Shantelle Poynter

Being one of the Nursing students selected from Central Queensland University to participate in Recovery Camp was a remarkable privilege. The week-long camp deeply altered my entire perspective on the world, fundamentally reshaped how I engage with it and reaffirmed my core values.

Immersed in the wisdom of the Recovery Camp team and the courageous experts who bravely shared their stories in an effort to educate and, hopefully, challenge societal stigmas, I felt and continue to feel consumed with the honour of being there. The expert’s unwavering trust was not in vain, leaving an indelible mark that has forever changed me, one that has motivated me to be part of the change in a bigger way.

39 years is a long time to feel like you don’t quite fit in anywhere in this world, Starting Nursing was the closest I had ever come to feeling as though I fit in. Over the years, I would frustratingly ask my Nan (a Nurse Practitioner with many years of experience) ‘Nan, how will I know what area of Nursing I will want to work in?’ Her response has always been exactly the same… ‘Shanny, you will feel it, you will just know’. Well, Nan, guess what…I felt it, I just knew…this is the area that feels like home.

I am eternally grateful to have experienced the profound impact of camp, and to have done so with such a supportive group of Nursing students, who I am now humbled to call my friends, is something so special.

Forever in my heart and always on my mind, Yarramundi 2023!