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Nurse Tuni talks mental health

Elko Daily Free Press - 7/13/2021

Jul. 13—ELKO — The pandemic added a whole new level of difficulties for everyone. It has been even more difficult for those with mental health issues, and Heart of Healthcare award recipient Gilberta "Tuni" Theonnes recently talked about how diagnosis, medication and therapy can help.

Theonnes is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Life Quest Behavioral Health Care. This year she was one of 10 nurses nominated for the Heart of Healthcare event sponsored by Elko Daily Free Press and MedX AirOne to honor hardworking nurses and, especially, their efforts during the Covid-19 crisis.

"People that deal with depression and anxiety every day, then the added concerns of viral infection for themselves and their family and loved ones, took mental health to a new level," stated her award nomination. "Tuni helped people deal with their fears, their health, housing concerns, domestic violence concerns, troubled children concerns, financial concerns, medication concerns," and even arranged food and transportation when people could not do it themselves.

"What is mental health?" Theonnes asked. "I define mental health as your abilities to return to the most functional baseline that is in your normalcy of life. Some people are 'Eeyores' and some people are 'Tiggers.' If you are an Eeyore, we are not going to make you a Tigger (happy, jumpy.) Some people are just prone to being a little more serious, flat or down. Introverted or isolated. If we can work with that person and hear them say, 'I feel like myself,' 'I'm back to where I was a year ago,' 'My mom says it's great to see me again,' things like that, then that is a win. There is no 'normal' for one person. It is a constant variable. Everybody's different."

"Here at Life Quest we strive to get people back to their most comfortable feelings," Theonnes said.

She has been a nurse for about 40 years and she has been with Life Quest since 2018. She formally worked in emergency room nursing.

Theonnes switched to psychiatric nursing after a "really bad day" at work. That same day she came across a psychiatric nursing program at the University of New Mexico in Las Cruces. She applied and the rest is history.

She said Life Quest sees everyone from 6 to 80 years old.

"I like to see the patients first so that we can get an assessment and feel if they are activated or deactivated (manic or depressed) Theonnes said. "I try to do a diagnosis, always knowing that therapy is going to change it, and prescribe medications — antidepressants, antianxiety [medication] or mood stabilizers. Then I refer them to therapy. I try to get a flavor for what kind of therapist is going to work well with them."

According to their website, the agency offers services including psychotherapy, medication management, psychosocial rehabilitation, basic skills training, case management and online therapy.

"You don't get as many resources as the cities have," said patient Christa, whose last name is withheld for privacy purposes. "Our hospital used to have a behavioral health unit which is actually where I met Tuni. If you are not feeling good and you go into the hospital, they are going to life flight you or drive you to Reno or Salt Lake."

"It happens multiple times every week," Theonnes said. "I wish the public would cry out that we need inpatient psych services. A lot of people do not seek services."

"I started self-harm when I was in fifth grade," Christa said. "I've been to a lot of doctors over the years. When I was younger it was worse because there were not a lot to choose from. You click with different therapists."

Christa met Theonnes at the now defunct behavioral unit at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital after a suicide attempt.

"That's where I got my diagnosis as bipolar and was able to get medicated," Christa said. That diagnosis completely changed my life for the better. All of these problems I had over the years somewhat leveled out."

She said a supportive family is also a big help.

Now Christa has been employed for a number of years and is completely independent.

"I never had that in my early 20s," she said. "People in smaller communities are not as exposed to it," she said about the stigma of having a mental health diagnosis.

She is considering going into social work to give back, especially with children.

"I think if I had a diagnosis a lot younger, I think things would have been a lot different," Christa said. "It's nice to think you could help other people."

"What really worries me about young kids right now is all the social media, all the internet, instant gratification, all the alone time, playing video games — what they are missing out on is that they are not learning to cope," Theonnes said. "I believe with all my heart this is what's behind all this teenage suicide. They cannot process it out. The last two years has been hard on the whole population, especially the kids. I did not hear one parent say, 'My kid blossomed and did so much better.' We get calls every single day."

Theonnes said people can actually "walk right up to the window and say they need an appointment."

"The best thing to do is to Google 'Tuni.'"

"I love the look in a person's eye when they feel better, when you have helped them get comfortable, helped them get through a catastrophic moment in their life, when you educate them about what's coming," she said. "I love it when people look at me and say 'thank you.'"

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