Send us Fan Mail

If you’ve ever left a psych visit thinking, “I wish I had more information,” you’re not alone and you’re not failing. We sit down with Dr. Kris Vandenberg- Harrison to talk about what real psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner practice looks like after the textbooks: messy timelines, incomplete histories, shifting diagnoses, and the steady work of building trust through the therapeutic relationship.

We dig into a theme that keeps resurfacing in PMHNP education and practice: bringing psychotherapy skills back into medication management. Dr. Harrison explains why “meeting the patient where they are” is not a slogan, it’s a clinical strategy, especially for trauma, treatment resistance, and long-term engagement. We also explore how simulation training can help students develop clinical intuition, tolerate uncertainty, and practice the kind of therapeutic communication that can’t be reduced to checklists or box-clicking.

You’ll also hear a memorable example of holistic assessment and differential diagnosis when “anxiety” is actually a neurological condition, plus honest reflections on boundaries in rural mental health care and what sustainable self-care really means when emotional bandwidth runs thin. If you want practical guidance grounded in nursing identity, this conversation delivers.

Subscribe for more conversations on psychiatric nursing, PMHNP practice, and mental health education, then share this episode with a colleague and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What part of practice do you wish training prepared you for better?

Let’s Connect

Dr Dan Wesemann

Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu

Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann

Dr Kate Melino

Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu

Dr Sean Convoy

Email: sc585@duke.edu

Dr Melissa Chapman

Email: mchapman@pdastats.com