Jenni Cullen (aka Jen) is a Nurse Practitioner, Diabetes Educator and Psychologist specialising in Medicinal Cannabis, Addiction and Mental Health, as well as treating those with Chronic Pain, PTSD and Anxiety.
As a member of multiple National industries bodies such as the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) and the Australian Nurses Midwifery Federation as well as DANA – Drug and Alcohol Nurses Australasia and APNA – Australian Private Health Care Nurses Association, we have the experience and knowledge to provide our clients with the utmost professional health care.
Jenni was born in New Zealand and has travelled all over Australia; she has worked in health care for over 25 years, previously working as a remote area nurse in Elliott, Lajamanu and Beswick, Indigenous community across the Northern Territory and now is focused on making a positive change through private practice.
Married with eight kids who have left the nest and are now creating families of their own all over Australia, Jenni fell into the profession of nursing after visiting a careers day at a local university in Darwin and wound up being inspired to sign up for a nursing course which kick-started her passion for making a positive contribution to the community.
I’ve always had a passion for helping others and finding out as much as I can about health, and when I found myself in Perth looking for a career that would incorporate caring for people and contributing in a positive way to the community, becoming an RN was the career that stood out.
Before too long, I went from looking for a pottery class to enrolling as a registered nurse and graduated in 2000. I went on to get my graduate diploma in child and family health and then started working remotely after moving to Katherine in a role focused on drugs and alcohol and mental health work within the community.
Being a remote area nurse and living permanently in an Indigenous community such as Lajamanu means the nursing team were on call at all times. We treated everything from coughs to heart attacks right through to breach babies.
While we are remote nurses, being a trained and qualified nurse practitioner allows me to work closely with doctors and provide the insight I’ve gained from my NP studies and experience. I’m proud to have contributed positively and worked to improve the lives of all members of the community.
All I am focused on in my role is to contribute positively and provide education in a community where resources are very scarce. Nursing is part of who I am, and I can’t see myself doing anything else.
My passion drives me to continuously work to educate the community and focus on my patients to provide holistic support for their health needs.
In nursing, we look at the whole patient, not just the symptoms, to focus on the physical injury or illness and the social and emotional side of the patient’s health. I am focused on taking into account every aspect of the lives of the patients I treat to provide the complete and holistic care they need to lead healthy and fulfilling life.
