The Restoring Nurses Framework

If you follow me on TikTok, are part of our private Facebook Group, or have spent much time on this site, then you probably have some idea as to what we are about. Still, you may not have heard about the Restoring Nurses Framework. I thought I’d take some time to remind you what Restoring Nurses is all about and to introduce you to the Restoring Nurses Framework.

Who am I?

I think it might be valuable to start at the beginning. So, let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Matt Norman. I am a husband to my high school sweetheart, Kimberly, and father to our two amazing kids, Trey and Jayden. I have been a nurse since 2000 and have been a pastor for much of that time.

I started in healthcare in 1996 as a phlebotomist. After a year of doing that I transferred to the ED as a tech, having gotten certified as an EMT in 1994. After graduating from nursing school I became a staff nurse in that same ED. After a couple of years, I started doing backup charge and then became a full-time charge nurse a little later. in 2006 I entered informatics as the system admin for the new EMR we were implementing in that ED.

In 2010 I went back to the bedside, in the ED, where I stayed until 2013. I then spent a year in Interventional Radiology before moving out of state to work in full-time ministry for a year. In 2015 I returned to that ED and back to the bedside where I stayed until late 2016. At that time I left the hospital to work for 3 years in an outpatient oncology infusion center, which I loved.

While at the cancer center I began to pursue my BSN and MSN. In 2019 I had an opportunity to enter education at a local hospital. My MSN was focused on nursing education, so this was perfect. I stayed there until 2022 when I left to become a nursing professor, which is what I still do full-time.

Where Did Restoring Nurses Come From?

Throughout my career, I have been consistently impressed with nurses’ ability to care for other people. For most of this doesn’t stop when we leave work. When not at work we are caring for our family and friends, and often even serving within our communities.

However, that caring stops when it comes to caring for ourselves.

Nearly every nurse I know does a terrible job of caring for themselves. Sure, some of them are almost obsessive about physical health but struggle with mental health. Others take great care to tend to their mental health but are overweight and out of shape. Still, others may do well with both of these, but have relationships that are falling apart.

As I pursued my master’s degree I decided that I wanted to begin to do something about this. This started with my master’s capstone project where I created a course designed to teach nurses how to care for themselves. This was a fictitious course, that would never see an actual classroom, but the research and work I did were very real.

That work didn’t stop after graduating. Rather, those thoughts continued to fester in my mind. Working in the hospital I continued to see nurses pouring everything they had into caring for others and ignoring themselves. While in that job, I used my position and influence to try to mentor and encourage some nurses to take better care of themselves. That kinda satisfied this need to help nurses for a while, but it wasn’t enough.

So, when I left the hospital to begin my academic career, I knew it was time to jump into the next phase of helping nurses take better care of themselves. I knew that it was time to take it to the next level.

That’s why I started Restoring Nurses?

Why Restoring Nurses?

So, why did I call it restoring nurses? Well, if I’m completely honest, part of it came from a friend of mine who has a ministry called Restoring Leaders where he works to help ministry leaders overcome and prevent burnout. I love the work that he is doing over there and it matched so well with what I wanted to do with nurses. So, Restoring Nurses seemed like a good idea. Don’t worry, I got his blessing to steal his name. LOL

There was more to it than that. You see, I’m a big car guy. I love just about anything with wheels. I love tinkering with them, repairing them, driving them, and looking at them. Heck, I even enjoy washing them.

I’ve always been amazed by the process of restoring old cars. Someone who knows what their doing can take a car that looks destined only for the junkyard and turn it back into a thing of beauty. These cars can be made to look like new and often function even better than new. That’s what I want for nurses.

Ok, I’m not saying that nurses are like rusty old cars. However, through years of neglect from our employers and ourselves, many nurses are on the verge of leaving the profession. Many already have. I truly believe that if we can equip nurses to take better care of themselves, encourage them to do it, and empower them to get started then we can not just keep them in nursing, but get them to function as well as, or even better than, new.

My goal over the next few years is to lead 1000 nurses through the Restoring Nurses Framework and to see them not just learn how to take better care of themselves, but transform their lives by DOING IT!

What is the Restoring Nurses Framework?

When I ask people about self-care I usually get some version of what I call the 3 Bs, beaches, booze, and bubble bath. Each of them represents a different type of activity that people associate with self-care.

Beaches:

I’m not gonna lie. Beaches are one of my favorite places for self-care. I can spend an entire week sitting on the balcony overlooking the beach, listening to the waves crash and feeling them take my stress far out to sea as they wash back out. In the 3 Bs, beaches represent some sort of getaway. For some, this is going to the beach. For others, it may be going to the mountains. It can be cruising, camping, or hunting. The exact form the getaway takes is not important.

Booze:

While this one may actually include alcoholic beverages, it doesn’t have to. What it’s really about is some sort of leisure activity. This can be out-drinking with friends. This can be a dinner out with family. This can be a monthly game night. Again, the specifics don’t matter, this one just represents some leisure activity designed to let off some steam and set aside life’s stresses for a time.

Bubble Bath:

This one represents some sort of personal indulgence. This may be a bubble bath and a glass of wine for some. It may be a glass of whiskey and a fire in the backyard. It may be a trip to the spa. It may be a massage. It may be visiting the salon. As with the other two, the exact activity doesn’t matter. Any indulgence that one does to kinda refill your cup falls into this one.

The truth is that none of the 3 Bs are bad. All of the activities listed in them could be part of a quality self-care plan. However, none of them alone covers all that self-care really is. In fact, even if you include activities from each of these you will still not adequately cover your self-care needs.

That’s where the Restoring Nurses Framework comes in.

The Restoring Nurses Framework takes nurses through a system where they will learn what self-care means. From there they will spend some time preparing their mind for a fresh self-care journey. Next, it helps nurses to identify their most pressing self-care needs in each of the 5 Domains of Self Care and to identify short-term goals for tending to those needs.

Once a nurse has gone through this initial process, we help the nurse periodically evaluate where they are with each of the 5 Domains of Self Care and to set new goals based on where they are at that time. This process allows the nurse to build a lifelong plan for caring for themselves.

Within the Restoring Nurses Community members get full access to all components of the Restoring Nurses Framework. This includes a growing library of courses. It also includes a variety of other materials such as checklists, assessments, and other tools designed to help nurses progress through the framework.

Beyond the Framework

The Restoring Nurses Framework is just the first piece of the puzzle. You see all the information in the world will not make a person healthier. As nurses, we have all taken care of patients who knew exactly what they needed to do to get better, but they weren’t doing it. They could confidently outline exactly what they should be doing, yet that knowledge, by itself, got them no closer to health.

The Restoring Nurses Framework can give nurses the information they need to take better care of themselves, but it can’t make them do it. Heck, there’s really nothing we can to do MAKE nurses do what the Restoring Nurses Framework outlines. However, what we can do is offer encouragement and accountability in the form of community.

There is something powerful about journeying together with others towards a similar goal. Within the Restoring Nurses Community this happens in the form of, well, community. Members have access to forums where they can read past posts from other members as well as Restoring Nurses admins. In addition, members can ask their own questions, share lessons they have learned, share their wins, and encourage other members along their journeys.

Let’s face it, sometimes we need accountability even more than encouragement. Members in the Restoring Nurses Community can offer that for one another as well. All while maintaining a safe place to share our struggles as we all work our way through the framework.

One last thing the Restoring Nurses Community offers is coaching. This happens in a variety of ways. Regular biweekly, member-only zoom calls provide a chance for all members to ask me questions and to learn from the questions others are asking. For anyone wanting to go just that extra step further, members can also opt for one-on-one or small group coaching.

Get started

If are ready to start taking better care of yourself, then the Restoring Nurses Framework can help and the Restoring Nurses Community is the best place to access all that the Framework has to offer.