About Us

Brenda Epperly-Ellis is a registered nurse and the president of Self-Care Solutions. She has been in the healthcare field for over 25 years. Her experience in the healthcare field began in caring for the mentally ill, both in psychiatric and correctional facilities as well as in the community. It is through working with these populations that she discovered the unique challenges of being a nurse in a correctional environment. She developed her business idea while completing her master's degree practicum project; Who's Caring for the Caregiver? Application of Self-Care Concept to Correctional Nursing. Brenda has a passion to see that the healthcare professionals who work in these environments understand the effects of the job and practice good self-care activities.

While doing the research for this project, it was immediately evident that many nurses and healthcare professionals work in difficult or challenging environments; whether it is the emergency room, in the nursing education classroom, jails, home health agencies, critical care units or other specialties. She found that healthcare professionals, people who care for others, often exhaust themselves in this work while ignoring or minimizing their own healthcare needs and that this pattern leads to burnout and stress related illness. To address this pattern in herself and for others like her she created Self-Care Solutions, a company which provides consultation services and workshops on healthcare professional and nurses self-care topics with specific focus on correctional employee wellness programs.

In 2004, while working in California state government, Brenda served as the project leader for the Risk Management and Healthcare section of the Corrections Internal Review Panel report, under direction of former California Governor George Deukmejian. This report was part of the California Performance Review, a total government redesign program commissioned by now Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Brenda began her healthcare career as a psychiatric technician in 1976, and later became a registered nurse. Brenda obtained her Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Certification in 1990, and a Bachelor's degree in Nursing in 1999. In 2003 she obtained certification from the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare as a Certified Correctional Healthcare Professional. In 2005, she completed her Master's degree in Nursing Administration and Education from the University of Phoenix.

Brenda is known by her colleagues for her positive energy and enthusiasm, creative problem solving ideas, public speaking activities, and a deep compassion for others. She strives to keep balance in her own life between working as a healthcare administrator and running her own company by her volunteer hours at personal growth workshops, exercise, dancing, talking with friends and learning to play the piano.