Psychiatric/Mental Health NP (Family)... Can you enlighten me?

[blrountree]

Hi, All.

I'm interested in furthering my education as a Psychiatric/Mental Health NP, and I was hoping that some of you out there would be willing to tell me a little bit more about your day to day role. I would ultimately love to get into counseling, so I'm wondering what kind of opportunities an advanced degree in this field would provide me with to do just that. Additionally, my fiancé is in the military... so we will be moving quite frequently. How difficult would it be to find a new job every 3-4 years? Would there ever be opportunities to work part time? Thanks in advance!

[elkpark]

Psych NPs predominantly focus on med management (pushing pills). Most counseling/therapy gets done by members of other disciplines who get paid less. If your real interest is in therapy, you may want to rethink your plans.

[blrountree]

Thank you for the info! That's really helpful and answered my big question.

[PG2018]

Jobs are easy to come by

You won't be counseling

[jwester]

Are you already working as a PsychNP ? There are part time and travel opportunities available , although pay rate will vary . As mentioned , there won't be any counseling in your role . NP's make referrals and focus on prescribing . The medication management is a joke . Over burdened with too many patients to see and if there are frequent med changes , questionable lab values or frequent hospital admissions , you may be better off having a nurse do follow up calls with your patients to help manage the meds . The RN obviously can't write / change meds , but a sharp one with excellent experience and excellent pharmacology background to monitor and report side effects will be a big help .

[B52Bomber]

I have yet to be in any circumstance using psychotherapy haha! So far I've been in PHP, outpatient and private practice settings primarily managing medications including alternative medicine but the closest I've used to any kind of counseling/psychotherapy is plain ol therapeutic communication and some motivational interviewing. A PMHNP I worked with in my practice was actually a psychologist as well and used psychotherapy and would typically conduct our neuropsychological testing.