Jeannette Collier

I became a Registered Nurse in 2019 to give back to the community and help people. I worked in skilled nursing and inpatient rehabilitation. Most of the rehab patients I worked with had spinal cord injuries, strokes, and traumatic brain injuries. My interest in and fascination with the brain and its healing properties started there. Watching patients regain the ability to walk, feed, and care for themselves after a debilitating injury was incredible. The brain’s capacity to rewire itself and restore connections was fascinating. Our brains are capable of self-healing. You need to know how to activate the mechanism that triggers neuroplasticity. My first experience in mental health was at a community clinic, working with patients with multiple diagnoses and co-morbidities, from depression and anxiety to substance abuse, eating disorders, and schizophrenia. It became evident to me that while our access to medical care is limited, access to mental health is almost non-existent. The lack of psychiatric providers is a significant issue that needs to be addressed in healthcare. This realization fueled my determination to pursue a degree as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. What do you want your clients to get out of therapy? My approach to treatment is multidimensional. You must understand the layers of a patient and unwrap them to understand what contributed to their current symptoms. The first six years of life are crucial to forming our limbic system and brain development. But, any adverse events during childhood can affect a person’s mental health status for the rest of their lives. It is best to consider the patient’s family history of mental illness, current and past environment, stage of development, functionality of their life, responses to interpersonal relationships, and current and past stressors. Then, you can narrow down the excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmitters that are dysregulated in a patient’s brain so you can treat their symptoms and choose a medication that is right for them. Medication will not cure your disorder. Psychotropics are meant to take the edge off your symptoms so you can do the real work in therapy.