Facilitate Optimal Mental Health
Promote, support, and facilitate optimal mental health through compassionate, client-centered care.
Overview
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP) have expert knowledge and skills essential for promoting, supporting, and facilitating optimal mental health through compassionate client-centered care. The PMHNP specialty track combines neuro-biological science and psychosocial theory while emphasizing respect for person, family, community, and culture.
As a doctoral student in the Psychiatric/Mental Health track, you will:
- Develop skills to influence public policy through participation in professional organizations and health policy activities at the local, national, and global level.
- Learn essential skills for psychiatric assessment, mental health diagnoses, comprehensive treatment planning, and prescriptive practice.
- Take courses in evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and systems leadership.
- Have mentoring and clinical supervision while learning and integrating interpersonal skills that are foundational to psychotherapy practice across the lifespan.
- Complete the PMHNP track in three years, including two summer semesters.
"Achieving my Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (DNP-PMHNP) instilled self-confidence and developed my aptitude as an advanced practice psychiatric nurse practitioner. I was given substantial resources and guidance throughout the three-year program of study. The DNP-PMHNP Program prepared me to safely and effectively prescribe psychiatric medications and practice psychotherapy in an impactful way. This ultimately led to me feeling competent and trained as a mental health professional."
-Nathan J. Zurcher, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Residency Program
Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SLC VAMC) and University of Utah College of Nursing (UU CON) were granted by Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) to offer an innovative 12 month Post-Graduate PMHNP Residency Training. This residency is designed for new PMHNPs with a commitment to serve the Veterans population.
The major goal of this partnership between the UU CON and the SLC VAMC is to create better access to mental health care for veterans. The new PMHNP residents will experience every facet of veteran-centric mental health care at the SLC VAMC, working in close collaboration with experienced psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, physicians, pharmacists, social workers, psychologists and support staff. Residents receive training via clinical experiences and didactic classroom instruction in this inter-professional environment.
The program prepares new NPs to become confident and competent specialty care providers by providing didactic seminars, Grand Rounds, supervised and independent clinical practice, specialty rotations, leadership training, inter-professional simulations and Tele-mental health training during the 12 month of period. The application deadline is subject to change.
For more information contact: Amy Morton Miller at amy.morton-miller@va.gov
Certification Eligibility
Graduates are prepared to sit for the national certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Upon successful completion of the exam, candidates are eligible to become certified or licensed to practice.
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Graduate Certificates
We offer graduate certificates in:
We offer post-APRN licensure certificates in: