Elizabeth Ann Robinson: The Soul of the Nurse
Channel: Pecha Kucha Night Santa Barbara
Date: 16/10/2015

The nurse is central to healthcare and has always been the most prominent figure in times of vulnerability throughout the life cycle. Elizabeth, as mythologist and nurse, attempts to recover the complexity and wholeness of the nurse by tracing her origins as far back as Neolithic times. Ancient mythology, folklore, literature, art, and popular culture are explored to reveal the multifaceted characteristics of the nurse and specific images are expanded to deepen the understanding of the nurse archetype. The nurse image holds longing, ambivalence, fear, desire, and vulnerability. Mythology, metaphor, and symbol help to recover the soul of the nurse, revealing new insights, forgotten memories, and devalued capacities. Idealizing or demonizing the nurse is an attempt to break free of her power. The nurse is often portrayed as dangerous and mysterious because she is so close to the archetypal energies of death and eros. The nurse’s body cares for the bodies of others.
Nurses are drawn to work that is messy, peculiar, and unpredictable, thus the work of the nurse is soul work. The soul longs for complexity. The nurse craves intensity, merging, and collaboration. Like Baubo, she affirms life while maintaining an understanding of the brutal frankness and wonder of the life cycle. Her true body consciousness is Dionysian. Over time the image of the nurse has been split into one-dimensional disguises ranging from the angelic heroine to the sex object. Without moralizing or dividing the good from the bad, Elizabeth investigates the dynamic energy of the nurse archetype and uncovers some of what has been lost through splits, repressions, and distortions. Her research reveals why the nurse captivates culture and maintains the status as the most trusted professional in society, questioning what it would take to re-member her comprehensive wholeness.