Nick Mehrnoosh, MS Psychology ’22 Presents at St Luke’s Stroke Community Day

by Mya Brossoit

Nicholas 鈥淣ick鈥� Mehrnoosh, MS Psychology 鈥�22, an adjunct faculty member for the School of聽 Psychology, participated in a guest presentation for Stroke Community Day at Providence St. Luke鈥檚 Rehabilitation Institute on May 18th. His presentation was titled, 鈥淐ultivating Self-Compassion and Resilience Post-Stroke.”聽 Amanda Smith-Treadwell, Senior Speech Language Pathologist with St. Luke鈥檚, writes that, 鈥渢his is an annual event hosted by St. Luke’s with the goal of providing ongoing support for families and individuals who have suffered strokes 鈥his year’s focus is looking at taking care of yourself beyond the stroke.鈥�

One of the main goals he had in giving the presentation was to emphasize a notion of 鈥渋ntervention through kindness鈥�.聽 He notes that after an individual has sustained a stroke there are multiple complications, medical and musculoskeletal that can impact their long-term quality of life. Additionally,

These complications can further extend into the psychosocial realm, leaving someone struggling with mood and emotional changes that fundamentally alter how they express their personality, behaviors, and relative self-confidence.

Therefore he promotes self-compassion as an intervention strategy, that can “engender a mindset of mindful kindness towards the stress of everyday life post-stroke, subsequently enhancing emotional resilience into the future.”

When asked how a psychological approach to post-stroke resilience and self-compassion differs from other therapy-based interventions (speech, physical, etc.), Nick notes that interventions for medical and musculoskeletal complications are important, but so is a psychosocial approach.聽 Physical Therapy strengthens physicality and mobility, Speech Therapy 鈥渇acilitates the improvement of cognitive-communication skills鈥�, but improving emotional resilience through self-compassion can assist with the psychosocial complications of a stroke. He notes that it isn鈥檛 uncommon for post-stroke survivors to experience 鈥減ersistent depressive symptoms, which are generally described as feeling disconnected from their pre-stroke life.鈥�

By regaining a sense of purpose through cultivating self-compassion, this helps “re-frame the mindset towards a balanced perception of the challenges that long-term rehabilitation can produce. From this avenue, the intention is to reduce or eliminate the relative impact of depression and anxiety symptoms and engender the individual to engage in new activities and roles to create greater post-stroke adjustment and quality of life.”

For current or future students who may be interested in working with stroke patients or their support networks, Nick recommends that they:

Remain open-minded to a stroke survivor鈥檚 lived experiences and be willing to engage in new opportunities, which might be outside your comfort zone. There is no growth, personally or professionally, without a modicum of adversity and working with individuals that have sustained a neurological injury can be a difficult task mentally and emotionally. That being said, it鈥檚 also very rewarding being a part of helping an individual rediscover their potential, whether you鈥檙e an advocate or Psychologist, this is the end goal.

If students would like to pursue experiential learning opportunities, he says to look within local and state communities where hospitals and clinics are in need of volunteers for adult post-stroke care, and聽 non-profit organizations that work on advocacy at the state level, and advises them to:

Get connected with your advisors in your majors and community stakeholders. As students, you have an opportunity to engage in a variety of environments and it鈥檚 best to try as many as possible, because that will help you grow and understand the populations you want to work with and support.

We thank Nick for his time sharing some insight into post-stroke care, and guidance for students who are interested in entering helping professions.