We recently connected with Christina Shifflett and have shared our conversation below.
Christina, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
My sense of optimism comes from my father mostly. I have a slightly non-traditional background in that I was raised in a different country and homeschooled for the time that I was there. As some teenagers experience, I was not content with the general environment that I was growing up in. I would talk with my father about what I wanted to do, how it couldn’t happen in the situation we were in and was causing me frustration, but he always replied in a calming way that while it might not be possible now there were still things I could do to get prepared. As I grew older, I encountered many situations where it would have been far easier to stop whatever it was that I was doing in face of an obstacle, but I would remember what my father would tell me. How he would tell me to pause and take a step back from the situation, to look at it from a different angle as sometimes judgement can be clouded with emotions. My father would say “don’t automatically accept defeat, there could be more data available that we’re not seeing because we are looking at the problem from only one perspective”. Throughout my adult life, this has helped me remain optimistic in the face of adversity.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I have been an RN since 2013 and have had the opportunity to work in multiple different nursing settings, both within the hospital and in the community. During my time as a nurse I have come to love providing education to people to hopefully help them remain healthy and at home. When CBD first became legal with the Farm Bill of 2018, I began to realize that there was a great need for education related to cannabis from a healthcare perspective. When I heard about a masters program that would teach about the components of cannabis and how/if it could be used as a medicine, I leapt at the chance. Since graduating in 2022 I have been providing education on cannabis as a medicine to people local to me as well as working on writing a book explaining the basics of cannabis medicine and writing a blog. I created The Green Nurse Educator to be a resource for those who may have never heard of cannabis as medicine as well as for those that perhaps have consumed cannabis recreationally in the past but now want to consume cannabis medicinally and safely with their other prescription medications.
When a person engages my services there are a couple forms to fill out as I look over health history, current medications and any current restrictions that the person may be under. Once I’ve gone over their health documents we then meet either via zoom or in person if they are local to me and we talk about their goals for medicinal cannabis. Depending on the patients preference we can then also meet at a local dispensary so we can talk about different cultivars and products that might be available. If that patient isn’t local to me, we also discuss the various products that they might have in their area and what to specifically look for so they’re choosing the right product for their situation.
In the event that a person is unable to meet in person or over the phone, I am also writing a book that can be used as a basic primer to cannabis medicine. I’m currently working on the final edits of this book and hope to have it published before this summer. A companion book that I have already released and is available on my website (and Amazon), is a cannabis journal. The current level of research surrounding cannabis as medicine is still in its infancy, but highlights the amazing possibilities that come from cannabis medicine. However, as there is still some resistance in healthcare about cannabis, the patient is often left to do their own research on what might work best for them. Due to this I created the Cannabis Journal to help people who are trying cannabis as a medicine find the cultivar and product that works best for their specific situation. The patient takes the information that they receive from the dispensary and records it in the journal along with their specific reason for taking cannabis. By writing out what they purchase and following the prompts within the journal, the patient can then begin to narrow down which specific terpenes, flavonoids and cannabinoids help them the best.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three skills that have been most impactful on my journey have been listening, consistently working on communication, and developing my curiosity. Communication skills as a whole are consistently evolving and can be incredibly useful for a multitude of situations. Developing good listening skills can be the basis of good communication skills. My best advice would be to keep current on different communication skills and put them into practice. There are tons of free courses that can be found on different social media platforms. I listed developing my curiosity as a skill as well because I truly believe that being curious and asking questions is what helps to move your projects consistently forward.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
My ideal client would be an adult who is wanting to learn more about cannabis as a medication. They may be experiencing a condition or their loved one is experiencing a condition that affects their daily lives in such a way that causes them to be on high dose prescriptions with side effects. Or they might be someone who is relatively healthy and is wanting to add medicinal cannabis into their lives in a supportive function. We can discuss how a person could incorporate cannabis medicine into their daily routine like an herbal supplement, how microdosing can be useful in certain situations, and how to go about finding the right cultivar for their situation.
The main characteristic an ideal client would have is seeking for knowledge on how to consume cannabis in a safe and appropriate manner. Taking into account their current medication regimen, their medical history and their goals for consuming cannabis.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thegreennurseeducator.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_green_nurse_educator/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGreenNurseEducator
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-shifflett-1742b017a/
Image Credits
Christina Shifflett, Bram Wilens
