The Gritty Nurse is back, and NO TOPIC is off-limits! Launching in September 2025 with host Amie Archibald Varley, this podcast is dedicated to amplifying the voices of nurses and others who work in healthcare to explore the most pressing issues they face.
Join Amie as she continues to take a deep dive into powerful and often uncomfortable topics. Though shared experriences, storytelling and the discussions surrounding the intersection of power, we will navigate the challenges facing healthcare nationally and internationally--as of course--challenge the status quo. The show's core belief remains unwavering: that compassion is the through understanding diverse narratives and perspectives is KEY.
Amie will continue to explore hot-button issues like mental health, social justice, women's health, and the daily challenges within the nursing profession. The Gritty Nurse is more than just a podcast—it's a community where nurses and healthcare workers can feel heard, empowered, and recognized as the community leaders they truly are.
Change is HERE.
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Why Thousands of Nurses Are Walking Out Across North America? (And Who's Replacing Them)
Saison 7 · Épisode 28
jeudi 30 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:00:37
Frontline pressures have reached a boiling point. In this swapcast episode, nurses Erica and Amie tackle the wave of nursing strikes across Massachusetts (MNA) and British Columbia (BCNU), exploring what these recent labor actions reveal about the true state of healthcare.
Together, they dive into the harsh realities nurses are standing up against—from unsafe staffing ratios and lack of workplace respect to burnout and corporate greed. Erica and Amie also address the elephant in the room: "scab nurses." They break down the ethical, emotional, and financial strain traveling replacement nurses place on striking staff, how hospital systems use high-paid temporary labor to undercut union power, and the complex reality of nursing ethics vs. corporate greed.
More importantly, they share actionable insights on how nurses can build genuine solidarity, mobilize for patient safety, and use their collective voice to drive real structural change. Whether you're on the floor or on the picket line, this is a conversation about standing tall for the profession.
Collaborations & Inquiries: For sponsorship opportunities or to book Amie for speaking engagements, visit: grittynurse.com/contact
The Handover: What a 40-Year Gap of Experience Can Teach the Nursing Profession
Saison 7 · Épisode 27
vendredi 17 juillet 2026 • Durée 42:28
How do we reclaim the narrative of modern nursing across generations?
In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with extraordinary nurses, advocates, and authors Tilda Shalof and Lisa Mochrie to discuss their powerful new book, The Handover: A Nurse's Last Shift.
Separated by a 40-year career gap, Tilda Shalof and Lisa Mochrie share their inspiring personal journeys through nursing to show that despite a lifetime of different experiences, we have far more in common than what divides us. At its heart, this episode is about the vital importance of nurses sharing their own stories—because when we write our own narratives, we reclaim our power.
Together, they deliver a masterclass in perseverance, nurse mentorship, and finding your voice. They dive deep into why authentic storytelling is the ultimate tool for bridging generational divides, healing the healer, and driving systemic advocacy in healthcare.
What We Discuss in This Episode:
Why Nurses Must Share Their Stories: The critical importance of taking back our narrative, sharing our lived experiences, and refusing to let others define what it means to be a nurse.
Bridging the 40-Year Gap: How a veteran nurse and a newer generation nurse found common ground, proving that the core of the nursing experience transcends time.
The Power of Storytelling: Why sharing our raw, unfiltered experiences is crucial to changing the public perception of the nursing profession.
Navigating Systemic Challenges: Honest strategies for tackling burnout, staffing shortages, and institutional hurdles in healthcare today.
The Importance of Mentorship: How experienced chapters can uplift the next generation, and how new nurses can find the guidance they deserve.
The Handover Book: The inspiration behind their book and how it serves as a love letter—and a wake-up call—to the nursing world.
7 Years Ago, I Hid Under My Desk--And Seven Years Later, Almost to The Day... She Was Walked Out.
Saison 7 · Épisode 26
vendredi 3 juillet 2026 • Durée 17:05
Content note: this episode discusses workplace violence, suicidal ideation and psychological harm in a clinical/workplace setting.
This week, almost seven years to the day since I walked out of a role where I once hid under my desk to escape a leader who ran her unit on fear, that same leader was walked out of hers.
This isn't a celebration episode. I don't take pleasure in anyone losing their income or their identity. But I can't stay quiet about what it means that it took seven years — seven years of turnover, burnout, and silence — for accountability to catch up.
In this solo episode, I break down five things we need to talk about: how healthcare culture protects powerful people who lead through fear, why "getting results" is not the same as good leadership, what real accountability structures should look like, and why we need to stop rewarding leaders who manage through intimidation instead of trust.
This one is personal. If you've ever made yourself small to survive a shift, this episode is for you.
Follow The Legislation, Fix The Insurance! Nurse Psychotherapy Supports Mental Health
Saison 7 · Épisode 25
vendredi 26 juin 2026 • Durée 31:44
With a growing mental health crisis and a system bogged down by waitlists and rigid silos, a powerful paradigm shift is happening across Canada: the rise of nurse-led psychotherapy. In this educational episode, we sit down with Sheena Howard (BScN, MA, RYT, RN), award-winning Nurse Psychotherapist and the founder of Acceptance Psychotherapy.
We dive deep into why Registered Nurses are uniquely positioned to transform mental healthcare. Grounded in a holistic nursing blueprint, nurse psychotherapists don't just treat symptoms in isolation; they integrate biological, psychological, and social factors—bridging the gap between the physical nervous system, medication management, and emotional trauma.
However, paving this independent path comes with major friction. Sheena pulls back the curtain on the institutional gatekeeping, regulatory ambiguities, and insurance barriers that independent nurse providers face daily. More importantly, she shares evidence-backed strategies on how to overcome these hurdles: by shifting focus from restrictive corporate insurance policies to strict provincial legislation, building multi-disciplinary alliances, and creating inclusive, trauma-informed clinical spaces. This conversation is a masterclass in healthcare advocacy and systemic disruption for any clinician ready to expand their scope and build a practice on their own terms.
Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction to Nurse Psychotherapy in Canada
02:12 – Moving Beyond the Bedside: Sheena's Professional Journey
04:45 – The Holistic Edge: Merging Nursing Knowledge with Psychotherapy
06:48 – What the Data Says: Evidence-Based Outcomes of Nurse-Led Mental Health Care
09:07 – Overcoming Institutional Bias: Founding the Acceptance Clinic
11:59 – The Educational Pipeline & Advanced Clinical Competencies for RNs
14:54 – Dismantling Systemic Barriers, Sexism, and Gatekeeping in the Field
From KOBO to Digital Health: Disrupting the Status Quo In Healthcare with Mike Serbinis
Saison 7 · Épisode 24
vendredi 19 juin 2026 • Durée 45:49
How do we move from a healthcare system that only reacts to illness, to one that actively empowers patients?
In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Mike Serbinis, the visionary CEO and founder of League, a leading digital health platform transforming the consumer healthcare experience. A seasoned tech innovator and entrepreneur, Mike has a storied history of disrupting industries—from working alongside Elon Musk on early jet propulsion designs to co-founding Kobo, which challenged the global e-reading market. Now, he's turning his sights toward fixing our fragmented healthcare system.
Amie and Mike dive deep into how cutting-edge technology, personalization, and AI can bridge the massive gaps in current healthcare delivery, alleviate provider burnout, and truly put the power back into the hands of patients and frontline workers.
What We Discuss in This Episode:
The Journey to Disruption: How Mike transitioned from mainstream tech innovation to tackling the complex world of healthcare.
AI & Digital Platforms: The real-world applications of technology in streamlining care, improving patient outcomes, and modernizing the clinical experience.
Empowering the Individual: Shifting the paradigm toward proactive, patient-centered care and navigating the barriers to systemic change.
The Future of Care: What a fully integrated, tech-enabled healthcare ecosystem actually looks like for patients and providers on the ground.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Healthcare Transformation
02:25 Personal Journey into Healthcare Innovation
05:28 The Need for a Consumer-Centered Healthcare System
07:56 Aha Moments: Personal Experiences Driving Change
10:38 Shifting Power Dynamics in Healthcare
From the ICU to the Page: Nurse Author Tilda Shalof on Why Nurses Must Tell Their Stories
Saison 7
jeudi 11 juin 2026 • Durée 37:28
What happens when a nurse picks up a pen and refuses to stay quiet? She becomes Tilda Shalof — ICU nurse, bestselling author, patient advocate, and one of Canada's most powerful voices for the nursing profession.
In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Tilda Shalof, RN, BScN, CNCC(C), a veteran nurse from Toronto General Hospital's Medical-Surgical ICU and the author of six books — including the acclaimed A Nurse's Story, The Making of a Nurse, Camp Nurse, Opening My Heart, Lives in the Balance, and Bringing It Home. Her work has been translated into French, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese, reaching nurses and patients across the globe.
Tilda has spent decades doing what nurses do best — caring for the critically ill, advocating for patients, and working in the most demanding environments in healthcare. But she's also done something radical: she wrote it all down and made the world pay attention.
In this conversation, Amie and Tilda dig into:
Why nursing stories matter more now than ever — and how storytelling is a form of advocacy
What Tilda learned about the healthcare system when she became a patient herself after open-heart surgery
The moral courage it takes to be a nurse — and why the profession is "the opposite of despair"
How nurses can combat burnout by finding community, voice, and purpose through their stories
The hidden world of home care, ICU nursing, and everything in between
What it means to be a nurse-first, author-second — and why that distinction matters
Whether you're a nurse on the front lines, a nursing student wondering if you have what it takes, or a healthcare advocate who believes the system needs to change — this episode will remind you why nurses' voices are essential, urgent, and worth amplifying.
What Nurses Don't Know About the Law Could Cost Them Everything w/ Dr. Cambria Nwsou DNP, RN, LNC
Saison 7 · Épisode 22
jeudi 4 juin 2026 • Durée 48:40
Do you actually know your rights as a nurse?
What does it take to go from the operating room to the courtroom — and why should every nurse care?
In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with the remarkable Dr. Cambria Nwosu, RN — a nurse whose career has taken her from high-stakes surgical suites to the frontlines of legal nursing consulting and healthcare policy advocacy. Cambria's story is a masterclass in what's possible when nurses refuse to stay in their lane. Amie and Cambria dig into the real, often unspoken truth that nurses deserve to know: your legal rights matter, and understanding them can protect your license, your patients, and your career. They break down what a nurse legal consultant actually does, why it's a growing and essential field, and how policy decisions made far from the bedside are quietly reshaping the profession you work in every day.
Drawing on her outspoken social media advocacy — where Cambria has built a community of nurses hungry for truth, transparency, and change — this conversation goes beyond the theory and gets gritty about the systemic issues nurses face and what they can actually do about it. In this episode: → Cambria's path from OR nurse to legal nursing consultant → What nurse legal consultants do and why it matters → Know your rights: legal literacy every nurse needs → The intersection of policy, law, and everyday nursing practice → Why nurse advocacy is not optional — it's essential → Building a platform and using your voice online Whether you're at the bedside, in the boardroom, or building something new — this episode is your reminder that nurses are powerful, and it's time to act like it. ─────────────────────────────
ABOUT DR. CAMBRIA NWOSU
─────────────────────────────
Dr. Cambria Nwosu is a registered nurse, legal nurse consultant, and passionate healthcare advocate whose career spans the operating room, legal consulting, and public health policy. After years working in surgical nursing, Cambria pivoted into the world of legal nursing — a field where clinical expertise meets the justice system — providing expert consultation on medical-legal cases, standards of care, and nursing practice. She is also a widely respected voice on social media, where she advocates fiercely for nurse rights, healthcare equity, and systemic reform. Cambria believes that informed nurses are empowered nurses, and she shows up every day to prove it. ─────────────────────────────
Let's Talk About Birth, Disparities, and Shifting the System: With Mama Nurse Tina!
Saison 7 · Épisode 21
vendredi 29 mai 2026 • Durée 51:52
Women's health needs a ton of work, and it is a hill we are willing to die on. In this powerful episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Tina Bitangcol—widely known as Mama Nurse Tina—for an urgent, unfiltered conversation about the realities of women's healthcare, maternal mortality, and systemic disparities.
From navigating birth trauma and postpartum complications to addressing the critical gaps in Indigenous health and cultural competence, Amie and Tina shed light on the untold stories of the healthcare system. Together, they discuss how we can break down institutional barriers, the vital role of doulas, and why patient empowerment and knowledge are our greatest tools for change.
Whether you are a healthcare professional, a mother, or an advocate, this episode is a call to action to reclaim autonomy over our bodies and our care.
In this episode, we dive into:
Systemic Disparities: The critical gaps in tracking maternal mortality and addressing women's health disparities.
The Reality of Birth & Postpartum: Navigating birth trauma, postpartum mental health, and underrecognized medical complications.
Advocacy & Cultural Competence: The intersection of Indigenous health, institutional challenges, and the vital role of community support and doulas.
Patient Empowerment: How to navigate the healthcare system safely and confidently using the power of knowledge.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Motherhood and Nursing Journeys
01:20 Exploring Maternal Health Disparities
04:10 The Importance of Tracking Maternal Mortality
07:06 Challenges in Women's Health and Care
09:54 Empowering Women Through Knowledge
Exposing The Barriers: Why Are Nurse Practitioners Not Practicing To Their Full Scope in Canada? Discussions with CEO of NPAO Dr. Michelle Acorn
Saison 7 · Épisode 20
jeudi 21 mai 2026 • Durée 41:35
In this urgent episode, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Dr. Michelle Acorn, CEO of the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario (NPAO), to rip the band-aid off a system that refuses to evolve.
Dr. Acorn pulls no punches: Nurse Practitioners are trained, capable, and ready — and they're being held back by outdated policy, inadequate funding, and a government content to watch the primary care crisis deepen rather than act.
What you'll hear in this episode:
The full scope of what Ontario's inaction actually means for patients on the ground
Why NPs remain one of the most underleveraged solutions in Canada's healthcare system
The funding reforms and regulatory barriers that must be dismantled — now
What a truly patient-centered, NP-inclusive system could look like — and the path to get there
Why this moment is a turning point
This is the conversation healthcare needs to have. The one that doesn't end with "we'll study it further."
If you care about access to care, about equity, about a system that finally treats Nurse Practitioners as the leaders they are — this episode is required listening.
Subscribe, share, and turn up the volume. The gritty truth can't wait.
Update:
The April 1st Deadline Has Come and Gone. Ontario's Patients Are Paying for It.
The federal government drew a line in the sand: by April 1, 2026, provinces must ensure that medically necessary services delivered by Nurse Practitioners are publicly covered. Ontario blinked — and millions of patients are now left holding the bill.
As reported by CBC News, Ontario failed to meet the federal deadline, leaving Ontarians without primary care and forcing them to pay out-of-pocket for services that should never cost them a dime. This isn't a bureaucratic hiccup. This is a political choice — and people without a family doctor are the ones suffering the consequences.
The Obedient Nurse: How the "Good Nurse" Myth Quietly Paves the Way for Authoritarianism— and learning Hope Is a Discipline
Saison 7 · Épisode 19
vendredi 15 mai 2026 • Durée 01:09:07
What does Florence Nightingale have to do with authoritarianism? More than nursing wants to admit.
In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley and guest Meg Lambrych, RN tackles one of nursing's most uncomfortable questions: why can't nurses criticize Florence Nightingale? She is nursing's most sacred icon — but what if the "good nurse" myth she built has been grooming nurses to accept obedience, silence, and their own oppression for over a century? Beyond this, what happens when we cannot critize the leaders we put in places of power?
This is a conversation about nursing, power, and democracy. It is about lateral violence in healthcare, racism in nursing, and the cult of individualism that keeps nurses isolated, exhausted, and politically powerless. It is about what happens to a democracy when citizens — cannot bring themselves to criticize the leaders and figures they have placed into power.
Because the conditions that silence nurses are the same conditions that allow fascism to take root.
In this episode you will hear about:
Florence Nightingale's legacy and why nursing needs to critically examine its own icons
The "good nurse" myth and how it has normalized obedience, self-sacrifice, and silence in healthcare
The connection between nursing culture, the cult of individualism, and the rise of fascism
Lateral violence and racism in nursing and how they are tools of systemic oppression
What happens to democracy when we cannot criticize our leaders
Why collective power — not individual heroism — is what changes systems
Hope as a discipline: what it means, why it matters, and how nurses can lead the way
This episode is for nurses who are exhausted but still showing up. It is for healthcare workers who know something is broken and are ready to name it. It is for anyone watching democracy erode in real time and looking for a way to fight back that goes beyond voting.
Because hope is not a feeling. Hope is a discipline. And collective power is the only thing that has ever dismantled oppression.
Career Longevity: Practical advice for protecting your mental health and thriving at every stage of your nursing career.
Meet the Guests:
Tilda Shalof was a staff nurse in the Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Toronto General Hospital for thirty years. She is the best-selling author of several memoirs, including A Nurse's Story, and was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025 for her profound contributions to nursing education.
Lisa Mochrie is a Registered Nurse, Team Lead, and Nursing Educator based in Burlington, Ontario.Recognized for her compassionate clinical practice and dedication to mentoring, she was honored by her students with the Most Valuable Professor Award in 2025.
Where to Find the Guests & Buy the Book:
Grab your copy of The Handover: A Nurse's Last Shift: Available now through University of Toronto Press or your favorite local bookstore!
Connect with Tilda Shalof: IG- @nurse.tilda
Connect with Lisa Mochrie: IG- @lisa_mochrie
Connect with The Gritty Nurse:
Website: www.grittynurse.com
Instagram: @GrittyNursePod
Twitter/X: @GrittyNurse
Facebook: The Gritty Nurse With Amie Archibald Varley
Support the Show: If you loved this episode, please leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts—it helps other nurses find our community!
25:46 – Advocacy in Action: Changing Legislation to Expand Public Mental Health Access
About Our Guest: Sheena Howard
Sheena Howard is an award-winning Nurse Psychotherapist, healthcare entrepreneur, and the founder of Acceptance Nurse Psychotherapy, a leading nurse-owned mental health practice. Registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario, Sheena holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Arts. Over her 20+ year clinical career, she has dedicated herself to providing trauma-informed, intersectional, and harm-reduction-focused psychotherapy. Honoured with the provincial Nurse Innovation Award from the Registered Nurses' Foundation of Ontario in 2023, Sheena is a fierce advocate for nurse autonomy, health equity, and diverse mental health access.
The Gritty Nurse isn't here for polite conversation. We're here to start the revolution.
More About Dr. Michelle Acorn
Dr. Acorn has over 35 years of nursing, health systems and leadership expertise. NP Acorn transitioned to her NPAO CEO role in 2024. She previously was the inaugural Chief Nurse with the International Council of Nurses, a former Provincial Chief Nursing Officer in Ontario, and has served as a NPAO President.
Dr. Acorn was inducted as an inaugural Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing (FCAN), Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (FFNMRCSI, Ad Eundem), and Fellow of the Queens Nursing Institute in the United Kingdom. NP Acorn has received prestigious recognitions including the Nurse Practitioner Association of Canada Award of Excellence and Premier's Award Nominee for Outstanding Scholars and Leaders. She was named one of the top 20 visionary CEOs in Canada (2024), and top 25 women of influence in Canada (2025) and received a King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025). Michelle received the inaugural Canadian Nurses Association highest merit Sapphire Award in 2025.
Dr. Acorn upholds all the NP advanced practice role domains. She is diploma to post-doctoral educationally prepared, is a Doctor of Nurse Practitioner/ Nursing Practice, dually registered as both a Primary Health Care and Adult Nurse Practitioner, and a certified Global Nurse Consultant. Dr. Acorn's diverse clinical expertise includes practicing in the Emergency, as a Hospitalist, innovating GAIN (Geriatric Assessment and Intervention Networks), and pioneering the most responsible provider (MRP) impacts of a NP–led model of inpatient hospital care as well as NP primary care models in corrections. NP Michelle continues to practice in the community enhancing access to care for health equity seeking populations. Michelle is recognized as a credible clinician, thought leader, mentor, teacher and scholar locally to globally.
Keywords: nursing podcast, nurse empowerment, Florence Nightingale, nursing history, lateral violence in nursing, racism in nursing, nurses and politics, healthcare advocacy, nursing and social justice, collective action, nurse burnout, democracy and healthcare, authortarianiasm and obedience, Canadian nursing, Gritty Nurse Podcast, Amie Archibald-Varley, hope is a discipline, nursing culture, nurse mental health, political nursing
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Nursing Advocacy and Challenges 02:29 Meg's Journey into Nursing and Writing 05:02 The Toxic Environment in Nursing 07:44 Racism and Lateral Violence in Nursing 10:31 Historical Context of Racism and Accountability 12:55 The Political Landscape and Nursing's Role 15:34 Fascism and Its Impact on Society 18:20 Mobilizing Nurses for Change 20:54 Understanding Fascism and Its Mechanisms 23:30 The Role of Nurses in Advocacy 26:29 The Importance of Collective Action 29:11 Breaking Free from White Supremacy Culture 37:13 Responsibility and Collective Action 38:53 Breaking the Spell of Individualism 41:35 Stepping into Collective Power 45:21 The Power of History and Community 49:49 The Importance of Community in Resistance 54:10 Understanding Our Power and Responsibility 57:53 The Role of Each Individual in Liberation 01:01:22 Facing the Reality of Fascism 01:03:26 Empowerment Through Knowledge and Action
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