all over the hospital.

Nicole Vienneau  05:32

Yeah, and it shows your resilience, shows your creativity, shows your ability to put yourself into the position where Nurses are really needing you because Nurses are needing a break. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about that. Because you’re right, a lot of other states have no idea what a Break Nurse is. And it sounds like something that all Nursing facilities should have across the nation.

Kacie Salas  05:58

Yes, so when I first started Nursing, I was in Nevada, and they don’t have Break Nurses or ratios, or any of those things. So when I came to California, about 10 years ago, I think is when they started bringing that in—  ratios, and, you know, state mandates for breaks.

You had to have a break, and you had to have somebody designated to do your break. So the role that I’m in now was a job that was created, like I said, about 10 years ago, and I’ve been doing that now for eight years, I think. And yeah, so I go to all these different units and give the Nurse their break. Another fun fact is I’ve worked night shift my entire career.

So I’m going into my 18th year of Nursing, and I’ve always been a night shift Nurse. I’m one of those wild women that prefers night shift. And, you know, now that I’m a Nurse Coach, looking back on my journey, I essentially kind of have a Nurse Coach role in the hospital too, giving breaks, you know, like, it’s a lot of kind of emotional support, like everybody in the whole hospital, right?

By the time you go to take your break, you’re kind of ready to take your break, or maybe something’s going on. And it’s almost a Nurse Coaching role in the hospital now that I think of it, which is pretty cool.

Nicole Vienneau  07:19

It is very cool. Yeah, very cool. So you had an interesting journey, starting off as a young girl, knowing that you really wanted to help people and then doing some shadowing in the hospital, and then ending up moving across the country. Small girl going to a huge city, Manhattan, oh, my goodness.

And then doing your schooling, and then eventually returning more closer to home, and then eventually coming back to your hometown, meeting up with the Nurse you followed when you were in high school. And then getting this new job as a Break Nurse. And now you’ve brought up Nurse Coaching. So we have to know the story about how you discovered it, what drew you to it, and yeah, let’s start with that.

Kacie Salas  08:10

I have a really fun story about that, too, actually. So in 2020, when the pandemic hit, you know, I was pretty… I had been a Nurse for 14, 15 years. And I, you know, had some burnout at that point. And then the pandemic hit, which was obviously very hard for all of us. And I actually knew nothing about Nurse Coaching at all. And I saw a giveaway on Facebook to win tuition to the program.

And I thought, well, I’m just going to enter it, why not? So I entered this giveaway. And I won. I won the giveaway. And then of course, I played all the tapes in my head—  I don’t have enough time to do this. I have three young children. I’m working, you know, part time. I don’t have time to do this.

And then I thought, you know what, I’m just gonna go for it. And it was honestly the best decision I’ve ever made. It has completely changed the course of my life as a Nurse, as a human. It has really changed me, and I never thought that I would be where I am now in my Nursing career. And it really ignited, you know, a sense of passion and joy, and brought that back into Nursing for me.

Nicole Vienneau  09:31

And it started with a little bit of joy too, because you won! You won something! And at the time, you probably didn’t truly know what you were winning.

Kacie Salas  09:41

I didn’t really, like I looked at it a little bit, and you know, there was… I think I won out of like 2000 people that entered. It was a lot. It was a lot of people that entered it. And so I thought, you know what, I’m just gonna do this.

And you know, I’ve been on my own healing journey for quite a long time, many years, and I’m not new to, you know, self exploration and healing in general, physically, emotionally, all those things. But the Nurse Coaching program, as you know, there’s a lot of self reflection when you first start that program too.

Nicole Vienneau  10:15

Yes, yes. And you mentioned it changed your life, changed the trajectory of. So tell us more about that, how did it change your life? And what were some key things that you recall?

Kacie Salas  10:29

I think the biggest thing is just feeling like I was burnt out, feeling burned out. And I’ve always had a more holistic approach to life. And you know, over the course of, I guess, since having kids, really—  my oldest is nine— I’ve really been more into a holistic approach to life, a more integrative approach to life and healing and wellness and energy, medicine, all of that kind of stuff.

So when I found Nurse Coaching, like I said, I had no idea really what Nurse Coaching was, and then as I went through the program, it really just opened my eyes to this whole new modern world of Nursing, essentially. I mean, I think that’s really what Nurse Coaching is, it’s modern, advanced practice Nursing. That’s what I believe it to be.

Nicole Vienneau  11:17

Yeah, I feel that too. You know, we all go to Nursing school to learn the ways and tools and philosophies and practices of Nursing. And then Nurse Coaching adds a whole other layer to support the foundation of Nursing. And, yeah, I like how you describe that as being a more modern approach.

Yes. So and I also want to just touch back on the decision you had to make. You won something, and then you said, I played the script, you know, the story of oh, I don’t have time, I’ve, you know, so much going on, my kids, all of that. And yet, you still said, you know what, I’m still going to do this. See what this is all about.

Kacie Salas  12:02

Yeah, I think I kind of just took it as a sign from the universe, honestly. You know, here, you won this, go follow through. And I’ve always been very into that, you know, trying to lean into my intuition and trust my gut and trust things as they come to me even though I was kind of questioning, you know, do I have enough time to do this?

What will I do with it once I complete it? I really felt that there was a bigger plan, you know, for me, from the universe, and I went with it. And I think it really brought me back to being a healer. I think that all Nurses are healers. And that’s what we go into Nursing to do, is to be a healer, right?

And through modern medicine, and just the time that I’ve been a Nurse, 18 years, it’s changed so much and, you know, corporate healthcare systems and stuff like that. And it’s kind of taken away that basic healing aspect of Nursing. So I love that in Nurse Coaching you really step into that role of being a healer.

Nicole Vienneau  13:07

Yes, bringing us back to our roots. Yes. So, then you took the whole course, which you know, is an in depth, huge time dedication, and mind dedication, and then went through practicum doing all your practice coaching, graduated, you have your Nurse Coach board certification, you’re board certified. And then tell us what happened after that.

Kacie Salas  13:40

So I had decided, even while I was in the Nurse Coaching program, that I was going to start my own business. I know nothing, I knew nothing about business at all, as most Nurses don’t. And I just went for it anyways, you know, I thought what do I have to lose? I have all these skills, my Nursing background, Nurse Coaching, and I knew I needed a little help in starting my business.

So that’s what I did. I hired a business coach and started my business, my Nurse Coaching business. Going back to you know, when I first started Nursing, I had a series of traumatic events very early on in my Nursing career. My mom and my sister both passed away.

They were both hit by cars within two years of each other and killed. And that was obviously a very transformative time in my life. And that changed my life also. And so I really wanted to focus on working with women that struggle with trauma, anxiety, and also addiction because that was part of my journey too, is after I had lost my mom, my sister, I struggled myself with addiction.

And so I just, I knew that I could help other women with that, and I thought that I could use my Nurse Coaching business to do that. And that’s what’s amazing about Nurse Coaching is there’s so many different ways that you can take it.

And like I said, I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do with it really when I first started. And then as I worked through the program and graduated, I realized that I could, you know, that I was very passionate about helping women that had been through similar experiences as me.

Nicole Vienneau  15:27

Thank you for sharing, sharing that part, that deep part of your journey. And would you like to or we’d love to, we would love to know your mom’s name and your sister’s name to bring them into this.

Kacie Salas  15:43

Thank you. Yeah, my mom’s name was Sally, and my sister’s name was Melissa. And yeah, both of them saw me graduate Nursing school 18 years ago.

Nicole Vienneau  16:02

Well, thank you for bringing them into our podcast.

Kacie Salas  16:05

Thank you.

Nicole Vienneau  16:07

Yes. And so with this, you know, experiencing such deep trauma, coupled with working in an environment that’s also very, potentially very traumatic for many of us, or I shouldn’t say potentially, it is traumatic for all of us.

And then you know, your journey with, I’m going to say, coping from the deep loss of your mom and your sister, and then also working at the same time, likely. So tell us a little bit about that journey, and then how you’re connecting it to Nurse Coaching.

Kacie Salas  16:41

Yeah, so experiencing all that, like I said, I was coping, you know, drinking, and using drugs, and I got sober in 2011 and was sober for five years and had a relapse and then got sober again in 2020, actually, February of 2020, right before the pandemic hit, which was also an act of the universe, honestly.

So yeah, sobriety has been a big part of my journey. And I’m always really honest about that too. Relapse was a part of my journey. And yeah, I started to realize that yes, it was working in a very traumatic environment, and then also experiencing personal trauma too, which, you know, most likely led to the deep burnout that I was having, you know, right before the pandemic hit.

So yeah, Nurse Coaching really brought me back to my roots and brought me back to being what I really envisioned was a healer and helping people the way that I wanted to. So I really use an integrative approach with my clients.

I use EFT tapping—  Emotional Freedom Technique with my clients, that’s been a big tool for myself and for my clients. I use subconscious healing, so I use NLP and hypnosis with my clients also. And those tools have been super transformative in my own life. And then also in my clients life, too.

Nicole Vienneau  18:13

Yeah. So you have very distinct techniques and tools that you were using within your practice. And I know that you also… so you have your practice, your individual practice, and then you also are working with Debriefing the Front Lines.

Kacie Salas  18:28

Yes.

Nicole Vienneau  18:29

What would you like to share about that?

Kacie Salas  18:31

So I think just leaning back into that, you know, following the universe and trusting my intuition and letting things flow to me. I was in my Nurse Coaching cohort, right? One of the Nurses in my cohort said that her… a friend of hers, a previous professor, was starting a nonprofit called Debriefing the Front Lines, and she had connected me with her.

And so we connected and Debriefing the Front Lines is a Nurse led mental health care nonprofit. And we support Nurses by providing psychological first aid and emotional wellness to Nurses that are struggling with cumulative caretaking trauma.

So again, this path was kind of something I didn’t see coming at me at all. You know, when I started my business, I kind of was looking at it as a way to exit the hospital, exit the traditional role of Nursing, and I never thought I would enjoy working with Nurses so much. So that was kind of something that the universe just kind of led me and said, come this way and follow this nudge.

And I ended up working with Debriefing the Front Lines as a debriefing facilitator. And that has brought me so much joy, too, and it has really been just as much of a healing journey as doing the Nurse Coaching program. You know, the work in itself is so healing for me to be able to support my fellow Nurses in that way.

Nicole Vienneau  20:03

I would imagine so. It’s amazing how no one really understands the ins and outs of a day on the job of a Nurse like another Nurse.

Kacie Salas  20:15

Right.

Nicole Vienneau  20:16

We don’t have to explain ourselves so much. Like, you know, there’s so much energy that we have to put out in order for, like an everyday person, you know, with an everyday person, to have them understand what we do, and what we experience and what we witnessed on a daily basis.

So this being, you know, you’re a Nurse and you are supporting other Nurses, the conversations must be fascinating and quick, like, not quick as in speedy, but you’re getting to the heart of the conversation much easier and smoother because you understand what they’re going through.

Kacie Salas  20:53

Absolutely, and after the pandemic, you know, it’s become very clear that a lot of Nurses are struggling with their mental health and from the trauma of the pandemic in itself. And a lot of Nurses are struggling with maybe sobriety or, you know, drinking too much as a coping mechanism.

And not even just Nurses, people in my private practice too that I think that kind of became pretty clear that people were not coping the best. Right? So that’s been a joy too, to support my private clients and my debriefing clients through that journey too—  exploring sobriety, exploring the trauma that they’ve been through, and addiction too.

Nicole Vienneau  21:35

And a safe space in which to do that.

Kacie Salas  21:37

Yeah.

Nicole Vienneau  21:38

Yeah. What are you seeing related to sobriety or use of substance within the healthcare space?

Kacie Salas  21:48

I think that it’s still a pretty taboo subject, you know? We are, as Nurses, we are, you know, held to high standards, not only with the Nursing board, but also just in the public eye, right, as professionals. And I think it’s still kind of taboo to admit, like, hey, I’m drinking too much or using substances or, you know, I’m struggling.

And I think there’s more of us than, you know… I think these conversations, the more we open them up, you start to realize that you’re not alone. Right? And that you can find a safe space to start to explore healing from that.

Nicole Vienneau  22:28

Yeah, yes. And we’re creating these safe spaces in all different kinds of communities to have the conversation. And truly, when you do show up for these, whether you’re a participant or whether you’re a facilitator of them, opening up these avenues for people to contemplate, to self reflect, create self awareness, then we all are healing through that journey.

Kacie Salas  22:55

Yeah, absolutely. And letting go of and, you know, guiding my private clients and debriefing clients through letting go of shame around that, because I think there’s a lot of shame, you know, attached too, if you have a problem drinking or drugs or whatever, and struggling to get sober or if you’ve had a relapse. I think there’s a lot of shame around that.

Nicole Vienneau  23:19

Yeah, there is a lot of shame. Yeah. Like, oh, we shouldn’t… you shouldn’t be doing that. Shoulds. All those shoulds. We’re too shoulded. Yeah, yeah. However, you know, opening up this conversation, and creating the spaces to do so.

Like, for example, I have at my facility, I started healing circles, you know, and each month, we do a healing circle. It’s just for Nurses, gathering together in person, and creating that space so that you can come, and it is a safe space.

As a Nurse Coach, we’re creating these safe containers, some framework around that to support it so that it doesn’t become just a complaining session, you know, it is really directed towards the healing and the conversation surrounding that. So tell us a little bit about how you create those safe spaces for Nurses to come together.

Kacie Salas  24:22

So like I talked about, I use a couple of different tools. I use the Emotional Freedom Technique and NLP and hypnosis. And like I said, I was just blown away once I started Nurse Coaching and my eyes were just opened up to like all the really cool things that Nurses were doing and how you could integrate them into your Nurse Coaching practice.

And I really love the, you know, somatic piece of it and beginning to support your nervous system. And that has been the biggest tool for me, myself, my own healing journey and is why I’m so passionate about bringing that to my clients, is learning to regulate my nervous system, learning to gain new tools to, you know, really create a new baseline, right?

Like a new way that we respond and create new neural pathways and giving my clients new tools to take on whatever’s coming at them. So that’s been my passion is really, you know, kind of leaning into somatic work, nervous system work, subconscious work with my clients.

And it’s just super neat that I get to do it all as a Nurse Coach, you know. Like I said, never imagined that my Nursing career would kind of go in this direction. And it’s awesome.

Nicole Vienneau  25:46

So awesome. You spoke to regulating the nervous system. And I would love to just tap into that a little bit. So I know a lot of Nurses are interested in this kind of work, maybe you don’t know where to begin to learn more tools that they can help their clients with. So how did you discover this? And, you know, just kind of give us a background on that?

Kacie Salas  26:08

Yeah, so for me learning that a lot of the root of my own problems, you know, using alcohol to cope, and even coping just with my… on my trauma healing journey, I started to realize that I really was struggling with my nervous system. That I had spent my whole entire life in this chronic state of fight or flight.

And when I started to learn more about how you can start to rewire those patterns in your brain and in your body, I was just blown away, I was blown away. And as you start to learn these different tools, you really start to change your whole life, right. And that’s what I do with my clients too.

So I… also I worked with another coach that I learned those skills from, the EFT tapping and NLP and hypnosis, and I got certified through her with those skills, and then just brought them into my practice. So it’s… I have a couple of specialty packages with Debriefing the Front Lines. And so I have a EFT tapping package, I have a timeline therapy, NLP package that I do.

And then I also kind of just use it organically if I have a client, both my private clients and debriefing clients, if I have a client that I think they could benefit from one of those tools, I bring it up and say, Hey, would you be opening to trying this? And the answer is either yes or no. And we kind of go from there.

Nicole Vienneau  27:38

Yeah. And it’s just another tool you can pull out and suggest it. And if it doesn’t… if the client doesn’t want to try it then off to another direction. Yeah, yeah. So great. So you mentioned about the shame that we can experience. And I feel like in Nursing, we try to hide a lot of that.

We try to hide ourselves, you know, we have been voted the most trusted and most ethically sound profession for the past like 20 years or something. Right? Ethically sound and most trusted. I mean that’s a high stakes feeling. And here, many of us are coping to numb.

We’re trying to numb some of these intense feelings that we’re experiencing. Because we’ve experienced traumatic things at work. And in life, in our personal lives, too. I mean, those go hand in hand. So when speaking to shame and speaking about that, and uncovering that, what ways do you find help people to acknowledge it and open up to be able to express and talk about shame?

Kacie Salas  28:59

That’s a great question. So I think that really through my work with Debriefing the Front Lines, and like I think language is very powerful, so when I started working with this nonprofit, you know, we focused a lot on cumulative caretaking trauma, which is the repeated exposure to traumatic events in short periods of time, right? And they all start to bleed together and bleed into our personal lives.

And then we can’t differentiate where one is beginning and one is ending, right? An example for me would be experiencing personal trauma at home, you know, losing my mom and sister, then trauma at work, working in a very busy ICU, high acuity ICU, and then it all starts blending together.

And my coping mechanism was, you know, drinking and using. And I think symptoms of cumulative caretaking trauma are shame, guilt, anxiety, grief. Right? And I think that once I started to learn that language, I realized that it had been something I’ve really suffered with my whole life.

And through Nurse Coaching and all the tools that I learned in my Nurse Coaching program, I was able to, you know, start to guide my private clients and my debriefing clients through that process where I think, again, just opening up the conversation, you know?

And making people feel like they’re less alone, whether it’s Nurses or my clients I see at my private practice. They really just want to feel seen, heard and validated. Right? And not feel alone.

Nicole Vienneau  30:34

Yeah, I just was thinking about how California has normalized like, we should be taking a break. Right? So they’re normalizing it, they’re putting it into effect by having Break Nurses. And they put this process into place.

And so really, in essence, Nurse coaches are creating these safe spaces, environments, to normalize talking about shame, talking about grief, talking about loss, talking about suffering. And these are normal experiences that we are feeling. And to be able to talk about them helps us to let go of some of those deep seated feelings that we have, instead of stuffing them down, you know?

Kacie Salas  31:20

Yeah. And that’s why I love doing subconscious work via hypnosis and timeline therapy, is because you can really dive into releasing the shame and guilt and grief at the subconscious level, and start to release it because it’s not serving us, right? And then creating, you know, new narratives, new nervous system responses, new ways to new beliefs, essentially.

Nicole Vienneau  31:47

Yes, new beliefs instead of the same patterns. That… the reel that you were talking about at the beginning. I just went into press play on that reel that I’ve had for years, right?

Kacie Salas  31:58

Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole Vienneau  32:00

Right. And so this work, the work you’re doing really is helping with creating the new neuro pathways so that we can instead choose maybe to pick a different reel instead of the one that’s not serving us.

Kacie Salas  32:14

Yes. And I love it too, because you can really practice this at, you know, at any age. I’ve had, you know, clients, I had one private client that was in her late 70s. And she was really willing to do the work and you know, use the EFT tapping, and we did hypnosis and did all the things.

And she was… I just thought it was so neat that this woman in her late 70s was open to trying something new and creating something new for herself in her 70s. It was amazing.

Nicole Vienneau  32:46

Yes. And never too late.

Kacie Salas  32:49

Never too late. Yeah.

Nicole Vienneau  32:50

Never too late. Yes, everyone has a day one. Sometimes a day one is the best day, because it’s like, whoa, I can change some of these patterns. I can show up for myself in this way.

Kacie Salas  33:06

Yes. And I really love giving my clients, too, the tools, teaching them tools that they can use on their own in their in their daily life to begin or to keep that momentum up. To help them continue to change their own life, empower them to change their own life.

Nicole Vienneau  33:26

Yes. Very important, and of the exposure, right? Many of us have never been, maybe, especially in Nursing, I’ve noticed in my work with Nurses, they’ve never really been exposed to these different healing modalities. And us stepping in and sharing it with them is life changing.

Kacie Salas  33:47

Absolutely.

Nicole Vienneau  33:48

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so I have to ask a little bit about your Instagram account. So for our listeners, you can find Kacie at @whole.soul.recovery. Yes. So and you’re doing some amazing things. I love following your Instagram account. Very inspiring, and very real.

Kacie Salas  34:13

Thank you!

Nicole Vienneau  34:15

Yeah, so how did you get into understanding Instagram and doing that and seeing that as a platform to share your voice?

Kacie Salas  34:22

So that was a learning curve, too.

Nicole Vienneau  34:24

Right?

Kacie Salas  34:26

You know, along with learning the business side of Nurse Coaching and, you know, social media can be a very powerful way to connect with other people, with our peers. And then also it’s social media, but it’s, I think, for Nurse coaches who are looking to, you know, start their business and whatever that might be, it’s free, it’s free marketing. It’s free marketing and it’s up to you.

The way I look at it is you can create whatever you want. I’ve always been just a very raw, real person, that’s just who I am. So, you know, but you can choose how much you share, you know, the ways that you share. I personally, Instagram is my main platform.

I don’t use Facebook much, or what’s the other one? Tick tock? I prefer Instagram. But yeah, I just suggest finding a platform that you like to use. And it’s free marketing. That’s the way I look at it. And it’s fun. And it’s creative for me. So yeah, I do a lot of my marketing on social media.

Nicole Vienneau  35:35

And we get to see you, see you at work, see you in different places, and yeah. And the realities, right? The reality, the good, and the not so good. So, listeners, you gotta follow Kacie. And of course, we’re gonna share your links in our show notes. So they’ll be able to find you there, too.

Kacie Salas  35:55

Great, thank you!

Nicole Vienneau  35:57

Yes. So in our last few moments, we’d love to ask the question, what is on your heart that you would love to share with our listeners today?

Kacie Salas  36:11

Hmm, what is on my heart? Yeah, I think going back to that sense of joy and passion. You know, Nurse Coaches, our careers are a huge part of our life, right? And our identity as a Nurse. And Nurse Coaching has really brought just so much joy back into my professional life. And I’m so grateful for this path and new skills.

And I really feel like I’m living my soul’s purpose with this work. You know, I always knew I wanted to be a Nurse. But Nurse Coaching, really, I feel like this is my soul’s purpose. You know, I really just feel… I feel that deep in my heart that this is what I was meant to do. And I love it.

Nicole Vienneau  37:03

We can tell you love it.

Kacie Salas  37:05

Thank you.

Nicole Vienneau  37:06

Yes. And I love it, too. We all love it. Yeah. So Nurses out there, if you’re thinking, how can I support myself? Maybe it’s a session with Kacie. Right? Maybe it’s talking to one of the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy admissions persons to find out more about Nurse Coaching and how you can go through this program that is transformative, that does support you in different ways.

So definitely have a look. Okay, so now we’re going to ask some fun questions. These can be yes or no questions or they could be “and” questions too. They don’t have to be ORs. All right. So, New York or California?

Kacie Salas  37:54

California.

Nicole Vienneau  37:56

Tell us why.

Kacie Salas  37:57

Probably because my family is all here. And I love the… I live in the mountains, I love the mountains.

Nicole Vienneau  38:03

Yeah, not many mountains in New York.

Kacie Salas  38:08

California is just so versatile. You know, we have the mountains, the ocean, all the things, so.

Nicole Vienneau  38:13

Yes. Okay. How about EFT or hypnosis?

Kacie Salas  38:22

Oh, that’s a hard one. Probably EFT just because it’s a tool that I can use anytime, anywhere. Personally.

Nicole Vienneau  38:31

Oh, yeah, you can do that anywhere. Yeah, yeah. Safe. You wouldn’t want to do hypnosis while you’re driving.

Kacie Salas  38:39

Yeah. No. No you wouldn’t.

Nicole Vienneau  38:45

So now, we would love to know how we find you. So how can we find you, Kacie?

Kacie Salas  38:50

I think the best place is my Instagram. I’ve got all my links in there, at @whole.soul.recovery. And that’s the best way to find me.

Nicole Vienneau  39:01

Okay, so listeners, hook up with Kacie on Instagram, follow her inspiring work that she’s doing with Nurse Coaching and women throughout the United States and Debriefing the Front Lines as well. Yes, thank you so much for joining us here on the Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION! podcast.

Kacie Salas  39:20

Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it.