Have you thought about consultant work (e.g., legal nurse consulting), or working for an insurance company, or auditing mental health records for compliance & QA issues?

If you like your work, why not change locales instead of trying to create a new career at 46? Where I live (NJ) there are enough hospitalized patients to keep all the nurses between here and Kalamazoo working until the year 3000.

You must be living in the only place in the universe that lacks MH in-patient facilities. Move to a place with a variety of MH settings. Cali, PA, NJ, NY, Illinois where we have the best kind of facilities on the planet and more of them than you can shake a stick at.

Is there some reason you can't get a fresh start elsewhere? The pay in my area is in the $75,000/year range for pscyhiatric RNs with a batchelors degree and there are many facilities. Some even pay bonuses and moving expenses.

It doesn't sound to me like you want to leave your profession; it is only that nothing is available where you are. You could probably find jobs without leaving your room - on line and have one in hand before you even move. You are not in your own home so all you have is your suitcase and furniture.

Making a career change is a major move, but sometimes warrant asking yourself if this what I want to do! Mental health nursing is a great field. Maybe updating your resume and put it our there to test your options.

I operate several businesses, and when people ask me to speak at their function, they ask the same question you have. I first ask them, what is it that you're real good at.

Take what you are truly passionate about and think outside the box. Create a course on nursing, open yourself to options that takes you out of your confort zone, and eventually, people will take notice of your expertise. People are starving for professional advice, why not make yourself available?

Passion + Profit = Wealth

thank you for the great replies

I cannot move right now-

although I would love that idea

but

I still have 2 teenagers at home ,a very sick brother-in-law and a widowed mother in this area

I guess I just need a job right now to pay the bills and nursing basically does that for me

but it is not my passion

that's why I keep reading these career-change books and that's why I am here

I am burnt out

Hi Katie,

This is a long shot but, how 'bout a live-in situation on a beautiful 550 acre farm in central VA with a 54 year old man with Down Syndrom and Alzheimers. Look up www.innisfreevillage.org and let me know.

You came to the right place. Take a look at my profile and get in touch with me. In the meantime, great step to sum up and analyze your situation and face what you want and what is irking you. Then we can talk about your potential and motivation because this is not the end, only the beginning of another phase for you.

Hi the best job is the want you control. start you own business at home take a look at this, www.maybornenterprises.com click on guests enter you email address and the password: free. It is the best opportunity I have come accross.