Psych NP questions

FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2015

My psych np does therapy and med management. She has her own practice though, and is the exception rather than the norm I think. Also, she doesn't take insurance. Despite this, she's booked 3 months in advance. Her prices are reasonable.

Jules A, MSN · Aug 5, 2015

In my experience psych-NPs do not do therapy. We do medication management only. Not that we don't add a few thoughts here and there during the medication checks but therapy is largely done by therapists who make about 30% of what I do.

Danielle.RN.BSN. · Aug 5, 2015

Hi Invitale, what state does she practice in? Does she by any chance have a work email I could contact her at...to ask how she went about that...if you feel comfortable sharing that?

AdultPsychRN · Aug 11, 2015

Psychiatrists, PMHNP's, and PA's do medication management. Licensed psychologists, LPCs, LCSWs, MFTs, etc do primarily counseling. "The money" for licensed psychologists is not in counseling. Most facilities in the area I am from hire LPCs, LCSWs, MFTs, etc to do counseling.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Aug 11, 2015

Psych CNSs do therapy too.

Dogen · Aug 13, 2015

My psych np does therapy and med management. She has her own practice though, and is the exception rather than the norm I think. Also, she doesn't take insurance. Despite this, she's booked 3 months in advance. Her prices are reasonable.

Through work and school and being a fairly friendly individual who goes to departmental alumni mixers I know 30 or so psych NPs. The only ones I know who do therapy are in private practice, like yours. All of the ones who work for agencies - even very small agencies - do strictly med management. Like AdultPsychRN said, most places hire social workers or master's level therapists to do talk therapy.

FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2015

Hi Invitale, what state does she practice in? Does she by any chance have a work email I could contact her at...to ask how she went about that...if you feel comfortable sharing that?

She practices in NJ. I sent you a pm with her website info. Best wishes to you! I trust my psych NP with my life, literally. There is no Doctor that I have ever trusted like her and we went through many of them. I have a close family member with a serious mental illness, and she helped the entire family. I credit her with keeping our family intact and stable. I understand why most psych NPs only do med management, but if you can get into your own practice and help the person in every way, including socially, I think this is best and that psych NPs do that better than docs. Best wishes to you.

SouthernPsy · Aug 16, 2015

I could be wrong, but I think it varies state to state.

PG2018 · Aug 17, 2015

You could do therapy if you find someone that will hire you to do that, but no one will. You'll be up against LPCs, LCSWs, psychologists and others who are actually trained for therapy. You'll get a little training in it but not much, and you'd likely need certification training (CBT, IPT, DBT, Rogerian, etc) to be effective.

Referring to psychologists, their forte is actually in psychometrics although I find they often run niche groups like chronic pain, TBI, et al. There are also psychological examiners. They're to psychologists as NPs are to psychiatrists.

The need in mental health is for people trained in psychiatric evaluation and psychotropic decision making. There's a nationwide shortage of psychiatrists and PMHNPs. No one else, sans the two states with prescriptive psychologists, have this training. There are around 20 ways to become a therapist. The odds aren't in your favor.

ETA: Come to think of it, I think you could do psychotherapy indpendently in most states. You could make money during the day working with evals and meds. Then have a shop somewhere to do therapy. Jason Seaver worked out of his own house.