The emotional well-being of psychiatric/mental health student nurses is critical to learners, the educational process and ultimately prospective patients. However, with a focus on client care, the psychological disposition and needs of psychiatric/mental health student nurses can be inadvertently marginalized or overlooked. To augment the extant literature, this paper examines how a respectful learning environment can be instrumental in safeguarding the emotional well-being of learners. Towards this end, this paper synthesizes and consolidates the literature regarding undergraduate psychiatric/mental health student nurse well-being, offers suggestions towards the establishment of a respectful learning environment, and invites further dialogue regarding this salient issue.

We describe a phenomenological study that explored the experiences of First Nations and Aboriginal women during their journey of recovery from alcohol abuse. Seven women participated in individual, tape-recorded interviews, during which they described their experiences, yielding written protocols that were thematically analyzed. Results from this study revealed seven predominant themes that included the following: (a) guilt and shame, (b) unresolved core issues, (c) resilience, (d) tenacity, (e) recovery process, (f) family and friends, and (g) tradition and spirituality. Findings and implications for clinicians, administrators, educators, and future research are included.