Nurse\\\'s Voice Summit Presentation
Flourishing While Becoming: Helping Nurses Build Healthier Lives Before Crisis.
First available August 1, 2026 - ongoing on demand
About the Presentation
As nurses we are highly skilled at recognizing changes in our patients yet often overlook the early signs in our own emotional distress. Repeated exposure to suffering, loss, ethical dilemmas, and workplace stress can lead to anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, compassion fatigue, moral injury, and burnout. This evidence-informed presentation introduces the Flourishing While Becoming® framework, equipping nurses with practical strategies to build resilience before crisis occurs. Through clinical insights, personal experience, and simple daily practices, listeners will discover how health, healing, and well-being begin from the inside out while learning to care for themselves with the same compassion they extend to others.
Learning Objectives: By the end of this presentation, listeners will be able to: (1) Differentiate anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, compassion fatigue, and burnout. (2) Recognize early signs of cumulative emotional distress. (3) Apply practical, evidence-informed strategies to strengthen resilience, promote well-being, and support professional longevity.
Hear Sandra’s Presentation
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About Sandra M Thomas
Sandra Thomas, R.N., is a Nurse Health Coach, Certified Professional Mental Health Coach, and a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist. Sandra received her Master Diploma in Mental Health Coaching: Grief and Loss through Light University. She has brought five decades of nursing experience, including hospice care and ten years as a Civil Service Nurse for the Army and Air Force. She is the author of I Will Live Until I Die: Overcoming the Sting of Grief and a contributor to publications such as Nursing Belonging and Hospice Dove Magazine. A speaker, course creator, and grief coach, Sandra specializes in Christian development, health, mental health awareness, and recognition in the healthcare sector and grief recovery.
Sandra's work includes developing presentations like " Psycho-Somatic Illnesses in School-Age Children" and the "I Can Cope" program for pastoral care, which she shared at Fellowship Bible Church under Dr. Tony Evans. Her most recent contributions include Peace, Loving-kindness, & Global Wellbeing for the American Holistic Nurses Association. Inspired by her personal journey through grief, including the loss of an adult child and her cancer diagnosis, Sandra combines professional expertise with personal insight to guide others toward healing and resilience.