The Kaiser Nursing Strike & the "Good" nurse (Part 2)
This blog is Part 2 of the "Good"nurse blog that I shared last week.
I want to reflect on this example, as I believe it is a vital example in the history of nurses changing the healthcare system through their own personal healing, introspection, and courage.
The Clash Between Two Archetypes
The Kaiser strike exposes a deep conflict between the old nursing archetype — the people-pleasing “good nurse” - and the new archetype- the self-possessed “sovereign nurse.”
Historically, nurses have been praised for being endlessly accommodating, silent, and self-sacrificing...
And the public has grown used to that version of “goodness”: nurses who show up no matter what, who absorb every burden without complaint, and who do it with a smile on their face.
But now, nurses are doing something radical — they’re saying no.
They’re saying, “I can’t give quality care when I’m overworked, underpaid, and unsafe.”
They’re not walking away from their patients; they’re standing up for them by standing up for themselves.
But to a society conditioned to equate self-sacrifice with virtue, this looks like rebellion.
To those who still subscribe to the old archetype, the striking nurse appears selfish.
In truth, what’s happening is evolution — the transformation from the People-Pleaser Nurse to the Sovereign Nurse.
One is driven by guilt.
The other by integrity.
“The "Good" nurse saves everyone but herself. The truly good nurse knows that saving herself is how she saves the profession.
Why Nurses Are Being Perceived as “Bad”
When nurses set boundaries — whether in their personal lives or through collective action — they challenge an unconscious cultural narrative:
“Good nurses don’t complain. They just keep going.”
The Kaiser strike interrupts that narrative. It forces people to confront uncomfortable truths:
- The U.S. healthcare system relies on nurses’ over functioning.
- Chronic understaffing and burnout are not acts of heroism, but symptoms of exploitation.
- Care without rest is unsustainable and unethical.
Nurses who are striking aren’t being “bad”- they’re being brave.
They’re showing what healthy boundaries look like in a profession that has normalized depletion.
The Psychology Beneath the Backlash
From a psychological lens, society’s discomfort mirrors the dynamic of an unhealthy relationship.
When the caretaker stops over-giving, the dependent system panics.
Hospitals, administrators, and even parts of the public feel the withdrawal of the nurse’s emotional labor, and mistake it for abandonment.
It’s the same emotional pattern that happens when a recovering people-pleaser says no for the first time- others protest, manipulate, or guilt-trip.
They don't do it because the nurse is wrong, but because the nurse's new boundaries expose the system's dependence on the nurse's compliance with self-sacrifice.
“When the system benefits from your silence, your voice will always sound defiant.”
Energetic Reclamation
From a holistic and energetic perspective, this is more than a labor dispute — it’s an act of collective nervous system regulation.
Nurses are finally refusing to override their bodies’ signals of fatigue, anger, and grief, much in the same way that trauma survivors learn to stop dissociating from pain.
The strike is an energetic declaration: We are done betraying our own health for the illusion of being ‘good.’
That’s coherence in action- the alignment of mind, heart, and spirit that we describe so powerfully in our teaching of young nurses.
5. How It Reflects the Shift in Nursing Consciousness
The Kaiser nurses are embodying the shift from survival nursing to sovereign nursing — from martyrdom to mastery.
They’re redefining “caring” to include themselves.
As I often say in my blogs:
“The people pleaser seeks peace through others. The whole nurse creates peace within herself — and lets it ripple outward.”
This is exactly what’s happening now — that ripple is collective.
Nurses are no longer trying to be “good” by old standards; they’re striving to be whole.
And wholeness sometimes looks like disruption.
Reframing the Narrative
Instead of asking, “Why are nurses walking out?”the deeper question should be, “Why have we expected them to stay when conditions are unsafe?”
Nurses aren’t being “bad.” They’re modeling self-respect and professional integrity.
They’re teaching a world that has taken their labor for granted what true compassion looks like by including themselves in the narrative (because true compassion never requires self-abandonment.)
This is not the destruction of nursing’s image — it’s the rebirth of it.
As holistic nurses, we are redefining what it means to be good.
The future of nursing rests in coherence — when your mind, body, and spirit move together.
When you care for yourself, you regulate the energy in the room, you become a mirror of wholeness, and you lead by example (not exhaustion.)
Reflection & Affirmation
Take a deep breath, nurse.
You don’t have to earn your worth through exhaustion.
You are allowed to rest, to receive, to say no, and still be worthy.
Healing our inner people-pleaser is how we reclaim our sovereignty, and how we become the nurses our souls intended.
I'm resharing some key Reflection Prompts from part 1 to help you explore your people pleasing tendencies:
- Where in my practice do I overextend myself to feel safe or appreciated?
- What part of me is still seeking approval, and what does she need instead?
- How does my body signal discomfort when I overgive?
- What would it look like to nurse from wholeness, not depletion?
Closing Reflection
The “Good Nurse vs. The Good Nurse” lives inside this moment in history.
Every nurse who takes a stand, every nurse who honors her limits, every nurse who says no more — is rewriting the definition of what it means to be good.
“Being a good nurse was never about how much we can take.
It’s about how courageously we protect what we give.”
--Dr. Rachel
P.S. I've made this and the Part 1 Blog "open access" so you may share them with anyone you think would benefit- feel free to forward as you see fit!