Being outdoors, surrounded by nature, has always called to Jordann Harman, BScN’16, MES’24. She’s never tried to explain why—it’s simply where she feels at home, where everything makes sense. All that goes with nature—birds, fish in a stream, wildflowers and quiet forests—have always brought her joy and comfort.
Still, she never thought nature would offer her a career until a moment of enlightenment in 2023.
It was after a night shift when Harman was a registered nurse (RN) in the emergency room at London Health Sciences Centre’s University Hospital (UH).
She stood in the parking lot chatting with her friend, Scott Hunter, also an RN.
Harman had been a nurse for six years at Ontario hospitals in St. Marys and Ingersoll before joining UH. She first got the spark to pursue nursing when she was in Grade 10 at Regina Mundi Catholic Secondary in London, Ont. As she was job-shadowing her cousin, a physiotherapist at UH, Harman also saw the nurses in action. The variety of their work appealed to her.
When it came time to think about university, she thought of that day, considered she was good at science and applied for nursing at Western.
“I liked the science of it. And once I got into it, I liked doing things a lot of people didn’t like doing, like administering meds, starting IVs and catheters, things that give the patient immediate relief.” The ER proved to be the perfect milieu for her. “I liked the chaos. It was busy and fast and that worked for me.”
Until it didn’t.
She knew she wasn’t happy with her career. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, but she was aware each new work experience would start off on a high note and eventually devolve into a dislike of the job. She later realized she had tried to solve her vague unhappiness by moving often.
“I wasn’t happy on the inpatient floor, so I moved to emerg. Then I wasn’t happy in a small town, so I moved to the big hospital. I was even planning to move to the ICU, thinking maybe that would be the right fit.” That chat in the parking lot with Hunter, however, proved to be cathartic. She laughed and she cried with him for an hour as she expressed what was nagging at her.
“We do a lot of good for people in the hospital, but there’s a lot of stress. We see people on their worst days. It started to eat away at me.”
That night in the parking lot, Hunter offered an opinion that changed everything.
“The issues you have in the emerg are going to still exist in the ICU,” he said. “Maybe it’s not the department, maybe it’s the career.”
That was the nudge she needed. “It was almost like he gave me permission to start over.”
Harman dove into researching alternative careers. She came upon Western’s master of environment and sustainability program. It was a lightbulb moment.
“When I was a kid, I was immersed in nature, either at our family cottage or on camping trips my dad organized. It still has that power for me. And thinking about my next steps, I realized if there was going to be something else for me, it would be nature-related.”
Harman particularly liked the co-op portion of the program, where she was an assistant environmental planner with Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation. In fact, she stayed on there in a contract position after she graduated.
In January she took a big step up—as an environmental planner with AECOM, a global engineering firm. She is based in London, Ont., where she manages projects all over the province. The company’s major focus is related to road building and infrastructure, such as bridge repair and highway improvements.
“Our overall job on the environmental team is to work with provincial and federal regulations and determine how the building project can have the least possible impact on the natural environment and the community.” Harman plays a central role in coordinating environmental assessments, working with experts—in areas such as water and archaeology, and monitoring potential environmental impacts—such as endangered species or Indigenous considerations—of infrastructure projects.
“I’m just new at this, but it’s a great start. I really enjoy it and I believe I’m going in the right direction.”