**CAUTION** In this episode we discuss mental health, including suicide. If you are experiencing mental health challenges and have thought of harming yourself, there is help for you. Call or text 988, the Suicide/Crisis Hotline. Help is available 24/7/365. Please reach out.

What do psych nursing, powerlifting, and The Walking Dead have in common? My guest for this week, Tara "Taz" Kittrell. Her long career serving the mental health needs of women and children has progressed from a foster care case worker to a counselor, then as a sexual assault nurse examiner to a pediatric post-op nurse, to what she does today, serving college students as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Now, I could stop here, but I won't because there is so much more to her story. Tara is currently enrolled in an EMT Basic program, and when I asked her why, her answer just lifted her higher on the pedestal I had put her on. And did I mention she happens to competitively deadlift? When Tara wants to get out of her head, she gets into the gym. Her powerlifting efforts have won her several prestigious awards. She strongly believes in the power of movement to improve mental health, and she shares this love with her colleagues and students. In the five-minute snippet, there are 27 callers ahead of you. For Tara's bio, visit my website (link below).
Tara's Instagram
Tara's LinkedIn
Lifting Heavy Things- Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time by Laura Khoudari
Built to Move-The Ten Essential Habits to Help you Move Freely and Live Fully by Kelly Starrett

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Thanks for listening!

PMHNP and Powerlifter, Tara Kittrell