F E AT U R E S
FROM PATIENTS TO PURSES Lifelong trauma caught up to Shannon Monique once she became a nurse, leading to a stunning diagnosis: complex PTSD. Now an advocate for mental health care and wellness, she tapped into to her creative side as a means of treatment and hopes to lead others down the same road. by KARI APTED If Shannon Monique were to write a book, it might be titled, “Tales of a Nurse Turned Artist.” What sounds like a simple career change has actually been a long, complicated journey full of drastic ups and downs. Monique has an unusual reply for anyone who feels sorry for what she has endured. “I’m not,” she said. “I came out the other side a whole different person.” Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Monique grew up in poverty. Though her mother did the best she could, there were many nights of going to bed hungry and many days of doing without. Even so, Monique excelled in school, calling it the one outcome she could control. She continued to do well academically, even as she dealt with the challenges of a teen pregnancy. “I had a lot of childhood trauma,” Monique said. “I just wanted to grow up and help my mom out. I’ve always gravitated towards helping people, but I thought the dream of going to college was beyond me, that I couldn’t do more than work at the corner store.”
10 The Newton Community Magazine
She could not afford to buy her senior yearbook, but she had dreams of becoming a nurse and had that goal printed beneath her picture. Five years later—after putting herself through nursing school—a friend showed Monique the yearbook. For the first time, she saw her photo with the words “plans to become a nurse” below it, and she was filled with pride over accomplishing what had once seemed impossible. Monique moved to Georgia in 1999, when her cousin encouraged her to come work as a travel nurse. She married and had another son but soon realized she was in a domestic violence situation. As had been the pattern her whole life, she persevered, sacrificing her wellbeing for the sake of others. Several years later, while working in the interventional radiology department at Emory, the stress from the abuse— from everything—caught up with her and she suffered a major gastrointestinal bleed. “The GI bleed kept me out of work for weeks,” Monique said. “At first, they thought I had Chron’s [disease]. I didn’t realize the depth of what was going on.”
