I have a rough draft of my resume and my former manager said she would be happy to be a reference. Just need one more reference and a cover letter.

I worked in critical care nursing for fifteen years, then took a decade off to be a stay at home mom plus regain my lost sanity. I accomplished everything I wanted working in critical care except to publish a research article in a nursing journal. Being published is still a possibility if I take the time to write in the proper format but a paying job is higher priority right now.

So now I want to spread my wings into a different specialty and work per diem in a psychiatric hospital. With children/teenagers if possible. A local psych hospital has been expanding and they are hiring per diem RNs now so I think this would be a good match. My own mental illness is controlled well since 2007 so I feel stable and ready to work.

I just don't know what exactly I need to include (or exclude) in the cover letter.