When a person is 57 years old and they want to change careers, is this possible #Spring25?

Hello. I am a 57 year old female who has been a social worker since 1992. I have worked with people from many cultures, economic status’, across all ages, and with a broad spectrum of life challenges. I have professional experience working with children and adults who were mentally ill, chemically addicted (and a combination of both illnesses), neurodivergent, criminal offenders who were under probation supervision (as a Probation Officer for 17 years), physical illnesses, suicidal, homicidal, and self harmers. I have found that the majority of people were traumatized by childhood abuse/neglect, domestic violence, community violence, significant losses, systemic racism and/or homophobia, parental addiction/mental illness and/or incarceration, poverty, homelessness, veterans with PTSD, and the list goes on. During my career as a law enforcement officer, I realized that first responders overall, had been traumatized at some point(s) in their careers. First responders were extremely reluctant to acknowledge and seek treatment, unless they were surrounded by their peers with similar experiences. Only when they were in peer support groups and/or specialized therapeutic services, were they willing to break their silence and the stigma surrounding the effects their trauma had on their lives and careers.
I then began to educate myself in specialized law enforcement peer support and critical incident stress management trainings. I also encouraged my law enforcement colleagues to consider utilizing peer support, crisis lines run by and for law enforcement, and/or specialized therapy. I have been very successful in my lengthy career, however I too have had lifelong trauma, whether it be as a child, as a young college student, and throughout my career. As a result, I am burned out. Although I have been in treatment for the majority of my life, trauma has led to early retirement from Probation and a subsequent job loss. This was followed by major back surgery 3 1/2 months ago. Today I find myself unemployed, reliant on a small pension, and was recently granted federal Medicaid and SNAP (formerly referred to as food stamps) benefits. I have not even been able to pay rent since December. One benefit of my time as an unemployed person since September 2024, is that I have had a lot of time to consider what I want to do with the rest of my career. I have realized that I have always wanted to work in emergency medicine and, as a result, I have applied to the community college that I am an alumni of and I am seeking to become a critical care nurse. Therefore, my question is, is it possible for me, at my age, to successfully complete the college requirements in order to become a critical care nurse?

Thank you for considering this long description of my career and the reasons why I would like to pivot in another direction. Respectfully submitted, Kimberly A. Huber, MSW

,