Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

People in crisis need a clinician who can diagnose clearly, treat decisively, and stay with them through recovery. In this role you will own psychiatric evaluation and medication management for a defined panel, close gaps between medical and behavioral care, and turn complex presentations into plans patients can actually follow. Success is measured in safer outcomes, fewer avoidable crises, and care that holds up between visits.

Performance Objectives

• Complete timely psychiatric evaluations and DSM-aligned diagnoses so new patients leave with a working diagnosis, risk plan, and first-line treatment.
• Prescribe, titrate, and deprescribe psychotropic medications against measurable targets—symptom scores, side-effect burden, and adherence—not visit volume alone.
• Reduce preventable emergency and inpatient psychiatric use by identifying high-risk patients early and adjusting treatment before crisis.
• Coordinate with therapists, primary care, and case management so every patient has one coherent plan, not competing instructions.
• Document assessments, informed consent, and controlled-substance decisions to a standard that supports continuity, audit, and safe handoff.
• Build therapeutic alliance across diverse communities so engagement and follow-through improve, especially for patients who have left care before.

Environment and Resources

You will practice within a multidisciplinary behavioral health team—therapists, nurses, care coordinators, and consulting physicians—with defined collaborative protocols and a clear clinical reporting line. Expect an EHR built for behavioral health, standardized screening tools, and protected time for documentation and case review. Prescribing authority, supervision structure, and schedule will match state scope and the setting’s acuity, whether outpatient, integrated primary care, or a hybrid model.

Essential Qualifications

• Active PMHNP certification (ANCC or equivalent) and an unencumbered APRN license, or eligibility, in the practice state, with DEA registration as required.
• Demonstrated independent management of mood, anxiety, psychotic, and substance-related disorders, including safe controlled-substance prescribing.
• Proven ability to complete risk assessments and safety plans for suicidal, homicidal, and acutely decompensating patients.
• Comfort collaborating with non-prescribing clinicians and explaining medication decisions in plain language.
• Master’s or doctoral nursing preparation in psychiatric-mental health and a record of complete, defensible clinical documentation.

Why This Role

Clinical ownership of a panel, not a revolving door of one-off med checks. Outcomes that matter: stability, engagement, and fewer crises—not productivity theater. A team that treats therapy, medication, and social needs as one plan. Scope, schedule, and collaboration designed around safe practice, not maximum throughput. If you want your clinical judgment to change the course of someone’s week—and their year—apply with a brief note on a patient outcome you are proud of and the setting where you do your best work.