Help for stressed out NJ nurses

Nurses have been on the front line of pandemic response since the beginning. There have been countless stories of fatigue, burnout and even symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Unless you have seen it for yourself, how can you relate?

That's the idea behind a new helpline for nurses being launched by Rutgers. It's called Nurse2Nurse.

In partnership with the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, the hotline will be staffed with retired or former nurses who have been specially trained in mental health support.

The American Nurses Foundation released a survey that more than half of all nurses are feeling anxious or irritable, 6-in-10 feel overwhelmed and nearly three-quarters are experiencing exhaustion all due to the pandemic.

Barbara Brilliantine is a nurse and one of the peer counselors who will be working the hotline. "As nurses, it can be hard to share what's going on with us," she says, "So we keep it inside." Brilliantine called the hot line a "sacred space" for nurses to get the mental help they need.

All calls are anonymous.

Nurses, and thier families, can access the peer help Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. by calling 844-687-7301. Additional support and resources are available at www.nurse2nursenj.com.