The Idea That Wouldn't Leave Me Alone

Every movement begins with a question.

In this season premiere, Dr. Wendy Garvin Mayo shares the moment she realized that traditional approaches to nurse wellness weren't enough. What started as one question became the vision for the first statewide nurse wellness initiative in Connecticut.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• The question that changed everything
• Why purpose is often born from frustration
• How to recognize an idea worth pursuing
• Why you don't need all the answers before you begin

If you've ever felt called to create something bigger than yourself, this episode is for you.

Connect with the movement:

📩 Join the CT Nurse Wellness Project Newsletter for exclusive updates, resources, and opportunities to get involved.

🌐 Visit: www.ctstateofnursewellness.com

▶️ Follow Dr. Wendy Garvin Mayo on YouTube for weekly conversations on nurse wellness, leadership, emotional intelligence, and building initiatives that transform healthcare. https://www.youtube.com/@drwendygarvinmayo

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

I've been doing nurse wellness for a few years. I've been doing keynote presentations, workshops, I even had a nurse wellness mentorship. I was coaching. This podcast was born out of my nurse wellness work. And despite all of that, the question still remains the same. How can we improve the wellness of nurses? It doesn't matter if I'm talking to a CEO, a CNO, an academic dean, a professor, a student, a nurse, the issues are still the same. Stress and burnout are the number one thing nurses are facing. And my one question is: how do we truly move the needle on nurse wellness? Since we're not able to move the needle on nurse wellness on an organizational level or individual level, what if we took it from a statewide level? What if we try to move the needle on nurse wellness at a state level? I don't think that has ever been done before. In February of 2025, I shared this vision with another nurse who I was working with. And I said, why don't we do a summit? Why don't we name the summit CT Nurse Wellness Summit? That name was very intentional because it's a call to all nurses in CT. That summit happened in October of 2025, but it was a one-day thing, just like the workshops, just like the keynote presentations. It was a one and done. When I talk about moving the needle on nurse wellness, I'm talking about sustainability. How do we sustain this? And if we take it from a statewide level, that is one way we can possibly sustain nurse wellness. So what do we do? In November of 2025, I rebranded, and that's where the CT Nurse Wellness Project was born. This was the first statewide nurse wellness initiative in the state of Connecticut. And we were determined to move the needle on nurse wellness. So what do we do? I don't know. This has never been done before. There is no blueprint for moving the needle on nurse wellness at a state level. So I put my thinking cap on, and I'm very aware that in order to make progress, and especially something as big as looking at nurse wellness on a statewide level, you have to bring people in. So the first thing I did was build an advisory board. We have an advisory board of 15 brilliant women from all walks of life of nursing. We have nurse leaders, we have faculty, we have student nurses, we even have a physician assistant on our advisory board. But everyone came together because they believe in the vision of improving nurse wellness, and they were up for the challenge of trying to do it on a statewide level. And they were okay that we didn't have a blueprint. However, we had the vision, we had the mission, we had the commitment, and we were up for the challenge of moving the needle on nurse wellness at a statewide level. Many times we have ideas or thoughts and we keep them in our notebook or we keep just revisiting them in our mind. And it's important that we don't do that. It's important that we share our thoughts, we share our ideas, and we bring people to the table that can help us execute the ideas. Because many times our ideas, our thoughts, the things that we want to really birth into this world is for us, but not about us. It's always about the people we are gonna serve. And anytime we're talking about purpose and we're talking about trying to make change, especially in healthcare, it's gonna benefit so many people. So we have to remove ourselves from the center of these initiatives because when we are in the center, we forget who we're doing it for. So with that, I want to shift to you for a minute. What is one question that won't leave you alone? What problem do you keep seeing that no one seems to be solving? What conversation keeps coming up over and over and over again? What would you build if you weren't worried about whether people would support it or not? What if your biggest idea is exactly what our profession needs and what we have been waiting for? I want you to take some time and think about those questions. Because all the ideas we have, someone is waiting for that solution. So don't keep them to yourself. Don't keep them in the notebook. Don't keep them in your mind. Birth them into the world. So until next time, take care of yourself. And remember, ideas inspire, initiatives create change. So don't stop at the idea. Build the initiative. You can learn more about the CT Nurse Wellness Project by going to Ctstatofnurse Wellness.com. And if you go to the events tab, you can join us on August 8th for our data release at Next Steps event. That will be happening August 8th from 10 to 12 30. You can register for in person admission or virtual.