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Episode 36

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Published on:

8th Mar 2021

036: LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Healthcare with Shannon Whittington

According to research, there are over 9 million gay people and 1.5 million trans people in America. However, the average healthcare professional in the US receives about 2 hours of LGBTQ+ education only.  It is high time that healthcare providers understand their patients better.  In this episode, we speak with Shannon Whittington, award-winning & certified LGBTQ+ health expert on the importance of inclusion in the workplace and in healthcare. We delve in to what it’s like for LGBTQ+ people to live in a hetero-normative world and how they handle all the prejudices in families, communities, companies, and the healthcare system.  LGBTQ+ people have their own health disparities. It’s time to start learning about them and how healthcare professionals can provide patient-centered care without stigmatization, discrimination, or demoralization.   Discrimination in health care settings endangers LGBTQ+ people’s lives. This is why LGBTQ+ education and affirming LGBTQ+ people and their needs is key to building inclusion. TOPICS WE DISCUSSED INCLUDE: LGBTQ+ have their own disparities (4:29) 28% of trans-people are rejected by healthcare professionals (5:33) LGBTQ+ community being afraid of discrimination (9:02) Legalization of same-sex marriage (9:40) Healthcare professionals give so much of themselves to their patients (10:45) Doing things that fill you up (11:50) Importance of quality sleep (12:00) It’s okay to do nothing (13:10) Celebrate you (15:40) Importance of self-care for healthcare providers (21:20) Being in a constant state of learning (26:00) Never stop learning (27:07) Big, audacious goal (28:40) Nurses’ mental health is suffering (30:00) Being client and patient-centered (32:14) Nurses are burning out (33:05) It is normal to be scared of the unknown (35:52) The importance of hydration (37:10) Non-binary people (39:00) Pronouns are so important (39:40) Caring for the LGBTQ+ community (41:52) Normalizing pronouns (40:19) No right or wrong answer when choosing your pronouns (42:59) CONNECT WITH SHANNON WHITTINGTON whittingtonconsulting.com Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn Subscribe to Shannon’s YouTube Channel CONNECT WITH ELAINA MULLERY HappyNurse.com.au Connect with me on Instagram and Facebook Connect with me on LinkedIn Subscribe to my Youtube channel
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About the Podcast

The Happy Nurse
Winner — APAC Insider Australian Enterprise Awards 2024 | Most Empowering Self Care Provider for Nurses. Burnout, compassion fatigue, and stress are rising in healthcare. This podcast exists to change that — one practical, honest conversation at a time.
Nurses are the backbone of the health system — always there to care for a stranger as if they were one of their own, forsaking precious moments with their own families to ensure others' loved ones are in good hands.
Compassion fatigue, stress, and burnout are rising across healthcare. Self care has never been more important — or more overlooked.
Elaina Mullery McDonald RN has 25 years of clinical nursing experience, a Postgraduate Certificate in Psychology, and a Master of Business Psychology in progress. She is a certified NLP Practitioner, hypnotherapist, and mindfulness practitioner — and the founder and host of The Happy Nurse podcast. Having experienced burnout firsthand, she is passionate about equipping nurses with practical, evidence-informed strategies to protect their wellbeing and sustain the career they worked so hard for.

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Elaina Mullery


Elaina Mullery RN has spent 25 years working across some of nursing's most demanding clinical environments — orthopaedic trauma, operating theatre, endoscopy, recovery, and day surgery. She knows firsthand what it feels like to run on empty, and it's that lived experience of burnout that drives everything she does.
Elaina holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Psychology and is completing a Master of Business Psychology at Edith Cowan University. She is a certified NLP Practitioner, hypnotherapist, and mindfulness practitioner, and has developed the 3R Framework — an original evidence-based methodology for building sustainable human performance at individual, team, and organisational level.
Through The Happy Nurse podcast, her online courses, and her white paper No Margin for Error, Elaina is on a mission to change the way healthcare treats its most valuable resource — the people who show up every day to care for others.