Team Member Spotlight: Kelly Bliss

Kelly Bliss  ARNP: Nurse Practitioner Sound Reentry (ORCS & FIRST mainly). Previously in Child and Family, Adult Services, and Deaf Services programs

Tell us something about yourself!

I am a month shy of 13 years with Sound where I work part-time. And I am a partner at a group of mental health practitioners with a focus on caring for diverse communities in Seattle including LGBT+.  Before starting work here in 2006, I lived in Nashville and studied at Vanderbilt University. I have perfected recipes for fried chicken, cherry pie, and chocolate chip cookies. In high school and college, I was a band geek playing the trombone (in marching band, concert/orchestral,  jazz, and musical theater group performances) and I was a drum major. I am slightly more stubborn than my 2 cairn terriers.

What advice do you have for new team members?

What we do is too important to be taken seriously! Use humor and laughter with your patients and colleagues. Poke a bit of fun at someone/yourself – it helps to humanize your interactions and can help strengthen your rapport.  It also reduces stress and tension in a field that deals with a lot of heavy and serious subjects.

Do you have any hobbies that you’d like to tell us about?

Reading (easily over a hundred books a year), yoga, interrupting my dogs’ naps, and baking (especially pies).

Tell us about someone at Sound who has had a big impact on you.

I am sure I could do some cross-promotion with my colleagues here, but I would say some of the former patients have had a big impact on me.  Both in learning how to better care for people, but also with some poignant cards thanking me for the difference that they say I made in their lives. Honestly, some of those cards I received – I don’t recall the persons who wrote them, but knowing that they are grateful for the things I try and do for everyone that comes to see me is a great reward, and reminds me that we can make a difference for people from the smallest of actions.

What is your favorite thing about working at Sound?

I think Sound does some very important work in the community, and I get the luxury of working and living in the same neighborhood.