Meet Shelly Dalueg, RPN and outpatient therapist, St. Mary’s Hospital

When Shelly Dalueg applied for a position at St. Mary’s Hospital, a Covenant Health facility in Camrose, in 1984, she didn’t expect to end up working on a psychiatry unit. 

“I came for a job interview for a position in the surgery unit, and they told me they had a permanent full-time position for a new program they were just starting… But they weren’t sure that, you know, rural Alberta really needed anything like a psychiatry (unit),” says Shelly.

As it turned out, there was indeed a need for the psychiatry unit, and Shelly found her work with mental health patients rewarding. Now 40 years later, she has served thousands of people with mental health needs in the Camrose area. Recently, she was nominated for Covenant’s 2024 Mission Award for Compassion, recognizing her work with an outpatient therapy group for people diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

The therapy group was formed in 1992 with Dr. Suna Smith after Clozaril, a drug for schizophrenia treatment, was introduced. Use of the drug required strict blood test monitoring before patients could get their prescription filled for the next week, so every week they were put in a room to wait for their test results and receive their medication.

When Shelly overheard the patients talking to each other about their experiences, she realized that the drug was only one part of their journey to wellness. They needed a group where they could support each other and rebuild social and life skills.

After years of dealing with their symptoms, they began learning things like symptom management and social interaction through the group, Shelly says. And soon families were phoning the clinic to tell her, “I don't know what you're doing, but my brother is back to being the man he was before he started hearing voices.” 

Over the course of her career, Shelly has had the opportunity to delve into the latest learnings in mental health and “help people come alive again.” During the late 80s and early 90s, she took advanced training in trauma therapy for people who had been sexually abused as children. At the time, the feeling in the community was that childhood sexual abuse should be left in the past and not spoken about, says Shelly.

Times have changed in the 40 years she has been a registered nurse. Now people can be more open about their experience.

Encountering patients who shared their stories of abuse prompted Shelly and some of her colleagues to obtain an array of training in other areas. In addition to learning about trauma therapy, they received enough training to provide individual therapy for those with other mental illnesses. “If there was a course on mental illness, we were sent to it,” Shelly says.

Training and perceptions about mental health have come a long way since she was in school, says Shelly. She recalls watching the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as part of her psychiatric training, whereas today, teenagers in high school are exposed to movies like A Beautiful Mind. And every time a celebrity talks about their mental health struggles, some of the stigma goes away, Shelly says.

“There are some really brave people out there who are changing the world.”