Sonja Sheppard, MEd, PhD, RN, Nursing Administrative Supervisor at Interim, oversees groups of nursing students who need to complete a five-week rotation in a mental health-care environment. These RN students come from different programs throughout central California, most recently Walden University and Cabrillo College. The students spend their time observing and working alongside Interim staff to better understand the lived experiences of adults with mental illness and their journey from homelessness to being housed.
The first thing students learn is that the mental healthcare process is not one that ends with a client being handed a key to their own apartment. Interim has multiple programs that range from short-term crisis treatment at the Manzanita Houses to long-term dual diagnosis care at Bridge House. There are also over twenty housing sites with multiple units that provide transitional and permanent housing, all of which come with mental healthcare support for each resident. Mental health is a process that is ongoing, which Interim’s intern students get to experience first-hand.
Dr. Sheppard admits that mental healthcare is not the first option that many nursing students want to specialize in. This is why Dr. Sheppard has focused her career in the last ten years on educating nursing students on the unspoken stigma that many people have about the mentally ill. People with mental illness are not only the homeless people we see living in the shadows, but they can also be our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. Sonja makes sure that all of Interim’s interns leave with that kernel of knowledge, if nothing else, so that they can go on to become qualified, well-rounded, healthcare professionals. More often than not, Interim’s intern students come back and support the work being done here once they see the impact mental healthcare support has on the clients they meet.
