New Program of Interests- Were You Aware?

Attention All UAPRN Members !!

I want to take this opportunity to take a pause and take a few breaths to share a few personal experiences with our UAPRN Georgia members as well as make you aware of some of AANP's national programs that are available to you. The new Future Leadership Program that was announced by AANP this month and the Fellows Mentoring Program deserve their moment in the spot light.
UAPRN Georgia and AANP are very in tuned with its membership and take an active role in its commitment to the growth of the organization and its commitment to the professional development of all its members. In response to this, I want to bring to your attention two AANP programs that you may not be aware of two of but are available to you as a member of UAPRN Georgia since we hold organizational membership in the AANP.

Over a decade ago, along with my mentor and professional role model, I was afforded an invaluable lesson of my personal and professional life. I was entering the second decade of being a Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist and yearning to do more with my professional career. My mentor had engrained in me the extremely important concept and practice of career mapping. In performing this crucial task, it allowed me to envision myself from an altitude of 10,000 feet as I looked down upon myself as that small grain of sand on the shore of a large beautiful beach.

This process is often painful, yet it always amounts to very effective outcomes with myself and my mentor and coach both receiving epiphanies when we complete this exercise of self-awareness. This exercise provides you unbiased information of where the individual "fits in" to his/her larger professional role and personal role on this planet. In response to this exercise, I was able to identify within myself some key concepts of where I "fit in" as an APRN living in Georgia. In so doing, I realized that part of my vision for myself included involvement far outside my 9-5 week day life as a NP/CNS. Furthermore, in an attempt to reach these goals, would necessitate involvement of other experts who were strangers and did not know me as my wonderful mentor knew me. This felt very intimidating and uncomfortable, yet, I knew that if I wanted to get to point "D" that I had identified in my professional life, it would require taking risks and committing to a process completely foreign to me. In so doing, my mentor introduced me to the program that she was involved in developing at AANP. This program had not even been announced to the public, but her "insider" advice to me was to investigate this program as soon as it became public. This program was announced 4 to 5 months later and is now known as AANP's Fellows Mentorship program. My friend and coach strongly encouraged me to apply for the program and contacted me weekly for 6 weeks before I succumbed to persistent nagging of me. However, she warned me that this program was unlike any others in our country and the just the application process was intense and time consuming. However, being such a great friend and confidant, she held true to form as she assisted me through the entire process. Once I had submitted the portfolio of information that was required, she gently explained to me to not get discouraged if I were not selected as a candidate as the program only had 20 spots for this program and over 700 individuals had applied to this new program. Part of me was irate as I listened to her words and I thought to myself, "you mean your persistent badgering me to apply to a program that I literally spent weeks in pouring my blood and sweat into only has 20 candidate spots?" I then felt that had I known that, I would never had applied as I knew I would internalize the rejection letter for weeks. However, my devoted "life coach" assured me that no matter the outcome, she would always be there for me and that this impending letter of rejection that I had begun to have nightmares about would not alter my plans nor deter my steps to reaching my professional goals. Eight weeks to the date of my submission for consideration into AANP's new inaugural Fellows Mentorship program, I arrived home after an exceptionally difficult work day to find the letter meticulously positioned in my mailbox amidst the plethora of non-ending monthly bills and "junk mail" envelopes. The instant moment that my eyes saw the envelope, I knew the verdict lay in the letter. My hands began to shake, beads of perspiration collected upon my forehead, and the room temperature felt as if it had exceed 150 degrees! I lay the letter and couldn't open it. I said to myself, "James, you are better than this. You have survived a new diagnosis of cancer as well as your 2 week chemotherapy regimen. No matter what the results of this silly letter, nothing will change in your life!" Suffering from my anxiety from lack of sleep, I arose out of my bed, stumbled to my office, fell on the dog amidst the darkness, but located the letter where I had purposely placed it juxtaposed to my briefcase. I had sworn to open it before leaving for work the next morning. However, my inpatient spirit won the battle in my tossing and turning that night and my irritation and throbbing right foot from my falling on the dog, led me to my study. Finally, I held the letter that in my deranged, warped mind, I had made into this demi--god of a symbol in my life. "Pitiful", I thought. "If the AANP could only see you now?" Out of disgust and lack of sleep, I finally opened the letter to find a brief one paragraph notice from the selection committee. Very anti-climactic, I had to read the letter's results a second time before the news registered with me. Its content contained the news that stated that from a nation-wide group of nurse practitioners in AANP who had applied, I had been selected to participate in AANP's very first 20 member cohort. Furthermore, the letter stated that this was an esteemed honor to be selected into this inaugural program and that more detailed information would follow in the days ahead.

I stated earlier that my mentor, in her attempts to prepare me for the possibility of a rejection letter, had stated to me to not become discouraged if I was not accepted into the program and that nothing would change in my life-regardless of the outcome from AANP. However, in the weeks that followed my exciting letter of selection into AANPs Fellows Mentorship program- my professional life did completely change.
For the very first time since becoming an APRN following my graduation and passing of my national certification exam, I began to feel part of something bigger than myself. I began to feel like there were others watching over me and cheering me on toward success. I began to feel like there were others who were out there, making important decisions that would directly insure my success and completion of AANP's Fellows Mentorship program. Most importantly, I began to feel like I wasn't that single grain of sand on that beautiful beach described earlier. There now existed a "team James" that AANP had assembled and who knew of my short and long-term professional goals and that this "team James" were going to do everything possible to facilitate my "journey" in reaching those goals. In our very first "support group" encounter that included all 20 candidates chosen, I learned that these feelings that I was experiencing were also feelings shared my most of the other candidates chosen.

I could write a complete book detailing my extraordinary experiences in AANP's Fellows Mentoring program. The fellows that I had only dreamed about in my mind and were movie stars and idols and dreamed of one day meeting, became (and continue to this day) some of the greatest influences I have ever had in my entire life. My involvement in this program resulted in doors being opened that may have been closed or even absent before completion of this program. Furthermore, professional opportunities on a national and international level began to become almost the norm after my completion of the program. Examples include my induction as a Fellow into AANP, being selected by the White House under President Bush's administration as a representative from our nation to participate in an international committee on aging between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China and then to travel on Air Force One with the President and First Lady to Beijing, China to participate in these international efforts on aging, and the induction in 2013 into the Hall of Fame of Nursing have all been direct results of my involvement in AANP's Fellows Mentoring program and my benefiting from those associations and efforts that came my way while in the program.

I stated earlier that my mentor, in her attempts to prepare me for the possibility of a rejection letter, had stated to me to not become discouraged if I was not accepted into the program and that nothing would change in my life-regardless of the outcome from AANP. However, in the weeks that followed my exciting letter of selection into AANPs Fellows Mentorship program- my professional life did completely change.
For the very first time since becoming an APRN following my graduation and passing of my national certification exam, I began to feel part of something bigger than myself. I began to feel like there were others watching over me and cheering me on toward success. I began to feel like there were others who were out there, making important decisions that would directly insure my success and completion of AANP's Fellows Mentorship program. Most importantly, I began to feel like I wasn't that single grain of sand on that beautiful beach described earlier. There now existed a "team James" that AANP had assembled and who knew of my short and long-term professional goals and that this "team James" were going to do everything possible to facilitate my "journey" in reaching those goals. In our very first "support group" encounter that included all 20 candidates chosen, I learned that these feelings that I was experiencing were also feelings shared my most of the other candidates chosen.

I could write a complete book detailing my extraordinary experiences in AANP's Fellows Mentoring program. The fellows that I had only dreamed about in my mind and were movie stars and idols and dreamed of one day meeting, became (and continue to this day) some of the greatest influences I have ever had in my entire life. My involvement in this program resulted in doors being opened that may have been closed or even absent before completion of this program. Furthermore, professional opportunities on a national and international level began to become almost the norm after my completion of the program. Examples include my induction as a Fellow into AANP, being selected by the White House under President Bush's administration as a representative from our nation to participate in an international committee on aging between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China and then to travel on Air Force One with the President and First Lady to Beijing, China to participate in these international efforts on aging, and the induction in 2013 into the Hall of Fame of Nursing have all been direct results of my involvement in AANP's Fellows Mentoring program and my benefiting from those associations and efforts that came my way while in the program.

I include just a few examples of my experiences from this program here to show you that like anything in life, often the greater efforts one puts forth, the greater the rewards received. Hence, my experiences reflect my philosophy that I maintained entering into that program from day one. This philosophy along with my selection of Fellows, helped to catapult me into an entirely different level of professional involvement in nursing. In conclusion, if our members as they read this posting are in a place in their careers that I was in and desire to take an incredible leap of faith in wanting to make changes in their professional lives, I encourage you all to contact me as your state president to further assist you in offering support, clarity, or further explain how the Fellows Mentoring program might assist you.
AANP's other program is the Future Leaders program. Since this program is brand new and has not selected its first cohort yet, my knowledge of the program is much more limited. I can report that AANP Fellows' have been included in the design and implementation of this program. Thus, with just that variable alone, I know it will be of the highest quality possible. Our members have heard me state many times over the past 19 months, that one characteristic of an effective organization is an organization that has formalized efforts in place for professional growth and development in leadership. The national policy program held annually in Washington DC, the Mentoring program, and the new Leadership program serve as examples from AANP in its national efforts in striving to achieve this philosophy
As your state president of UAPRN Georgia and my involvement as a Fellow in the development of some of these programs listed above, UAPRN Georgia has benefitted directly from this. Without saying anything more than that on this matter, I would strongly encourage all of our members to further investigate and consider participation in these national programs of AANP.

In conclusion, in the coming weeks and months, I will be announcing some very new initiatives and programs that UAPRN Georgia will be adopting. I want the membership to know that any new program or initiative that UAPRN Georgia adopts while I am your state president is never done capriciously. Many, many hours and days have been invested into their design, development, modifications, and implementation before they are ever announced to the membership. Please know that these initiatives and programs are a reflection of me and my executive board's philosophy of an APRN, reflect our organizational mission statement, reflect our commitment to our membership of UAPRN Georgia, and serve as a road map toward where the organization is moving.

As with anything new or requiring a modifications, there may exist disagreement or misunderstanding in what we are attempting to achieve. This is often expected and part of human behavior. In recognizing differing opinions and ideas, respecting those opinions and ideas, and validating the individual or individuals from which they originate, I always believe that the end result will be an even better, more effective approach. I have practiced that leadership style since becoming your state president and will continue this style of leadership as I believe it has contributed to our organizational success and growth over the past 19 months. As always, I encourage your feedback on this or any other matter of UAPRN Georgia.

James F. Lawrence, Ph.D. APRN BC CHPN FAANP CPS      

State President UAPRN Georgia