I didn’t grow up thinking I’d be a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I grew up thinking about people, why they struggle, what holds them back, what makes them come alive again. This career was the natural answer to those questions.
What I know after eight years is this: the clinical piece matters deeply, but it’s the human piece that actually does the healing. Medication can open the door. But it’s trust, honesty, and feeling genuinely understood that gets someone through it.