During her last rotation as a nursing student at an outpatient program for severely mentally ill patients, Dawn Bounds found her calling as a psychiatric nurse.
She reflects on those days early into a new journey as an assistant professor at the UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing.
“I loved it – to sit and talk with my patients and try to understand the context of their lives and how to support them,” recalls the Chicago native. “It was such an enjoyable experience that I knew specialize in psychiatry from that moment on.”
Pivoting to Psychiatry
Bounds, who planned to go into medical-surgical nursing, took a position in an inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry unit right after graduation.
Being in such a challenging environment came naturally to her – so much so that she used to joke she’d return after she retired. Bounds worked there while earning a master’s degree to become a family psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and a Ph.D. in nursing science at Rush University.
Later, she continued her career at Rush as an assistant professor in the College of Nursing and the Medical College’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.
Helping At-risk Females
As a nurse practitioner, Bounds served in high schools and the county juvenile detention center on Chicago’s West Side. There, she helped at-risk female youths caught in a cycle of running away and getting locked up.
“I had two questions: Who are you running away from – what’s happening in the household that keeps you running? And who are you running to?” she recalls.
“Years ago, I attended a forensic nursing conference. They were talking about sex trafficking and sexual exploitation and all the red flags. I couldn’t help but think, ‘These are the girls I’m already taking care of,’” Bounds says.
“But nobody’s calling it sex trafficking or sexual exploitation. They’re just criminalizing these girls’ behaviors. They had these histories of being traumatized, and then on the other end, I was seeing them in juvenile detention, and I thought, ‘Something needs to change.’”
Supporting the Family Unit
Her research and day-to-day treatment took a fresh focus. Child welfare services often remove youngsters from abusive homes. But teens are more likely to remain in tenuous situations until they flee on their own.
Supporting young people, Bounds realized, meant supporting their entire families, especially those with minimal resources.
“These amazing kids were still going to school despite living in neighborhoods with shootings, violence, and substance use,” she says.
“I was just looking for ways to be of assistance and help them solidify some support networks so that they could not just survive but thrive amid many things beyond our control.”
Psychiatric DNP program
At UCI, where she joined the faculty this summer, Bounds will help establish a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner specialization in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program.
But the campus is not the only community that will benefit from her expertise and compassion. She plans to partner with primary care providers across Orange County to create an intervention that supports at-risk youths and their caregivers.
She wants to offer support beyond identifying trauma and suggesting emotional regulation techniques like exercise, yoga, and mindfulness.
“I feel like there’s this healthcare gap in how to make that happen. I think nurses and other health workers can become health coaches in the community,” Bounds says.
“Supporting teens chronically exposed to adversity could also mean connecting them to positive environments.”
This includes school-, faith- or sports-based youth programming, mental health care, housing, and support groups.
Technology’s Role in Helping Vulnerable
Her courses in the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing are delivered through Zoom, a tool she thinks could also serve a purpose in treating vulnerable patients. Still, Bounds misses the human connection and hopes her students can feel her warmth and sincerity through the screen.
“Being a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I know that those relationships you build are so important,” she says. “Even when they’re not my patients, students, and colleagues, I want that connection to be there.”
When asked about her proudest accomplishment, Bounds cites her mentoring ability.
“I come from a community that could be considered under-resourced, so I’m proud to be a role model for those I work with. A single mom raised me. I’m a first-gen college student. And now I have a Ph.D. and am working at the University of California,” she says.
“To me, I’m an example of that young person who might have limited resources and support right now. Examples like mine that demonstrate possibilities for young people are so important.”
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