February 9, 2026 • 26 mins
What if the moment that wrecked your plan ended up shaping your purpose?
Follow Dr. Shanea Clancy along the real (and difficult) road to forensic nursing, starting with a fatal EMS tragedy, two jobs, an accelerated program, and the choice to keep going when quitting felt easier. This isn’t a glossy success story. It’s grit, structure, and a deep belief that no one can take your education away.
We learn about forensic nursing beyond TV: trauma-informed care, mental health and addiction, chart reviews, death investigations, and what it actually means to serve as an expert witness. Dr. Clancy also reframes addiction in a way that might surprise you and challenges how we think about control, coping, and responsibility.
If you’re a student or early in your career, there’s a lot here for you. We talk about finding mentors when you didn’t grow up with access, asking better shadowing questions, and staying coachable so doors can open. And we get into her mountaineering mindset: why resilience isn’t just pushing harder, but knowing when to reset so you don’t burn out on the climb.
Connect with Dr. Shanea Clancy: Website | Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn
Please connect and say hello >>> Email me!
Support shadow me next >>> Thank you!
Want to be a guest? >>> Click here!
Virtual shadowing is an important tool to use when planning your medical career. Whether as a doctor, a physician assistant, a therapist or nurse, here Shadow Me Next! we want to provide you with the resources you need to find your role in healthcare and understand your place in medicine.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (00:00):
I had taken two weeks off, but I had to make
a decision.
Am I going to press forward oram I just going to curl up and
put my head in the sand and callit a day?
My mom said to me, you knowwhat?
Nobody can take your educationaway from you regardless of any
outcome.
And that was really the mindsetof, you know what?
(00:21):
I can overcome, I can dobetter.
I hate where I'm at right now.
I'm not really sure if Ideserve to move forward, but I'm
going to give it the best shotthat I can.
Dr.
Ashley Love (00:31):
Shayna Clancy defines resilience.
Her story starts in nursingschool as an EMT who had a drink
and tragically experienced afatal accident behind the wheel
of an ambulance.
But amazingly, her storydoesn't end there.
After serving time, she workedmultiple jobs through an
accelerated nursing program,dreaming of the one thing the
world couldn't take from her: education. (00:53):
undefined
Instead of quitting, and trustme, she wanted to, she dug in,
powered by discipline and a deepcommitment to serving others.
We talk about forensic nursing,expert witness work,
mentorship, and how adversitycan redefine both leadership and
(01:14):
purpose.
Welcome to Shadow Me Next, apodcast where I take you into
and behind the scenes of themedical world to provide you
with a deeper understanding ofthe human side of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor, and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
I invite you to join me as wetake a conversational and
(01:35):
personal look into the lives andminds of leaders in medicine.
This is Shadow Me Next with Dr.
Shayna Clancy.
Dr.
Clancy, thank you so much forjoining us today on Shadow Me
Next.
I what a treat this is going tobe.
You have an incredible storythat is really just bathed in
tragedy early on.
And we're here to talk aboutthe ways in which you have taken
(01:57):
that um resilience-formingsituation and really just
absolutely ran with it and notfor your own benefit, for the
benefit of others, which is justthe coolest thing.
So thank you so much for beinghere with us today.
Yes, and thank you for havingme.
It's an honor.
Uh the honor is mine, truly.
So let's go back a little bitbefore we dive in to some of
(02:18):
these harder, more burningquestions.
Did you know you wanted to gointo medicine from the
beginning?
You stepped from EMS intonursing and you have your
doctorate of nursing practice.
You have a bunch of otheramazing things that you do.
Is this the trajectory that youexpected for your life?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (02:34):
Uh, is not the trajectory that I expected
for my life in the least.
My mom always tells me when Iwas younger, I said I wanted to
be a doctor.
Doctor is the loose term thatI've learned along the way,
right?
There's a lot of differentdoctoral degrees.
And that's really all I knew.
Um, there's nobody in my familythat has any medical
(02:54):
background, and it was justsomething that showed up and I
just ran with it.
Ashley Love (03:00):
Incredible.
Where did you find where didyou find mentorship or
motivation early on?
Did you did you have somebodythere that was kind of guiding
you and saying, hey, you know,maybe you should start with
nursing or maybe you shouldstart with EMS, or was it really
just a self-directed discovery?
Shanea Clancy, D (03:15):
Self-directed.
I didn't have, I didn't evenknow what a mentor was really
growing up.
So I quickly learned that if Iwanted to get to where I wanted
to be and where I am, I neededto invest in myself, which
involves mentorship andcoaching, which is why I now do
that as well.
Ashley Love (03:32):
That's perfect.
I mean, I think you know, it'slovely to to be able to give
back, especially in situationswhere we we you know, we didn't
have that initially.
And that's how we grow andthat's how we pour into the next
generation.
So you started EMS and became anurse um soon after that.
Is that a typical route?
As a PA, a lot of our um, a lotof my classmates were EMS
(03:57):
before they went to PA school.
And a lot of that is in orderfor them to um, you know, get
their patient contact hours anddevelop tools that are really,
really serve them as PAs.
Is that common for nurses?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (04:10):
Honestly, I don't think it is.
Maybe it is, but I didn't, Iwas in nursing school before I
even did EMS.
Oh wow, yes.
Yeah, and it was actually afriend that was like, you should
you should get into this um tokind of round out your skill set
and just learn more in thefield.
Ashley Love (04:27):
And I was like, okay, that sounds fun, let's do
it.
Wow.
And then you were also on afast track nursing trajectory as
well, right?
How did you make time for allof that?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (04:38):
Um, so it actually was interesting because
I'm a first generation collegestudent, and so uh trying to
figure out how to even go tocollege or any kind of
educational setting was reallychallenging.
I remember my parents werelike, um, okay, and figure out
how to fill out FAFSA of itself.
(05:02):
And they were like, we're notco-siding anything.
And I was like, I don't evenknow what we're having this
discussion about yet, but okay,I'll go figure it out.
And that's really where itstarted, where I just was like,
I need to do what I need to doto get to where I need to go.
And I don't even rememberapplying to the school that I
(05:22):
went to, which sounds very odd.
And I remember getting thisphone call to come do the
interview at West Penn HospitalSchool of Nursing, which is in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
And so I went, and next thing Iknow, like I'm in nursing
school.
I'm like, okay, this is this iswhere I'm supposed to be, and I
like it so far.
Ashley Love (05:40):
That's incredible.
I that really is there is justthere's divine intervention
there, I think.
Which is absolutely an amazingstory and and a really great
thing for the person listeningwho might say, I don't even know
where to begin.
Um, you didn't know where tobegin.
Your parents didn't know whereto begin.
No, and it it's it's doable,right?
(06:01):
I think so often people willsay, Ashley, I'm so concerned
I'm behind.
And we're gonna talk about thisa little bit more later on, but
they're concerned that they'rebehind.
They're concerned that theydon't know what's lying ahead.
I mean, I think you and I couldboth tell them, don't be.
And by the way, a lot of peopledon't know what's lying ahead.
You kind of just have to start.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (06:20):
It's true, but it's so it's so challenging
for the person hearing that.
I know it was for me.
You're like, yeah, okay.
Like it's gonna be okay.
Are you sure?
Well, I mean, I see where we'rewhere you're at, but I'm not
connecting the dots, especiallywhen we're just coming out of
high school or a couple yearsafter that.
(06:40):
Like our brains are stilldeveloping and trying to figure
out what is even going on andhow we even got there.
And that transition from highschool to any kind of college
setting can be scary.
Ashley Love (06:52):
No, absolutely.
Well, it's and we'll talk aboutresiliency a lot in this
episode too, but it's it's aresiliency-forming opportunity,
really.
And you know, I encouragepeople to write down those
feelings that they have andwrite down when or you know,
describe how they're feeling inthat moment and then looking
back on it when they're in theirprofession and they're about to
(07:13):
make a major shift, forexample, and it feels really
unusual and unknown.
They can say, Well, I've I'vedefinitely been here before.
And I was making no money, Iwas actually giving people
money, and it was a lot of it,it's much scarier back then.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (07:27):
Um, yeah, I was scraping quarters from the
couch or something to know ifeverybody has their own journey
of how we get here.
Ashley Love (07:34):
Scraping corn.
Oh my god, I love that.
I probably do need to go checkmy couch on a side note because
my children will find thosequarters and they will run off
with them, that's for sure.
While you're in EMS, of course,you experienced this amazingly
tragic, life-altering situationthat we discussed um in a little
while ago.
When it came to that moment,you were in the middle of
(07:57):
nursing school, is that right?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (07:58):
I was.
I was in the middle of nursingschool and I was working at two
EMS stations because I had toput myself through school too.
So I was, I actually had threedifferent jobs, not all
full-time, but I was doing threedifferent jobs who all go into
an accelerated nursing programfull-time.
Ashley Love (08:17):
What was the most important mindset that you had
in that moment that you thinkreally pulled you through?
Because a lot of people say,Well, Ashley, school is so hard
and I'm so overwhelmed and Idon't know how I'm gonna do
this.
And then I talked to peoplelike you, for example, who
literally succeeded in schooldespite unimaginable situations.
What mindset?
(08:38):
What mindset did you have?
How did you do it?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (08:42):
At first, I really wanted to give up.
I was like, I don't know if Iwill go back to nursing school.
And since it was such anaccelerated program, you can
miss two weeks, period,throughout like anything.
And so it was very, verystructured.
I had taken two weeks off, butI had to make a decision.
(09:02):
Am I going to press forward oram I just gonna crawl up and put
my head in the sand and call ita day?
Ashley Love (09:09):
This is a segment on the show where we discuss
interview questions that youmight hear on your own
pre-health interview.
What Dr.
Clancy is talking about herebrings up a really great
interview question.
Tell me about a time you wantedto stop moving forward, but
chose to continue anyway.
What helped you decide?
And how did that moment shapehow you handle uncertainty now?
(09:32):
Do this.
Write down one moment where youwanted to quit.
Then write down what youlearned from staying.
That reflection is interviewgold.
And it doesn't just stop atquality questions.
There are more resources foryou as a pre-health student on
ShadowmeNext.com to include ournewly released application
(09:53):
readiness course.
So head on over tocourses.shadowmext.com and check
it out.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (09:59):
My mom said to me, you know what?
Nobody can take your educationaway from you regardless of any
outcome.
And it was in that moment I waslike, you know what?
You're absolutely right.
And if nothing happens after Icomplete my education, I can at
least say I did it.
Ashley Love (10:16):
Right.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (10:17):
Because we've always, I've always been
raised if you start something,you complete it.
And then you decide whetheryou're going to do it again or
not.
And that was really the mindsetof, you know what?
I can overcome, I can dobetter.
I hate where I'm at right now.
I'm not really sure if Ideserve to move forward, but I'm
(10:37):
going to give it the best shotthat I can.
Ashley Love (10:41):
It's so, it's such a testament to your discipline
and your your future thinking,you know.
I mean, it's we all fall intothese situations of self-doubt,
I think is a big one.
Um and future thinking is it's,I mean, I think some people
call it manifesting.
Yeah, maybe, but really it'sit's the a plan, right?
(11:02):
Where am I going?
How am I going to get there?
Um, let's let's make it happen.
Absolutely incredible.
I'm so glad.
I'm so glad that you're whereyou're at because the things
that you're doing right now, aswe'll talk about with the
Mountaineering Mindset Academyand the handbook, are just
amazing.
Um, so you you've graduatednursing school at this point.
Did and and you work as aforensic nurse.
(11:24):
Can you describe what forensicnursing is for us who might not
know?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (11:29):
So I get this question often, and I like
to tell people, and I don'tknow, maybe I should change my
wording, but I'm like, it's allthe things that most people
don't want to do.
And that is mental health,addiction, um, assaults, sexual
assaults, physical, anythinglike that, domestic violence,
crime scene investigation,expert witness.
So we see these on TV, right?
(11:52):
And there's that, there's thatseparation of real life and then
what we're seeing.
But like when it gets to thenitty-gritty, is this something
that somebody wants to pursue,right?
Because it's definitely not thebest of times in any of these
situations.
And part of, yes, to answeryour question, I did not choose
forensic nursing.
(12:13):
It chose me.
Ashley Love (12:15):
Tell us how that looked.
I mean, was it something thatyou that you just stumbled upon,
something you heard about?
Was it informed from yoursituation um while you were at
working as an EMS?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (12:26):
I had no clue what forensic nursing was.
So I did my bachelor's umonline, and then I decided, you
know what, I'm gonna keep going.
I'm not really sure where.
And I had seen DuquesneUniversity oftentimes when I was
riding the bus at that time,and I was I'd look up on the
hill and I would see it, and I'mlike, hmm, that's where like
(12:47):
rich people go.
There's no way I'll ever beable to go there.
That's like the rich kids'school, right?
It's private, Catholic.
And I'm like, I don't know.
But I had this in my heart thatI really wanted to attend
there.
I was like being pulled, andI'd never been on campus at all.
And I started to explore alittle bit, had met with people
(13:07):
there, and then I learned theyhad this forensic nursing track.
And I'm like, what is that?
Like, talk to me about that.
And I was like, you know what?
That's literally everythingI've been through.
This should probably becakewalk.
Now I've got the lifeexperience, and let me get the
credentials to kind of roundthat out.
I figure there's two types ofpeople in the world that would
(13:28):
want our services, people thatwant our expertise and people
that want our personalexperience.
So why not blend them?
Ashley Love (13:37):
Absolutely incredible.
Wow.
Oh, I love that.
I love that so much.
The riding on the bus, looking,just literally seeing your
future right there.
What do those situations looklike?
So when somebody wants yourexpertise or when somebody wants
your personal stories, describea little bit about you know how
that whole process works fromstart to finish.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (13:55):
Yeah.
So just like you who happen tofind me, um, and then you know,
research a little bit onpersonal story.
There's people that are drawnto that.
Like, how did you get there?
How did you come out of it?
Like those kind of things.
And I would say also that isthat ripples.
Like there's been Fortune 500companies I've spoken at that
(14:18):
focus on safety a lot.
And so they would want, youknow, personal background
stories for their drivers or foranybody that's in quality.
Um, and then when it comes toother services in general, like
consulting, crisis intervention,trauma-informed care, mental
health addiction.
So I ended up going to getcertified as a certified
(14:41):
addiction registered nurse,advanced practice, and then a
global fellow of theInternational Academy of
Addiction Nursing.
So the expertise spans not onlyin the backyard, but globally.
And that's oftentimes wherepeople are looking because
people are struggling, andeverybody thinks addiction is
mentor is um like pills oralcohol or opiates.
(15:05):
Addiction is anything that weconsume in excess.
Shopping, um, you know,exercising, social media,
leadership, anything.
People can be addicted toanything that's taking away from
their purpose or what theyreally should be focusing on.
Ashley Love (15:23):
It's incredible.
I feel very convicted rightnow.
I mean, that's it.
It's yes, it's an importantconversation.
You mentioned a couple ofthings that I would like to just
briefly ask you about because Ithink that a lot of people um
have heard about this but mightnot know a lot about it.
You serve as an expert witnessin some cases.
(15:43):
Do you want to do?
Is that something people wantto do, or is that something that
you just you feel drawn to?
And it's almost like a pride ofprofession sort of thing.
Tell us a little bit more aboutbeing an expert witness.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (15:55):
Um, so for me, it's something that I always
wanted to do, especially afterdoing the forensic nursing
degree, because that really doeselevate your expertise.
But I also wanted to be able toserve in a capacity that would
be neutral.
A lot of the experts thatpeople bring in, they may be
one-sided or the other, but whatthey're really looking at is
(16:15):
can somebody look at thissituation from a neutral
perspective, just bringing theirexpertise to the table.
And I think that it's veryfascinating to be part of that
process.
Um, but also just chartreviews.
So that's an expertise as well,where you know, maybe there's a
death investigation case or asuicide.
(16:36):
Like I've done so many chartreviews for possible suicides,
and you're like looking back athow did that person get there?
Was there anything missed?
Just a whole realm of justlooking at chart reviews and
helping attorneys with thatmedical jargon.
Unless you're an attorney thathas done med school, which
(16:57):
there's quite a few of them.
You know, they they might needto seek some assistance out in
what does this terminology mean?
Ashley Love (17:05):
Is that something that you do pretty frequently?
I guess it really it probablydepends on the your field of
medicine.
It depends on your your uminterests, but is it something
that you do quite often, or isthis very random, irregular,
every so often type of work?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (17:23):
Yeah, it's regularly irregular, that if it
makes sense.
There's like more pockets thatwill come up than others.
It just really depends on theneed of the the legal system in
that case.
Like very cool.
Currently, I have somebody whosought me out from a different
state to kind of take on a verybroad aspect of the state when
(17:45):
it comes to different ways thatuh things are managed within
like foster care and the mentalhealth aspects, and there's it's
just interesting things thatkind of just fall into my career
path.
And a lot of it has to do withjust being open-minded, willing,
and coachable.
Ashley Love (18:06):
Incredible, which coachable, my goodness, you uh
you have created this incrediblegift to people, all people, but
really pre-health students arepre-med, pre-nursing, pre-PA,
pre-physical therapy, the listgoes on, uh will really, really
benefit from this.
And that's the mountaineeringhandbook.
And I'm gonna read a littleexcerpt about this book from
(18:27):
your website, but it says it's ahandbook for anyone looking to
hone their leadership skills ortriumph over adversity, and it
blends mountain stories withleadership lessons so you can
navigate transitions andsetbacks.
We like to think we're nevergonna have setbacks, right?
We really like to believe thatit's always going to be a steady
pace, no two steps forward, onestep back, none of that.
(18:50):
But you we know that happens.
Um, you know, tell us a littlebit about what this program
means to you and who thishandbook is for.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (19:01):
So I am so excited.
Um, here is here's the book.
I'll show you.
It's kind of crooked.
Um, yes, I just like thecolors.
It's very inviting and um justmeant a lot, resonated with me
personally, but it's really foranybody.
And you had asked me severalquestions, right?
How did I get here?
(19:22):
What made me think this?
Resilience.
We talk about all these thatwe've talked about so far, and
I'm sure there's so much more.
This was really a download thatI like to call how I was
harnessing all of the gifts thatI've been given into one guide,
one separated, differentiatedprogram.
(19:44):
I researched diligently.
There's nothing out there likethis, and I am a trained
mountaineer.
So I had to put it together,and it really just hit me one
day where I'm like, you knowwhat?
Every single aspect of lifehappens on an ascent and a
descent.
And it doesn't even have to bea physical mountain, it can just
(20:04):
be that mental mountain.
Ashley Love (20:07):
It's amazing, it's amazing.
So for the handbook, is itsomething that we read?
Is it something that um that isa reflective exercise?
What can we expect to see whenwe open up those pages?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (20:19):
So this is a book book.
This one is a book, right?
And so it has a lot of like thefoundations.
Like I talk about base camp andwhat tools do you need at base
as opposed to different sets ordifferent parts of the mountain,
but it's all tied back toleadership, mindset, doubts, um,
conquering negative, you know,insights, thoughts.
(20:44):
Um, the guide itself that we'llbe dropping here shortly as
well, because there's twodifferent ones.
Um, this will be more like aworkbook, I should say.
So this would be the guide, andthen a workbook to coincide
with it.
And that will be more of thefootwork.
The current one has somereflective prompts, but the
(21:05):
other one is going to be whatthe wraparound is for both sides
of it.
Ashley Love (21:11):
And you might just pick up a newfound hobby in the
middle of reading all of this,and that's mountaineering.
How cool is that?
How important, how importantare our hobbies right now?
I mean, are you working inmedicine?
You do incredible things, youliterally have your hands in so
many different arenas, and yetyou still make time and save
space for some of these thingsthat just I would imagine bring
(21:34):
you bring you a lot of joy.
Um, how important are thesethings for us as clinicians,
especially?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (21:40):
Oh, clinicians and students, because
who we surround ourselves withis who we are.
And so if we want to elevateourselves and learn, you can't
unless you reach out and youask.
Nobody's nobody's going toknow.
That you want to shadow in aspecific area of a field in a
(22:04):
niche, unless you ask.
And there's no better time toask than when you're a student.
Everybody wants to help astudent because they're like,
Oh, they really want to learn,they're very interested in this,
instead of like beingvoluntole, hey, this is the unit
you're going to, and theperson's like, Oh, I got what
feet?
Cardiology is not my field.
Um, and so it's very importantbecause even the hobbies, you
(22:27):
never know where that will go.
I didn't get intomountaineering initially.
I met cyclers, I was intocycling, and it turns out that
the people that I'd met werealso like very highly trained
mountaineers, like have done theSwiss Alps in by themselves.
And so it's about mentorship,just being willing to try new
(22:48):
things, and it's very importantbecause it's also self-care,
which is huge, absolutely hugeright now.
Ashley Love (22:56):
Um, so her book is available on shanaclancy.com.
That'ss-h-a-n-e-a-c-l-a-n-c-y.com.
I'll link it in the show notesbelow.
Before we wrap up, we've we'vementioned resiliency a lot, and
I think it's a term thatstudents students hear all the
time and we throw around asclinicians and as uh if we're
interviewing and as mentors allthe time.
(23:18):
And a student would say, Ash,how am I supposed to develop
resiliency?
Do I have to put myself inreally, really hard situations
in order to develop that skill?
Um, and I would love to hearyour opinions on this because
hopefully the answer is notnecessarily.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (23:37):
That is the answer, but a hard situation,
what does that look like?
It looks different foreverybody.
So maybe it is literally tryingto figure out how to get into
school.
That's a hard, challengingsetback, right?
Um, it can be something assimple as, hey, I need to figure
out how to do my checkingaccount because nobody taught me
(24:00):
that in high school.
And that's a setback, right?
So you've come, you've overcomethat.
It can be anything.
Whatever is important to youmight be different from somebody
else.
And when we talk aboutresiliency, oftentimes people
think of it that there has to besome kind of setback to move
forward.
There's two sides toresiliency, and I feel
(24:23):
oftentimes the other side isoverlooked and I think more
important.
So it is actually taking thattime to reset, regardless where
we are in our careers or schoolor life, is to just take that
time, that reprieve, set backtime to be able to unplug,
(24:45):
evaluate where we are, and thenget our head back in the game to
continue where we're headed.
Ashley Love (24:51):
That's perfect.
I you're right.
It's very overlooked because Ithink people feel like they're
in a difficult situation.
Let's push through, get to theother side, and continue on.
The reflection and reflectivenature of that.
Um, that is genius.
You are you are amazing.
Dr.
Clancy, thank you so much forjoining us on Shadow Me Next
today.
This has just been incredible.
Um, forensic nursing expertwitness.
(25:13):
Now I feel like I can at leastintelligently speak on some of
these things.
So thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing yourstory and thank you for creating
the Mountaineering MindsetAcademy, which is available on
your website, this handbook andthe soon-to-come guide.
Um, I'm just I this is amazing.
Thank you so much.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (25:30):
Thank you, and thank you, Ashley, for
having me.
I hope um your listeners andyour audience have gained some
nuggets and ninja tricks tocontinue being awesome.
Ashley Love (25:38):
Thank you so very much for listening to this
episode of Shadow Me Next.
If you liked this episode, orif you think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday.
As always, if you have anyquestions, let me know on
Facebook or Instagram.
Access you want, stories youneed, you're always invited to
Shadow Me Next.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
(26:03):
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only, and
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are
those of the host and guests,and do not necessarily reflect
the official policy or positionof any other agency,
organization, employer, orcompany.
I had taken two weeks off, but I had to make
a decision.
Am I going to press forward oram I just going to curl up and
put my head in the sand and callit a day?
My mom said to me, you knowwhat?
Nobody can take your educationaway from you regardless of any
outcome.
And that was really the mindsetof, you know what?
(00:21):
I can overcome, I can dobetter.
I hate where I'm at right now.
I'm not really sure if Ideserve to move forward, but I'm
going to give it the best shotthat I can.
Dr.
Ashley Love (00:31):
Shayna Clancy defines resilience.
Her story starts in nursingschool as an EMT who had a drink
and tragically experienced afatal accident behind the wheel
of an ambulance.
But amazingly, her storydoesn't end there.
After serving time, she workedmultiple jobs through an
accelerated nursing program,dreaming of the one thing the
world couldn't take from her: education. (00:53):
undefined
Instead of quitting, and trustme, she wanted to, she dug in,
powered by discipline and a deepcommitment to serving others.
We talk about forensic nursing,expert witness work,
mentorship, and how adversitycan redefine both leadership and
(01:14):
purpose.
Welcome to Shadow Me Next, apodcast where I take you into
and behind the scenes of themedical world to provide you
with a deeper understanding ofthe human side of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor, and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
I invite you to join me as wetake a conversational and
(01:35):
personal look into the lives andminds of leaders in medicine.
This is Shadow Me Next with Dr.
Shayna Clancy.
Dr.
Clancy, thank you so much forjoining us today on Shadow Me
Next.
I what a treat this is going tobe.
You have an incredible storythat is really just bathed in
tragedy early on.
And we're here to talk aboutthe ways in which you have taken
(01:57):
that um resilience-formingsituation and really just
absolutely ran with it and notfor your own benefit, for the
benefit of others, which is justthe coolest thing.
So thank you so much for beinghere with us today.
Yes, and thank you for havingme.
It's an honor.
Uh the honor is mine, truly.
So let's go back a little bitbefore we dive in to some of
(02:18):
these harder, more burningquestions.
Did you know you wanted to gointo medicine from the
beginning?
You stepped from EMS intonursing and you have your
doctorate of nursing practice.
You have a bunch of otheramazing things that you do.
Is this the trajectory that youexpected for your life?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (02:34):
Uh, is not the trajectory that I expected
for my life in the least.
My mom always tells me when Iwas younger, I said I wanted to
be a doctor.
Doctor is the loose term thatI've learned along the way,
right?
There's a lot of differentdoctoral degrees.
And that's really all I knew.
Um, there's nobody in my familythat has any medical
(02:54):
background, and it was justsomething that showed up and I
just ran with it.
Ashley Love (03:00):
Incredible.
Where did you find where didyou find mentorship or
motivation early on?
Did you did you have somebodythere that was kind of guiding
you and saying, hey, you know,maybe you should start with
nursing or maybe you shouldstart with EMS, or was it really
just a self-directed discovery?
Shanea Clancy, D (03:15):
Self-directed.
I didn't have, I didn't evenknow what a mentor was really
growing up.
So I quickly learned that if Iwanted to get to where I wanted
to be and where I am, I neededto invest in myself, which
involves mentorship andcoaching, which is why I now do
that as well.
Ashley Love (03:32):
That's perfect.
I mean, I think you know, it'slovely to to be able to give
back, especially in situationswhere we we you know, we didn't
have that initially.
And that's how we grow andthat's how we pour into the next
generation.
So you started EMS and became anurse um soon after that.
Is that a typical route?
As a PA, a lot of our um, a lotof my classmates were EMS
(03:57):
before they went to PA school.
And a lot of that is in orderfor them to um, you know, get
their patient contact hours anddevelop tools that are really,
really serve them as PAs.
Is that common for nurses?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (04:10):
Honestly, I don't think it is.
Maybe it is, but I didn't, Iwas in nursing school before I
even did EMS.
Oh wow, yes.
Yeah, and it was actually afriend that was like, you should
you should get into this um tokind of round out your skill set
and just learn more in thefield.
Ashley Love (04:27):
And I was like, okay, that sounds fun, let's do
it.
Wow.
And then you were also on afast track nursing trajectory as
well, right?
How did you make time for allof that?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (04:38):
Um, so it actually was interesting because
I'm a first generation collegestudent, and so uh trying to
figure out how to even go tocollege or any kind of
educational setting was reallychallenging.
I remember my parents werelike, um, okay, and figure out
how to fill out FAFSA of itself.
(05:02):
And they were like, we're notco-siding anything.
And I was like, I don't evenknow what we're having this
discussion about yet, but okay,I'll go figure it out.
And that's really where itstarted, where I just was like,
I need to do what I need to doto get to where I need to go.
And I don't even rememberapplying to the school that I
(05:22):
went to, which sounds very odd.
And I remember getting thisphone call to come do the
interview at West Penn HospitalSchool of Nursing, which is in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
And so I went, and next thing Iknow, like I'm in nursing
school.
I'm like, okay, this is this iswhere I'm supposed to be, and I
like it so far.
Ashley Love (05:40):
That's incredible.
I that really is there is justthere's divine intervention
there, I think.
Which is absolutely an amazingstory and and a really great
thing for the person listeningwho might say, I don't even know
where to begin.
Um, you didn't know where tobegin.
Your parents didn't know whereto begin.
No, and it it's it's doable,right?
(06:01):
I think so often people willsay, Ashley, I'm so concerned
I'm behind.
And we're gonna talk about thisa little bit more later on, but
they're concerned that they'rebehind.
They're concerned that theydon't know what's lying ahead.
I mean, I think you and I couldboth tell them, don't be.
And by the way, a lot of peopledon't know what's lying ahead.
You kind of just have to start.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (06:20):
It's true, but it's so it's so challenging
for the person hearing that.
I know it was for me.
You're like, yeah, okay.
Like it's gonna be okay.
Are you sure?
Well, I mean, I see where we'rewhere you're at, but I'm not
connecting the dots, especiallywhen we're just coming out of
high school or a couple yearsafter that.
(06:40):
Like our brains are stilldeveloping and trying to figure
out what is even going on andhow we even got there.
And that transition from highschool to any kind of college
setting can be scary.
Ashley Love (06:52):
No, absolutely.
Well, it's and we'll talk aboutresiliency a lot in this
episode too, but it's it's aresiliency-forming opportunity,
really.
And you know, I encouragepeople to write down those
feelings that they have andwrite down when or you know,
describe how they're feeling inthat moment and then looking
back on it when they're in theirprofession and they're about to
(07:13):
make a major shift, forexample, and it feels really
unusual and unknown.
They can say, Well, I've I'vedefinitely been here before.
And I was making no money, Iwas actually giving people
money, and it was a lot of it,it's much scarier back then.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (07:27):
Um, yeah, I was scraping quarters from the
couch or something to know ifeverybody has their own journey
of how we get here.
Ashley Love (07:34):
Scraping corn.
Oh my god, I love that.
I probably do need to go checkmy couch on a side note because
my children will find thosequarters and they will run off
with them, that's for sure.
While you're in EMS, of course,you experienced this amazingly
tragic, life-altering situationthat we discussed um in a little
while ago.
When it came to that moment,you were in the middle of
(07:57):
nursing school, is that right?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (07:58):
I was.
I was in the middle of nursingschool and I was working at two
EMS stations because I had toput myself through school too.
So I was, I actually had threedifferent jobs, not all
full-time, but I was doing threedifferent jobs who all go into
an accelerated nursing programfull-time.
Ashley Love (08:17):
What was the most important mindset that you had
in that moment that you thinkreally pulled you through?
Because a lot of people say,Well, Ashley, school is so hard
and I'm so overwhelmed and Idon't know how I'm gonna do
this.
And then I talked to peoplelike you, for example, who
literally succeeded in schooldespite unimaginable situations.
What mindset?
(08:38):
What mindset did you have?
How did you do it?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (08:42):
At first, I really wanted to give up.
I was like, I don't know if Iwill go back to nursing school.
And since it was such anaccelerated program, you can
miss two weeks, period,throughout like anything.
And so it was very, verystructured.
I had taken two weeks off, butI had to make a decision.
(09:02):
Am I going to press forward oram I just gonna crawl up and put
my head in the sand and call ita day?
Ashley Love (09:09):
This is a segment on the show where we discuss
interview questions that youmight hear on your own
pre-health interview.
What Dr.
Clancy is talking about herebrings up a really great
interview question.
Tell me about a time you wantedto stop moving forward, but
chose to continue anyway.
What helped you decide?
And how did that moment shapehow you handle uncertainty now?
(09:32):
Do this.
Write down one moment where youwanted to quit.
Then write down what youlearned from staying.
That reflection is interviewgold.
And it doesn't just stop atquality questions.
There are more resources foryou as a pre-health student on
ShadowmeNext.com to include ournewly released application
(09:53):
readiness course.
So head on over tocourses.shadowmext.com and check
it out.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (09:59):
My mom said to me, you know what?
Nobody can take your educationaway from you regardless of any
outcome.
And it was in that moment I waslike, you know what?
You're absolutely right.
And if nothing happens after Icomplete my education, I can at
least say I did it.
Ashley Love (10:16):
Right.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (10:17):
Because we've always, I've always been
raised if you start something,you complete it.
And then you decide whetheryou're going to do it again or
not.
And that was really the mindsetof, you know what?
I can overcome, I can dobetter.
I hate where I'm at right now.
I'm not really sure if Ideserve to move forward, but I'm
(10:37):
going to give it the best shotthat I can.
Ashley Love (10:41):
It's so, it's such a testament to your discipline
and your your future thinking,you know.
I mean, it's we all fall intothese situations of self-doubt,
I think is a big one.
Um and future thinking is it's,I mean, I think some people
call it manifesting.
Yeah, maybe, but really it'sit's the a plan, right?
(11:02):
Where am I going?
How am I going to get there?
Um, let's let's make it happen.
Absolutely incredible.
I'm so glad.
I'm so glad that you're whereyou're at because the things
that you're doing right now, aswe'll talk about with the
Mountaineering Mindset Academyand the handbook, are just
amazing.
Um, so you you've graduatednursing school at this point.
Did and and you work as aforensic nurse.
(11:24):
Can you describe what forensicnursing is for us who might not
know?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (11:29):
So I get this question often, and I like
to tell people, and I don'tknow, maybe I should change my
wording, but I'm like, it's allthe things that most people
don't want to do.
And that is mental health,addiction, um, assaults, sexual
assaults, physical, anythinglike that, domestic violence,
crime scene investigation,expert witness.
So we see these on TV, right?
(11:52):
And there's that, there's thatseparation of real life and then
what we're seeing.
But like when it gets to thenitty-gritty, is this something
that somebody wants to pursue,right?
Because it's definitely not thebest of times in any of these
situations.
And part of, yes, to answeryour question, I did not choose
forensic nursing.
(12:13):
It chose me.
Ashley Love (12:15):
Tell us how that looked.
I mean, was it something thatyou that you just stumbled upon,
something you heard about?
Was it informed from yoursituation um while you were at
working as an EMS?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (12:26):
I had no clue what forensic nursing was.
So I did my bachelor's umonline, and then I decided, you
know what, I'm gonna keep going.
I'm not really sure where.
And I had seen DuquesneUniversity oftentimes when I was
riding the bus at that time,and I was I'd look up on the
hill and I would see it, and I'mlike, hmm, that's where like
(12:47):
rich people go.
There's no way I'll ever beable to go there.
That's like the rich kids'school, right?
It's private, Catholic.
And I'm like, I don't know.
But I had this in my heart thatI really wanted to attend
there.
I was like being pulled, andI'd never been on campus at all.
And I started to explore alittle bit, had met with people
(13:07):
there, and then I learned theyhad this forensic nursing track.
And I'm like, what is that?
Like, talk to me about that.
And I was like, you know what?
That's literally everythingI've been through.
This should probably becakewalk.
Now I've got the lifeexperience, and let me get the
credentials to kind of roundthat out.
I figure there's two types ofpeople in the world that would
(13:28):
want our services, people thatwant our expertise and people
that want our personalexperience.
So why not blend them?
Ashley Love (13:37):
Absolutely incredible.
Wow.
Oh, I love that.
I love that so much.
The riding on the bus, looking,just literally seeing your
future right there.
What do those situations looklike?
So when somebody wants yourexpertise or when somebody wants
your personal stories, describea little bit about you know how
that whole process works fromstart to finish.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (13:55):
Yeah.
So just like you who happen tofind me, um, and then you know,
research a little bit onpersonal story.
There's people that are drawnto that.
Like, how did you get there?
How did you come out of it?
Like those kind of things.
And I would say also that isthat ripples.
Like there's been Fortune 500companies I've spoken at that
(14:18):
focus on safety a lot.
And so they would want, youknow, personal background
stories for their drivers or foranybody that's in quality.
Um, and then when it comes toother services in general, like
consulting, crisis intervention,trauma-informed care, mental
health addiction.
So I ended up going to getcertified as a certified
(14:41):
addiction registered nurse,advanced practice, and then a
global fellow of theInternational Academy of
Addiction Nursing.
So the expertise spans not onlyin the backyard, but globally.
And that's oftentimes wherepeople are looking because
people are struggling, andeverybody thinks addiction is
mentor is um like pills oralcohol or opiates.
(15:05):
Addiction is anything that weconsume in excess.
Shopping, um, you know,exercising, social media,
leadership, anything.
People can be addicted toanything that's taking away from
their purpose or what theyreally should be focusing on.
Ashley Love (15:23):
It's incredible.
I feel very convicted rightnow.
I mean, that's it.
It's yes, it's an importantconversation.
You mentioned a couple ofthings that I would like to just
briefly ask you about because Ithink that a lot of people um
have heard about this but mightnot know a lot about it.
You serve as an expert witnessin some cases.
(15:43):
Do you want to do?
Is that something people wantto do, or is that something that
you just you feel drawn to?
And it's almost like a pride ofprofession sort of thing.
Tell us a little bit more aboutbeing an expert witness.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (15:55):
Um, so for me, it's something that I always
wanted to do, especially afterdoing the forensic nursing
degree, because that really doeselevate your expertise.
But I also wanted to be able toserve in a capacity that would
be neutral.
A lot of the experts thatpeople bring in, they may be
one-sided or the other, but whatthey're really looking at is
(16:15):
can somebody look at thissituation from a neutral
perspective, just bringing theirexpertise to the table.
And I think that it's veryfascinating to be part of that
process.
Um, but also just chartreviews.
So that's an expertise as well,where you know, maybe there's a
death investigation case or asuicide.
(16:36):
Like I've done so many chartreviews for possible suicides,
and you're like looking back athow did that person get there?
Was there anything missed?
Just a whole realm of justlooking at chart reviews and
helping attorneys with thatmedical jargon.
Unless you're an attorney thathas done med school, which
(16:57):
there's quite a few of them.
You know, they they might needto seek some assistance out in
what does this terminology mean?
Ashley Love (17:05):
Is that something that you do pretty frequently?
I guess it really it probablydepends on the your field of
medicine.
It depends on your your uminterests, but is it something
that you do quite often, or isthis very random, irregular,
every so often type of work?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (17:23):
Yeah, it's regularly irregular, that if it
makes sense.
There's like more pockets thatwill come up than others.
It just really depends on theneed of the the legal system in
that case.
Like very cool.
Currently, I have somebody whosought me out from a different
state to kind of take on a verybroad aspect of the state when
(17:45):
it comes to different ways thatuh things are managed within
like foster care and the mentalhealth aspects, and there's it's
just interesting things thatkind of just fall into my career
path.
And a lot of it has to do withjust being open-minded, willing,
and coachable.
Ashley Love (18:06):
Incredible, which coachable, my goodness, you uh
you have created this incrediblegift to people, all people, but
really pre-health students arepre-med, pre-nursing, pre-PA,
pre-physical therapy, the listgoes on, uh will really, really
benefit from this.
And that's the mountaineeringhandbook.
And I'm gonna read a littleexcerpt about this book from
(18:27):
your website, but it says it's ahandbook for anyone looking to
hone their leadership skills ortriumph over adversity, and it
blends mountain stories withleadership lessons so you can
navigate transitions andsetbacks.
We like to think we're nevergonna have setbacks, right?
We really like to believe thatit's always going to be a steady
pace, no two steps forward, onestep back, none of that.
(18:50):
But you we know that happens.
Um, you know, tell us a littlebit about what this program
means to you and who thishandbook is for.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (19:01):
So I am so excited.
Um, here is here's the book.
I'll show you.
It's kind of crooked.
Um, yes, I just like thecolors.
It's very inviting and um justmeant a lot, resonated with me
personally, but it's really foranybody.
And you had asked me severalquestions, right?
How did I get here?
(19:22):
What made me think this?
Resilience.
We talk about all these thatwe've talked about so far, and
I'm sure there's so much more.
This was really a download thatI like to call how I was
harnessing all of the gifts thatI've been given into one guide,
one separated, differentiatedprogram.
(19:44):
I researched diligently.
There's nothing out there likethis, and I am a trained
mountaineer.
So I had to put it together,and it really just hit me one
day where I'm like, you knowwhat?
Every single aspect of lifehappens on an ascent and a
descent.
And it doesn't even have to bea physical mountain, it can just
(20:04):
be that mental mountain.
Ashley Love (20:07):
It's amazing, it's amazing.
So for the handbook, is itsomething that we read?
Is it something that um that isa reflective exercise?
What can we expect to see whenwe open up those pages?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (20:19):
So this is a book book.
This one is a book, right?
And so it has a lot of like thefoundations.
Like I talk about base camp andwhat tools do you need at base
as opposed to different sets ordifferent parts of the mountain,
but it's all tied back toleadership, mindset, doubts, um,
conquering negative, you know,insights, thoughts.
(20:44):
Um, the guide itself that we'llbe dropping here shortly as
well, because there's twodifferent ones.
Um, this will be more like aworkbook, I should say.
So this would be the guide, andthen a workbook to coincide
with it.
And that will be more of thefootwork.
The current one has somereflective prompts, but the
(21:05):
other one is going to be whatthe wraparound is for both sides
of it.
Ashley Love (21:11):
And you might just pick up a newfound hobby in the
middle of reading all of this,and that's mountaineering.
How cool is that?
How important, how importantare our hobbies right now?
I mean, are you working inmedicine?
You do incredible things, youliterally have your hands in so
many different arenas, and yetyou still make time and save
space for some of these thingsthat just I would imagine bring
(21:34):
you bring you a lot of joy.
Um, how important are thesethings for us as clinicians,
especially?
Shanea Clancy, DNP (21:40):
Oh, clinicians and students, because
who we surround ourselves withis who we are.
And so if we want to elevateourselves and learn, you can't
unless you reach out and youask.
Nobody's nobody's going toknow.
That you want to shadow in aspecific area of a field in a
(22:04):
niche, unless you ask.
And there's no better time toask than when you're a student.
Everybody wants to help astudent because they're like,
Oh, they really want to learn,they're very interested in this,
instead of like beingvoluntole, hey, this is the unit
you're going to, and theperson's like, Oh, I got what
feet?
Cardiology is not my field.
Um, and so it's very importantbecause even the hobbies, you
(22:27):
never know where that will go.
I didn't get intomountaineering initially.
I met cyclers, I was intocycling, and it turns out that
the people that I'd met werealso like very highly trained
mountaineers, like have done theSwiss Alps in by themselves.
And so it's about mentorship,just being willing to try new
(22:48):
things, and it's very importantbecause it's also self-care,
which is huge, absolutely hugeright now.
Ashley Love (22:56):
Um, so her book is available on shanaclancy.com.
That'ss-h-a-n-e-a-c-l-a-n-c-y.com.
I'll link it in the show notesbelow.
Before we wrap up, we've we'vementioned resiliency a lot, and
I think it's a term thatstudents students hear all the
time and we throw around asclinicians and as uh if we're
interviewing and as mentors allthe time.
(23:18):
And a student would say, Ash,how am I supposed to develop
resiliency?
Do I have to put myself inreally, really hard situations
in order to develop that skill?
Um, and I would love to hearyour opinions on this because
hopefully the answer is notnecessarily.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (23:37):
That is the answer, but a hard situation,
what does that look like?
It looks different foreverybody.
So maybe it is literally tryingto figure out how to get into
school.
That's a hard, challengingsetback, right?
Um, it can be something assimple as, hey, I need to figure
out how to do my checkingaccount because nobody taught me
(24:00):
that in high school.
And that's a setback, right?
So you've come, you've overcomethat.
It can be anything.
Whatever is important to youmight be different from somebody
else.
And when we talk aboutresiliency, oftentimes people
think of it that there has to besome kind of setback to move
forward.
There's two sides toresiliency, and I feel
(24:23):
oftentimes the other side isoverlooked and I think more
important.
So it is actually taking thattime to reset, regardless where
we are in our careers or schoolor life, is to just take that
time, that reprieve, set backtime to be able to unplug,
(24:45):
evaluate where we are, and thenget our head back in the game to
continue where we're headed.
Ashley Love (24:51):
That's perfect.
I you're right.
It's very overlooked because Ithink people feel like they're
in a difficult situation.
Let's push through, get to theother side, and continue on.
The reflection and reflectivenature of that.
Um, that is genius.
You are you are amazing.
Dr.
Clancy, thank you so much forjoining us on Shadow Me Next
today.
This has just been incredible.
Um, forensic nursing expertwitness.
(25:13):
Now I feel like I can at leastintelligently speak on some of
these things.
So thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing yourstory and thank you for creating
the Mountaineering MindsetAcademy, which is available on
your website, this handbook andthe soon-to-come guide.
Um, I'm just I this is amazing.
Thank you so much.
Shanea Clancy, DNP (25:30):
Thank you, and thank you, Ashley, for
having me.
I hope um your listeners andyour audience have gained some
nuggets and ninja tricks tocontinue being awesome.
Ashley Love (25:38):
Thank you so very much for listening to this
episode of Shadow Me Next.
If you liked this episode, orif you think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday.
As always, if you have anyquestions, let me know on
Facebook or Instagram.
Access you want, stories youneed, you're always invited to
Shadow Me Next.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
(26:03):
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only, and
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are
those of the host and guests,and do not necessarily reflect
the official policy or positionof any other agency,
organization, employer, orcompany.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.