GOING BEYOND
SPECIALTY SPOTLIGHT:
Psychiatric-Mental Health Mental health in America dramatically worsened with the onset of the pandemic. In 2019, about one in 10 adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression. By 2021, two in five reported symptoms with other negative impacts on mental health, such as increased substance use and worsened chronic conditions from added worry and stress. The surge in mental illness shined a spotlight on the country’s mental health state and the shortage of health care providers trained to offer proper care to those who need it. While solving such a crisis requires time and resources, there is no question that psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) play a key role in expanding the number of mental health practices throughout the country and providing telehealth services to those who cannot get these services in person. In the U.S., fewer than 5% of the more than 355,000 licensed nurse practitioners are certified in psych-mental health, but more nurses are choosing this specialty, says Lee Tyson, DNP, DMin, MDiv, APRN-CNP, PMHNP-BC, ANP-BC, CARN-AP, FIAAN, associate professor of clinical and director of UC’s PMHNP programs. “We have seen a huge demand for our psych-mental health programs from advanced practice nurses who want to be dually certified. The culmination of bad things happening, coupled with the realization that mental wellness is part of overall wellness, brought psych-mental health nursing to people’s radars,” Tyson says. “Many nurses feel meeting their patients’ emotional needs is already part of their job, so why not learn how to do it in the best way possible?”
For Tyson, nursing is a second career. He has graduate degrees in ministry and theology and worked as a clergyman for more than a decade, but ultimately others would not accept how he reconciled his faith with his sexual orientation. To live authentically and support his husband and three children, Tyson entered UC’s accelerated nursing program, earned his bachelor’s in 2008, master’s in adult primary care in 2010 and doctorate in psych-mental health in 2013. Along with his position at UC, Tyson also serves as owner and CEO of Lee Side Wellness, an outpatient mental health clinic he founded in 2016. PMHNPs assess, diagnose and treat the mental health needs of patients. Many provide therapy and prescribe medications for patients who have mental health or substance use disorders and may also provide physical and psychiatric assessments, emergency psychiatric care and treatment effectiveness evaluations. The patient population treated by these providers includes children, adolescents, adults and older adults in settings such as primary care facilities, hospitals, residential care facilities, behavioral health clinics, inpatient treatment facilities and correctional facilities. “The main difference between PMHNPs, psychiatrists and psychologists is that we are prepared to assess our patients holistically and treat the whole person. We are nurses first, so we look at each patient’s emotional, physical, existential and spiritual needs,” Tyson says. “Patients don’t leave their pre-existing health problems at home when they have a mental health crisis, so PMHNPs need finely tuned, specialized assessment skills to support patients with severe mental illness in efforts toward health.” By: Evelyn Fleider
30 | UC College of Nursing Magazine