Clifford Cartagena

Clifford Cartagena, RN, BSN, is a highly experienced nurse, educator, and safety trainer with more than two decades of frontline practice across psychiatric care, medical-surgical units, hospice, emergency departments, correctional facilities, and memory care. He is the founder of Gentleway Systems LLC, an organization dedicated to the prevention and management of assaultive behaviors, and co-founder of the Arizona Care Horizon Institute, an ADHS-approved training facility specializing in dementia and caregiver education.

Clifford is the author of The Gentle Art of Crisis, a book that blends real-life nursing experience, trauma-informed care, and the principles of martial arts to teach staff how to manage crises without harm. His system, The Gentleway, emphasizes prevention, therapeutic communication, emotional intelligence, and efficient, safe interventions. At its heart is the belief that “the safest fight is the one that never happens.”

Throughout his career, Clifford has trained countless healthcare workers, caregivers, and professionals in building safer environments where dignity and respect are preserved, even in moments of conflict. His teaching is rooted in lived experience: he has never been injured in a patient assault, not because of luck, but because of a disciplined approach to foresight, preparation, respect, and compassion. Most importantly, the patients he takes care of are kept safe and sound.

He is currently completing the final year of his Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) degree at Walden University, expanding his expertise to further serve patients and healthcare teams at the highest level. Clifford’s vision is both local and global, empowering staff to reduce harm, improve outcomes, and cultivate a culture of safety that protects both patients and providers.