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Walking into HR can feel like stepping into the unknown. For many nurses, it is a place of fear, frustration, and unanswered questions. What does HR really do? How much power do they actually have? And how can nurses really get what they need in those conversations?

In this episode of The Ritual Nurse Podcast, Riva sits down with her friend Brynnen, an HR professional who shares what it looks like from the other side of the door. Together, they break down myths, explore when to bring issues forward, and talk about how to navigate the power dynamics that can leave nurses feeling powerless. This episode is the real life highlights of how the skills in our last episode are so vital to protecting your peace and protecting your space.

Brynnen is not only an experienced HR professional but also a BookTok and Bookstagram favorite, known for her thoughtful reviews and online presence at @librarybrynn. She is just beginning to bring her voice to TikTok, and this conversation shows exactly why her perspective resonates. She's real, honest, funny, and doesn't BS.

This conversation goes deeper than policy. Brynnen brings honesty, humanity, and insight into how HR works, what nurses should know before filing a complaint, and how to walk into meetings with confidence and clarity. To close, she leads our Coffee, Crystals, and Divination segment with a live card pull, blending professional truth with ritual wisdom.

If you have HR questions... go smash that fan mail link at the top of the show notes and send em in!!! It's totally anonymous, and you can include (or not bestie) whatever details you feel like. Brynnen will be back for a part two later in the season and would love to answer questions on our socials and in her next episode!

In this episode you will learn:

• What HR can and cannot do in response to complaints
• When it is appropriate to involve HR and what documentation to bring
• How to protect yourself in HR conversations with clarity and boundaries
• Why understanding HR’s pressures makes the process less intimidating

Resources and Links

• Blog post with full references: The Culture Cure
• Shop Ritual Nurse tools and downloads: TCTH.org
• Connect with Riva and The Code Team: hello@ritualnurse.com
• Connect with Brynnen: @librarybrynn (all the BookTok/Bookstagram goodness)
  
  

Support the show

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

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Nursing culture has a dark side: bullying, incivility, and lateral violence. In this episode of The Ritual Nurse, Riva dives straight into the heart of toxic workplace culture and its devastating impact on nurses’ mental health, resilience, and retention. This conversation isn’t about “having thicker skin” It’s about calling out the mean girl culture that’s been allowed to fester for too long. WE'RE DONE.

Riva introduces three powerful tools from the RISE curriculum that form the Culture Cure Toolkit:

• PEACE – a step-by-step communication skill for resolving conflict without escalating.
• CALM – a de-escalation skill to center yourself and move with intention.
• ROLE CLARITY – a grounding skill that anchors you back into your professional boundaries and keeps toxic systems from draining you dry.

Together, these skills create armor, grounding, and a clear voice for nurses navigating hostile environments. Paired with evidence-based research, this episode dismantles toxic stereotypes and empowers nurses with practical strategies for survival and growth.

In the Coffee, Crystals, & Divination segment, we explore fall rituals, savor black coffee simplicity, discover Garnet as the crystal of the week, and receive guidance from the Ace of Swords and the Lovers.

This is your toolkit for saying goodbye to incivility and hello to thriving in your practice. The mean girl culture is out. Advocacy and resilience are in. #nursefirst

Support the show

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

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Two of my closest friends and healthcare veterans join me to explore how our decade-long friendship has kept us sane through chaos, unending workloads, and the pandemic's darkest days.

• Why healthcare friendships are survival gear; self care lifelines OUTSIDE of work
• How our friendship began with an unexpected spider encounter and a well-placed slap
• Weathering the pandemic in different healthcare roles while maintaining our connections
• The isolating effects on healthcare professionals during COVID and how our friendship helped us cope
• Using the CALM skill (Center, Assess, Level, Maintain) for effective healthcare communication
• Sharing ridiculous hospital stories including the infamous "decomp plus" patient encounter
• Finding balance through shared interests outside healthcare like gaming and nerd culture
• Crystal prescriptions for emotional balance: Morganite, Howlite, and Turquoise
• Tarot guidance on authenticity, patience and managing healthcare transitions

Tag your anchor crew this week. Send them this episode and tell them why they're your people. If you don't have one yet, maybe this is your sign to start building that circle.

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

TXT us your feedback!! <3 your fayce!

What's This Episode About?

Riva is BACK and she's not playing around. In this raw, powerful Season 2 premiere, she gets real about the moment everything changed: a workplace injury during a code blue in 2021 that forced her to face the trauma she'd been studying but ignoring in herself.

This isn't just another "self-care" conversation. This is the birth of something revolutionary: the RISE Theory of Nursing. A trauma-informed, science-backed framework that's about to flip the script on how we think about nurse mental health. And yes, she literally reads you sections from the actual curriculum because she's THAT serious about this.

What You'll Hear:

The Origin Story (0:00-14:45)
The pandemic code that broke everything open, the therapist she didn't want to see, and the moment Riva realized her doctoral research had her name written all over it. Plus, why Season 2 is called "RISE First" and what that means for nurses who've been last on every list for way too long.

The Science Behind the Magic (14:45-22:00)
Riva goes full professor mode (okay, the sassy version) and reads directly from the RISE curriculum. You'll learn about the four pillars (Resilience, Insight, Strength, Empowerment), the six skill-building categories, and why this isn't some fluffy wellness program but actual evidence-based intervention for nurse mental health.

Dance Break Time (22:00-23:00) YOU KNOW IT
Because your body isn't a machine and you don't need to earn rest. Shake it out for a minute.

Your Nervous System Needs You (23:00-33:00)
Ever finish a 12-hour shift and realize you didn't pee or breathe properly the entire time? That's your nervous system in survival mode. Riva breaks down why nurses live in "sympathetic override" and teaches you the B.O.D.Y. technique: a 30-second somatic skill you can use anywhere to come back home to yourself.

Coffee, Crystals & Divination (33:00-37:00)
The favorite segment returns with a special guest appearance by Mr. Ritual Nurse himself! This week's drink is a spiced mango sorbet situation that sounds absolutely divine, plus crystal prescriptions and card pulls to anchor your week.

The Call to Action (37:00-39:00)
This is just the beginning. Share this episode. Tag a nurse. Put it in a breakroom. Let's flood the system with something stronger than burnout: hope.

Resources & Good Stuff:

• Shop the aesthetic self-care goods: https://bit.ly/RitualNurse
• Free downloads: https://www.tcth.org
• Instagram: @theritualnurse
• Email: hello@ritualnurse.com

The Bottom Line: This episode marks a shift. Nurses are the patients now, and we're done surviving in silence. The RISE curriculum is coming this fall, and it's going to change everything. Screenshot this. Share it with your work bestie. Make space for healing.

Together, we RISE.

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

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This is your wrap-up report. Your sacred shift sign-out. Your permission to exhale.

In this emotional, powerful, and heart-filled finale of Season One, host Riva reflects on the journey we’ve taken together through trauma-informed healing, skill-building, and ritual creation. This season wasn’t just a podcast. It was a guided process for learning how to regulate, recover, and reconnect with ourselves, designed specifically for nurses.

Riva walks us through the key DBT-inspired nursing skills we’ve explored throughout the season, including Code Blue to Code You, IV PUSH, T.R.A.U.M.A. - C.A.R.E., and The LIST. Each skill is recapped with clarity and purpose, reminding us how and why we use them.

She also shares her personal story of how this work began during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a front-line nurse, student, and researcher, Riva witnessed firsthand the mental health crisis unfolding among nurses and knew that something had to change. Her commitment to creating evidence-based, real, and ritual-infused healing practices is what built this podcast, and what will carry it forward.

Plus, stay tuned for what’s coming in Season Two:

• New DBT-inspired skills and deeper trauma recovery work
• Guest episodes featuring nurses, therapists, and healers
• The official launch of the R.I.S.E. curriculum
• Exclusive access to The Ritual Nurse Collective for private community learning
• All-new sticker merch and free gift offers for listener stories

This isn’t just a podcast. This is practice. This is science. This is sacred.

Want to receive a free sticker pack?
Send Riva your story: how the podcast or any episode helped you, your story... and she’ll mail you a full set of our new waterproof stickers, made for nurses who wear their truth loud and proud. You can also request a private use promo code if you prefer not to share your address via a message.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Code Blue to Code You
• IV PUSH
• C.A.R.E.
• T.R.A.U.M.A. - C.A.R.E.
• S.T.E.P.
• The LIST: A Nurse’s Survival Task Organizer
• R.I.S.E. Curriculum (launching Fall 2025)
• The Ritual Nurse Collective (by invitation only)

Support the show:
If this podcast has helped you, please consider leaving a review. It helps the show reach more nurses and healers who need it.

Website: https://bit.ly/RitualNurse
Shop: https://bit.ly/RitualNurse
Email: hello@ritualnurse.com
Follow: @ritualnurse on tiktok and @the_Code_Team on IG.

Support the show

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

TXT us your feedback!! <3 your fayce!

The Four Agreements of Nursing —

This week, Riva dives into a deceptively simple book with a surprisingly deep message for nurses everywhere: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

But this isn’t a book club. It’s a reckoning.

Because when nurses are expected to carry entire systems on their backs, absorb everyone’s trauma, and do it all with a charting pen in hand… how the hell do we stay whole?

Turns out, The Four Agreements might be the answer.

In this episode, we explore how each of the Four Agreements translates directly into the real-life mess and magic of nursing:

• What it really means to be impeccable with your practice
• How learning not to take things personally can save your sanity (and maybe your job)
• Why assumptions kill - in life, and at the bedside
• And how giving your sustainable best is a radical act of self-preservation

Riva shares personal stories, hard-won wisdom, and a science-backed breakdown of why these principles aren’t just spiritual fluff they’re neuroprotective, trauma-informed, and resilience-building tools every nurse deserves.

Then, in our Crystals, Coffee & Divination segment, you’ll get a sunkissed reminder of what ritual means and why we do this (along with a heartfelt plea for recipes for Mexican Coffee)(help your girl out!), a spot on pull for the week that's just so good, and a card pull for nurses who are done carrying what was never theirs.

This episode is for every nurse who was trained to sacrifice and is now learning to survive.

Listen in and start healing, one agreement at a time.

Links + Resources:

• New to The Ritual Nurse? Start here: tcth.org
• Grab the free downloads or shop the store: Ritual Nurse shop
• Submit your story or question for an upcoming episode: Hello @ ritualnurse (dot) com

Hashtags to follow this week:
#HealFirstNurseBetter
#TheRitualNursePodcast

Support the show

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

TXT us your feedback!! <3 your fayce!

This week on The Ritual Nurse, we're celebrating Pride not just with rainbows, but with radical accountability, affirming care, and professional truth-telling. What does it really mean to practice nursing with equity—not just equality? How do we ensure that LGBTQIA+ and especially transgender patients receive safe, trauma-informed care, even when someone’s personal beliefs might conflict?

Spoiler alert: it’s not about opinion—it’s about ethical practice.
We cover:

• The difference between gender and sex (and why that matters)
• What cisgender and transgender actually mean
• Why using inclusive language is clinical best practice, not “going above and beyond”
• What to do when your personal beliefs and professional role collide
• Real resources for continuing your education as a safe, affirming nurse
• Plus: our “Clinical Pearls for Affirming Care” checklist and a rainbow-wrapped Coffee, Crystals, and Divination segment 💫

Whether you're here to learn, unlearn, or just feel seen—welcome home.

These are real, evidence-based, affirming organizations and tools for clinicians:

LGBTQIA+ Healthcare & Transgender Care

• WPATH – Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People
• The Fenway Institute – LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center
• GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality
• U.S. Trans Survey
• OutCare Health Provider Directory

Inclusive & Trauma-Informed Nursing Practice

• ANA Code of Ethics – Provision 8
• Healthy People 2030: LGBTQ+ Health Goals
• National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center – Glossary of Terms
• The Joint Commission: Advancing LGBTQIA+ Patient Safety & Equity

Further Professional Development

• LGBTQIA+ Curriculum Toolkit (AAMC)

Support the show

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

TXT us your feedback!! <3 your fayce!

You’re mid-shift, mid-crisis, and maxed out. You’ve got zero privacy, 30 seconds (if that), and an urgent need to NOT spiral. In this episode of The Ritual Nurse, we’re diving deep into how to emotionally regulate when you’re still on the floor—with tools that actually work.

You’ll learn two trauma-informed, DBT-inspired skills made specifically for nurses:

• Code Blue to Code You (a must after any traumatic event)
• The IV Push (for that mid-shift, panic-tinged chaos)

We break down why they work, how to do them in real time, and exactly when to use them—even if you’re a psych nurse, med-surg warrior, floor manager, or burnt-out exec. Trauma isn’t just for codes, and regulation isn’t a luxury. It’s your lifeline.

Plus:

• A guided mid-episode reset (pause, hydrate, breathe)
• This week’s Coffee, Crystals & Divination
• How YOU can help this podcast go viral and heal the soul of nursing

Mentioned in this episode:

• Free downloads: TCTH.org
• LET'S GET THIS VIRAL!!! <3 <3
• Follow @TheRitualNurse on TikTok + @The_Code_Team on Instagram

Don’t forget: If this episode helped you—share it. Let’s start regulating like our lives depend on it. Because they do.

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!