In this episode of WOCTalk, we’re joined by Suzanne Lord, a certified WOC nurse, chocolatier, and advocate for gratitude and positivity in the workplace. Suzanne shares insights from her keynote presentation at the 2024 New England Chapter of the WOCN® Society Conference, which explored the science behind happiness and how WOC nurses can cultivate joy in their daily work. She discusses key concepts from positive psychology, including “Three Good Things”, “joy spotting”, and “glimmers”—all daily practices for recognizing moments of happiness in everyday life. Tune in for practical strategies to enhance joy, well-being, and resilience in your WOC practice.
Resources:
Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee
How To Practice Three Good Things – University of Utah Health
Health and happiness go hand in hand – Harvard Health
The happy secret to better work TEDTalk by Shawn Achor
What Makes You Grateful? by Anne Kubitsky
About the Guests:
Suzanne Lord, BSN, RN, CWOCN, BCMAS, has been a registered nurse for 31 years and Certified Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse, for the past 13 years. She also holds a board certification in Medical Affairs. Her background has been predominantly in home care, and it was as a visiting nurse she chose to pursue the unique specialty of wound, ostomy, and continence nursing.
she made the leap from caring for mostly an elderly population in the home to leading the skin team at Connecticut Children’s medical center—an acute care pediatric hospital. From there, she moved to a global medical affairs role within the ostomy medical device industry and then into an acute care inpatient role as a Wound and Ostomy Resource nurse at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, New London Connecticut. She is currently working as a Wound Care Clinical Specialist for Solventum.
She has been an active member of our New England Chapter of the WOCN® Society and currently sits as Co-Chair of the Communication Committee. In the past, she has served on the leadership, education, and Youth Rally committees.
As a side pursuit and counterbalance to the health care arena, Suzanne completed an apprenticeship with a chocolatier and then earned her certificate as a Professional Chocolatier. She now works part-time in a local chocolate shop.
In 2014, Suzanne took a Seminar for health professionals titled “The Habits of Happy People”. This launched her into a year’s long path of independent learning and course work about positive psychology and the science of wellbeing. It is this professional side study that has brought her here today to speak about finding Joy in your WOC work.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.
