A senior community nursing leader from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust has thanked mental health colleagues for helping her overcome her post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nicola Zolnhofer, head of nursing and quality for the division of CPFT which provides district nursing care to older people and those with long-term physical health conditions in their own homes, turned to talking therapy support after being hospitalised with an infection.

Being admitted to an acute hospital last year brought back deeply traumatic memories of the birth of her daughter 14 years before.

Nicola has decided to tell her story to encourage others to seek help and support.

Nicola, who became a Queen’s Nurse in 2013, said: “I’m a nurse and I look after people. For those few weeks last year I became the patient, and I hope it proves that as NHS staff we’re not immune to needing to be looked after ourselves. I hope my experience will inspire others, from all walks of life, to seek support.”

In June 2023, Nicola needed hospital treatment after contracting pneumonia which had begun to affect her heart. But the thought of being admitted to hospital triggered her PTSD.

A proud community nurse for 17 years – treating patients in their own homes – she had actively avoided acute hospitals since the trauma of her daughter’s birth.

Despite worries about her condition, she admits she left the hospital - against advice - and even worked the next day to “silence my mind from the PTSD symptoms”.

Nicola was recalled to hospital two days later following concerns over the results of blood tests which had been carried out.

“That put my anxiety levels off the scale, she said. “For the first two nights I didn’t sleep. All my senses were heightened. I couldn’t even stand the smell of the bedding.

"My mind was constantly telling me I wasn’t safe. I was having flashbacks relating to the traumatic birth of my daughter. At one point I found myself standing next to that nurses’ station with my fingers in my ears demanding to be discharged.”

Following her discharge 10 days later, Nicola knew she needed help and was referred to NHS Cambridgeshire Talking Therapies which is also run by CPFT and is part of the Trust’s mental health division.

The team provide support for people with a range of conditions from stress and anxiety to obsessive compulsive disorder and PTSD.

For the next few weeks, she worked with Ilaria Meo, a high-intensity cognitive behavioural therapist, who treated her with EMDR - eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing – a psychological treatment proven to treat the symptoms of PTSD.

Nicola said: “I can’t say I wasn’t sceptical. I know about physical health, but mental health treatment seemed like a mystery to me.

“I can’t pretend to understand the science behind it, but it has worked. After 13 weeks I was discharged. My PTSD symptoms have gone, and I couldn’t feel more relieved.

“It has not been about making me feel ‘happy’ about what happened to me during my daughter’s birth or taking away the feelings around it.

“For nearly a decade and a half it was so traumatic I couldn’t even talk about it, but now I can and know how to deal with the feelings around it.”

There was one final goal to achieve and that was to visit an acute hospital and get as close to a maternity unit as visitors as allowed.

Nicola said: “Ilaria set up a meeting there, but I was determined to show her I could do it.

“So, before we met, I went in on my own. Although the visitor policy meant I couldn’t actually go inside the maternity unit, I walked right up to the door, along every corridor, and up and down every staircase nearby. All of this would have been unthinkable just a few weeks before.

“I would say to anyone to try talking therapies. If you do, jump in with both feet, experience it, and get fully involved. For me, it has been life changing.”

Ilaria said: “I am so proud of Nicola. She has done remarkably well. Her story is truly inspirational and I hope it encourages others to come forward and refer themselves for talking therapies.”

For more information about the NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Talking Therapies service check out the website.

CPFT, which employs more than 4,500 staff, provides learning disability services, community physical health services for older people and adults with long term conditions, mental health services, and children community services in Peterborough. The Trust is also renowned for its research and development work.