Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

Job Title: Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC)

Licenses & Certifications Required: COLORADO RN, PMHNP-BC, DEA, and ANCC certified. Other specialty licenses and certifications welcomed, eg. Integrative Psychiatry.
Location and Office: 100% Virtual Clinical Hours. You must have a professional office to work from remotely.
Reports to: Holly Werstein, RN, MBA, PMHNP-BC, founder and team leader.
Schedule: You are free and supported in working any hours that suit your life and well being.

Welcome (that is if we decide to hire you...and you decide to accept....)! Come be a part of Forest Path Psychiatry & Healing’s 100% virtual outpatient clinic team! We are known for our eclectic, fun, and intentionally inclusive staff and culture. By joining us, you will enjoy competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits plans for those who work full time (36+ hours or more per week), convenient work hours that work around your lifestyle, and opportunities for authentic connection to like minded providers and team members.

At Forest Path Psychiatry & Healing, our Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners are in control of their practice. Our support staff focuses on administrative duties, enabling you to spend more of your time on direct patient care.

COMPANY SUMMARY: Forest Path Psychiatry & Healing’s mission is to provide care with authenticity, compassion, education, and empowering practices. We tend to the needs of those with histories of complex trauma (C-PTSD) and the often resultant and/or associated sequelae conditions such as depression, anxiety, panic, suicidality, non-suicidal self harm, agoraphobia, schizophrenia, bipolar, psychosis, somatic symptoms, obsessive compulsive disorder, excoriation disorder, trichotillomania, eating disorders, parasomnias, dissociative disorders, personality disorders, and other psychological and behavioral manifestations of trauma that occur for an individual.

We connect with our clients across Colorado via HIPAA compliant, virtual technology. We take a special interest in supporting those who experience these disorders across all demographics, orientations, and cultural groups and do not discriminate.

We seek to tend to the mental health and core emotional needs of those who find themselves at the intersectionality of life. "...[T]he term intersectionality has broadened to include all protected characteristics, such as class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability and gender. It’s the idea that these layers do not exist separately from each other but intersect to form a person’s identity, and can magnify the discrimination and marginalization they might experience. To fully understand to what extent, it’s crucial to look at the whole picture of someone’s identity" [1].

JOB SUMMARY: The Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC) will provide psychiatric and therapeutic care for patients with mental health disorders. We are seeking providers who have a special commitment to (a/several) certain patient population(s) so that we can provide specialized care to clients. Bilingual, ASL, pediatric, adult, geriatric, integrative psychiatry, BIPOC, LGBTQAI+, alternative adult lifestyles, providers are all warmly welcomed to apply.

Duties:

• Implement the advanced nursing process with the following: therapeutic relationship building; educate patients and families; diagnose, treat, and manage chronic and acute mental health illnesses and refer to a higher level of care when appropriate; provide psychotherapy; prescribe medication for acute and chronic illnesses; monitor patients for any adverse medication reactions or side effects; provide care coordination; make referrals; offering holistic care; ordering, performing, and interpreting lab tests, diagnostic studies; and providing preventative care including screening [2].
• Embody an authentically trauma-informed approach to the Forest Path Psychiatry & Healing Team, Clients, and Self. Per SAMHSA, “A program, organization, or system that is trauma informed realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and seeks to actively resist retraumatization” [3].
• Create a safe space for clients to express their authentic experiences and thereby lay a foundation of connection and healing with every client. Know when to ask for help with a difficult client to either gain insight, more resources, or refer. Founder Holly Werstein, PMHNP-BC, is always happy to take on difficult clients to make sure that every team member is comfortable in their own practice. She has 16 years of experience treating acute mental health concerns from a variety of roles.

Specific tasks to fulfill the above duties:

• Evaluate patients’ behavior to formulate psychiatric diagnoses, present treatment options, and distinguish between physiologically and psychologically based disorders in order to refer patients to community partners and emergency services as needed.
• Act as a client advocate to coordinate required services or to refer to emergency problems in crisis situations.
• Collect information about clients through interviews, observations, and standardized surveys. Prepare and maintain treatment records and reports.
• Document patients’ medical and psychological histories, physical assessment results, diagnoses, treatment plans, prescriptions, and outcomes. Write prescriptions for psychotropic medications as allowed by state regulations and collaborative practice agreements. Monitor patients’ medication usage and results.
• Conduct individual and support system clinical sessions for the purposes of therapy and psychoeducation for those with chronic or acute mental disorders.
• Educate patients and family members about mental health and medical conditions, preventive health measures, medications, and treatment plans.
• Offer interventions in the form of skills, strategies, and information on sleep hygiene, healthy nutrition, parental support, increasing quality of parent-child interaction, and relaxation and coping strategies.
• Provide crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques when needed.
• Refer clients as needed to a large network of existing relationships with vetted Colorado therapists and MDs as needed.
• Collaborate with team lead, office staff, nursing staff, and other team members - as needed - to develop, implement, and evaluate treatment plans.
• Perform telephone or video consultation with client therapists, education for providers, resource coordination, collaboration with providers, and in person or virtual consultation(s) as you deem fit and necessary for the betterment of your clients.
• Attend to other duties as seen fit by the clinician themselves.

Timeline & Marketing YOUR Offering in the World!

• Full Credentialing with all major insurance panels takes approximately two (2) to three (3) months. After this, we will market your specialties and skills in earnest. So what will be happening in the meantime? We will endeavor to ramp up your practice to part time scheduling in four to six weeks and full time scheduling in eight to twelve weeks. We will ask you for various marketing materials (biography, photos, videos, audio files, funny stories, etc.) to submit to our marketing company to make this happen. We will also interview you on what types of patients you want us to pitch your services, taking special care to provide you with your ideal caseload.

Team and Client Culture:

• Individual provider personalities will be lauded and supported. We wish to build a team of providers that are as unique as our clientele. Any and all aesthetics are welcomed - as long as care is taken to be professional within a particular look. For example, professional pink hair is welcome!
• The PMHNP will provide these clinical services to clients virtually and in an office of their choosing. The office must be private, tidy, and contain no visible religious or political material to ensure a safe and comfortable visit for all clientele. Inclusive community symbols such as a Rainbow Flag for our LGBTQAI+ Community or Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) posters are permissible and encouraged.
• Be comfortable using various group building skills, including active listening and humor, as a part of therapeutic interactions with clientele (& staff!).
• Our providers take care to be supportive of a variety of traditional and non-traditional relationship types, including polyamory and kink communities.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• None. (Except perhaps some supervisory duties over some pups or kitties wandering around your home office!)

Ideal Candidate Education and Experience:

Mandatory:

• Masters of Science in Nursing, with a specialty in Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing, from an accredited college or university.
• One (1) or more years of experience related to the above described duties.
• Active and unencumbered:
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Certification
• Colorado Registered Nurse (RN) License
• Colorado Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) License
• Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) License
• Devotion to specific patient population(s).
• Ability to practice independently within a collegial community.
• Strong medical documentation skills, ensuring accurate and timely recording of patient information.
• Fluency in English.
• Strong, independent work ethic.
• An excellent sense of humor.

Not mandatory, but a plus!

• Experience in telemedicine is a plus but not mandatory.
• Proficiency in using CHARM EHR or similar electronic medical record (EMR) systems.
• Fluency in another language(s) in addition to English.

Advantages of working with Forest Path Psychiatry & Healing:

• Colleagues who share in your values of balance, inclusivity, humor, and investment in clients with complex PTSD and associated sequelae that wish to live out their best lives.
• A job that actively supports the tenets of Feminist, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC missions as we work to transform mental health care to be healing partnership and team, not didactic suppression. We listen to our clients and validate their experience.
• A culture of genuine support of work/life balance and self care (tea times and hikes for days).
• Exclusive ability to set your own schedule to fit your needs and lifestyle (yoga with your pet goat).
• Access to a team leader and company founder who has 17 years of experience in a variety of roles that relate to the psychiatric diagnoses we wish to help heal.
• Full-time office manager who is an experienced, devoted Psychiatric RN with extensive leadership experience in emergency, inpatient, and outpatient psychiatric settings.
• Full service of credentialing with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Aetna, Cigna, Oscar, Oxford and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (special partnership to this latter one).
• Full time billing support.
• An office space of your choice (plants galore?!).

Forest Path Psychiatry & Healing LLC is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace and candidate experience. We strive to create an environment where everyone has a sense of belonging and purpose, and where we learn from the unique gifts of those around us.

We encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or family status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, pregnancy or caregiver status, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.

Please note that only qualified candidates will be contacted. Thank you for considering this opportunity.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the position. It is not an exhaustive list of skills, duties, or responsibilities associated with the role.

Sources:

[1] A Facilitator’s Guide to Intersectional Approaches to Mental Health Education

[2] National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care – A Best Practice Toolkit

Knowledge Informing Transformation

[3] Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services

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Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, PRN

Pay: $80.00 - $100.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance

Medical Specialty:

• Psychiatry

Education:

• Master's (Preferred)

Experience:

• PMHNP: 1 year (Preferred)

License/Certification:

• Colorado PMHNP (now or after employment) (Preferred)

Work Location: Remote