It all started on my first day . Peggie Kahn, who has been a nurse for more than thirty-five years, ventures into a new and challenging environment-a world populated by patients with various mental illnesses-that she chronicles in her journal, Welcome to My World. Her charges all have interesting stories. Some are lost in a limbo of dementia, while others battle schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and numerous other psychological health problems. And nearly all of them smoke. Yet it is Kahn's sense of humor that comes through and offers hope, while at the same time giving these patients dignity by trying to reach them in her own gentle way. Welcome to My World captures the quirkiness and challenges of day-to-day life in a psychiatric care facility. Kahn's heartwarming collection of anecdotes presents life lessons for all and provides a first-hand account of the lives of mentally ill patients for anyone considering a career in the psychiatric field.