Pam Spivey is a Certified Personal and Executive Coach who serves as the Lead of Wellness/Resilience Program and Leader of Development Coaching for Inspire Nurse Leaders. 

How does a career neonatal nurse use her experience to inspire others in the field?

As a nurse leader for over three decades, Pam Spivey appreciates the awesomeness that is nursing, but also knows the toll it can take on a person’s overall health and well-being.

After a 36-year nursing career, she now works with other nurses to help them be their best as leaders.

Pam is an international speaker, author, and certified Compassion Fatigue Professional. She is an expert in resiliency practices and shares that expertise with individuals and teams to promote a flourishing, compassionate work culture.

Pam said she had burnout when the subject was rarely talked about. She loved her job, but kept adding more and more to her plate and said it was an “imperfect storm.” She cared for others and put herself last.

Before she began coaching and consulting, Pam said she realized that she wasn’t just exhausted or burned out; she was experiencing a debilitating bout of depression. Through therapy, she found a way to change her path and is now thriving by helping others.

Pam later realized that coaching was in her future. She attended the CaPP Institute’s Coach Training Intensive (CTI) in 2016 and said it changed her life. After attending CTI, she left corporate healthcare and started coaching.

“I found out I couldn’t do everything and that was something that I had to come to realize,” she said. “Reading Valorie’s book and going through the Coach Training Intensive not only helped me to start my own coaching business, but it helped me look within myself. It was an internal working group, as well as an external coaching exercise.”

After spending time doing individual coaching, Pam took a position with Inspired Nurse Leaders, a company focused on helping nurse leaders become their best.

She didn’t think that at her age she would move back into a full-time position, but she now says this is her legacy work.

Pam had individual clients up until April 2022 when she began working with Inspired Nurse Leaders. She said about 90% of them were nurses looking for career transitions. She also worked with entrepreneurs and began coaching them through their process of opening their own business.

She plans to continue on her current path for a while, and said there is still a lot to do to help nurses. She believes coaching is a way to guide and nurture them and let them know that everything is possible.

“All nurses are tired right now. If we can share our positive intent and our hopefulness with them, and let them know what their strengths are and how they can use those strengths in their daily lives, then they are going to be at their best.”