Rising Stars: Meet Bridget Swihart

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bridget Swihart.

Hi Bridget, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today. 
I have been a Registered Nurse since 2001, serving those living with a mental illness. Having worked primarily in a community setting, I struggled alongside those I served in problem-solving the numerous gaps that exist, which repeatedly led to unnecessary worsening of symptoms, hospitalizations, and crisis situations. After growing increasingly frustrated and motivated to see change, I started my business in 2017, Bridge Health Services, with a mission to “bridge the gaps” through education. In 2018, I continued this by becoming nationally certified as an Adult & Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Since that time, I have delivered this one-day evidence-based training to fellow healthcare professionals, first responders, police officers, and teachers to hundreds of library staff through an LSTA grant from the State Library of Ohio and many others. In 2020, I was fortunate to contract with the Ohio Statewide Collaborative Project to continue to deliver MHFA as an instructor as well as the Instructor Support Specialist offering support to the over 100 contracted instructors. Since 2020, this project has certified nearly 16,000 Ohioans as Mental Health First Aiders, from professionals to caring community members. I have trained over 2,000 since becoming certified in 2018. I have appreciated the opportunity to serve in this role as I see it as addressing the gaps by empowering everyone to do something, increasing mental health literacy, addressing the negative stigma that has kept so many from reaching out, and, most importantly, sharing invaluable local resources and pragmatic solutions to situations that arise. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Making the shift from the healthcare industry in a clinical role to an entrepreneur came with many learning opportunities. Those showed up in the form of an entirely new lingo to learn, understanding valuation, marketing, revenue cycles, RFP, and grant writing, to name a few. Not to mention a pandemic at the time, I was gaining momentum with several prospects for large-scale projects. Fortunately, I had incredible mentors that helped me navigate the new world. Likewise, nursing as a profession prepares individuals to be resourceful problem solvers, which were skills, I was grateful to have as I made this transition. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar with what you do, what can you tell them about what you do?
Currently, I am contracted with Mental Health America of Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio as an MHFA instructor, serving as the Instructor Support Specialist (ISS). In my role as ISS, I assist newly certified MHFA Instructors as they move from novice to expert, which includes sharing best practices for delivery, technology, and classroom management and maximizing their independent certification. Together with the project team, I support our Instructor Mentorship program and ensure up-to-date resources and tools for instructors through shared documents, modeling videos, and quarterly meetings to aid in their skills development and delivery. I am always grateful for those opportunities when instructors or learners call on skills or knowledge I have gained in my role as a psychiatric nurse as the ISS. 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work in a position that I enjoy, feel professionally fulfilled, and is balanced with my life responsibilities. I do not think I got here by luck but rather through prayer and my faith, as well as through amazing mentors along the way who saw a value in me and remained steadfast in pushing me toward the place I am in now. I have been given opportunities professionally I would never have envisioned for myself, including an early invitation my first year working in an inpatient acute unit to present at Grand Rounds about a complex patient for whom I had been the assigned primary nurse. Over the next few years, I was invited by Eli Lilly and Janssen Pharmaceuticals to work as a consultant for mental health products I had been utilizing with clients. These opportunities and many similar others grew my skills and confidence of what my career could become. In hindsight, I can still say I felt underqualified at the time when invited into those opportunities as a new nurse, but I can also say I do not think I was asked because of luck but rather because of the hard work I had consistently demonstrated. 

Pricing:

• Mental Health American of Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio is offering Mental Health First Aid Training ($170.00 value) at no cost through a grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services

Contact Info:

• Website: ohiomhfa.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=mental%20health%20first%20aid%20ohio