Dear Ms. Kim,

Hello! I hope this message would reach you in the middle of good health and happiness. Thank you for sending me my free CELBAN Study guide and practice exams.

I am a registered nurse in our country, with a Master of Science in Nursing degree. For almost 7 years, I have worked as a Clinical Instructor and a Lecturer … of both nursing and midwifery students in the Philippines.  I was also employed by the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia … and held a position as staff nurse then later promoted as an assistant chief nurse. From July of 2005 to present, I did not have any employment record …

I am really confused and do not know how could I start upgrading my career here in Canada as a Registered Nurse since I have been out of work for almost 9 years. I am just so lost.  I do not know how and where to start. To be honest, I am a mother of a 7 year old child, so tied up with meeting his needs and to me, it’s just not comfortable if I left him on a day care. These past few days, I have been spending my free time reviewing IELTS, hoping to improve my skills in the 4 categories.  I have taken the general type of IELTS last 2011 and garnered 8 for Listening, 7 for Speaking, 6 in writing and 5.5 in Reading. I know my scores were low due to my lack of preparation and just took that exam because it was one of the immigration requirements.

I hope that you could give some enlightenment on my confusion and guide me through my transition in the country I choose to continue my career as an RN.  Thank you so much and more power!

Sincerely, RA

I loved reading your message from the very beginning… we have a connection being instructors and know what it takes to make it all happen, so thank you. And, you are so very welcome.

In reading your message about your work history I felt a pang of sorrow for you. All of your skills and knowledge and none of it makes your process easier, faster or less expensive. Whether you have been out of the practice for 9 years is not really at issue at this point, particularly with you living in Edmonton. Your first step is to get an accepted score on the English Proficiency. They will not be looking at your work experience and history until some time after you have completed this first step. So in all reality, the process is simple from this stand point. Once you get an accepted score, through NNAS, CARNA will walk you through the process, which will take about two years. So, if you want to be in the field when your son is more independent, now is the time!

Have you seen my blog, Dear Kim, and the tag Time Management? I think I will also give you: Warning about the CELBAN. Well, when you do you will read messages from other IEN mothers who are striving to strike a balance between family, work and the licensure process (which at this time means an English Proficiency exam for you.)

It is not easy!

Yet, also in reading them you will discover that I created CELBANPrep as an online course, in this way all the resources and assignments are online. So you can access them when you have time: at 10:00 at night when your son is in bed, or 2:00 am when you get home from a shift. There are some events, also held online, that are at specific times. So the schedule is predetermined and given to you months in advance so you can plan accordingly.

For I agree, a mother needs to be at home with her child(ren).

Did I succeed in providing some enlightenment and clearing away some of the confusion?

Kim

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