Master's Degree Gives Philadelphia Nurses The Essential Knowledge
Jennifer Klapper has been a mental health nurse with the ALS Association, Greater Philadelphia Chapter since 1999. She has a Master of Science in Psychiatric Nursing and a Master of Science in Medical Anthropology. She has worked in both clinical and research roles over the 30+ years of her nursing/anthropology career, with a strong focus on serious long-term or terminal diseases (oncology, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS) and bereavement.
The ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter serves 850 people living with ALS in eastern Pennsylvania, central and southern New Jersey, and all of Delaware. Their mission is "Leading the fight to treat and cure ALS through global research and nationwide advocacy while also empowering people with Lou Gehrig's Disease and their families to live fuller lives by providing them with compassionate care and support."
Where did you get your degree?
"I received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Binghamton University (State University of New York). My master's degrees are from the University of Pennsylvania."
Can you describe your duties in mental health?
"I am a clinical nurse specialist in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. This role includes psychological assessment and coordination of outpatient individual, family, group, and couples therapy; in-home counseling for patients and families; supervising the Chapter's 10 support groups; facilitating support groups; designing and presenting psycho-educational and continuing education seminars in illness, loss, and bereavement issues for ALS patients and health professionals."
How has education prepared you for your career in mental health and social sciences?
"While the master's in Medical Anthropology is not a requirement of my role as a Mental Health Nurse, I find my perspective, and the questions I ask, are shaped by the broader perspective: how culture affects our perspective and the expression of health and illness, and how, in turn, health and illness affect our cultures. (For instance, will we ever be the same since the Ice Bucket Challenge? This health issue changed our culture and what we know about what we can do when we put our minds to it. And the other side of the coin: the way our society reacted has had a deep and lasting effect on people living with ALS)."
"The master's in nursing gave me the essential knowledge to begin a higher level of practice with solid clinical expertise. As with the anthropology degree, it is so important not to presume that I know what is right for them, or what they should do to manage, but to remain curious, to understand what is important to them and support their goals."
What advice would you give someone who is pursuing a career in [mental health]?
"If you can call on a spirit of exploration without attachment to the discoveries, if you like puzzles that are pieced together sometimes slowly and incompletely; if you can bring your real self to another person, find something to genuinely relate to in them, and not lose your heart to gravity then a career in mental health can be a tremendously rewarding field."
Christina Thompson is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.