In January 2017, Frontier Nursing University began offering a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) degree option. As has been the case throughout FNU’s history, this decision was made in response to the country’s healthcare needs. The need for more mental health providers is significant and ever-increasing.
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), 160 million Americans live in one of the nation’s 6,063 mental health professional shortage areas. HRSA estimates that the U.S. needs an additional 8,024 mental health providers to fill these shortage gaps. Approximately two-thirds of the shortage areas are in rural or partially rural parts of the country.
“We must bridge the gap and increase the accessibility of mental health providers in this country,” said Dr. Kevin Scalf, DNP, PMHNP-BC, CNEcl, who serves as FNU’s Department Chair of the PMHNP Program. “Mental health plays a crucial role in an individual’s health and quality of life, regardless of age, geographical location, or culture. In order to decrease morbidity and mortality, qualified mental health providers must be available to meet the demands of our diverse population.”
Severe mental illness, defined by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is a mental illness that interferes with a person’s life and ability to function. According to NIMH, in 2021, 14.1 million American adults (5.5%) had SMI. Of those adults with SMI, 9.1 million (65.4%) received mental health treatment in 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light and exacerbated mental health issues for many. A 2022 study by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that there was a significant increase in mental health problems in the general population in the first year of the pandemic and that the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 was higher among people living with mental disorders.
Making matters worse, access to care is limited for many. Barriers include provider shortages, national and state regulations and policies that limit mental health care delivery, and insurance companies that limit reimbursement for mental health care. In many states, PMHNPs are not allowed to practice independently and must be supervised by a physician. This creates an additional hurdle to access to mental health care.
The increased use of telehealth has provided greater access to care for some, but many still struggle to find accessible and culturally concordant care. These are the types of gaps that FNU’s curriculum, combined with its commitments to rural and underserved populations and diversity, equity, and inclusion, are designed to address.
FNU’s PMHNP graduates represent a growing part of the solution to this national problem. As of January 2023, FNU has graduated 933 PMHNPs from 49 states. FNU’s board pass rate for PMHNP students is 93%, which is 7% percent above the national average. FNU’s MSN graduates achieved a first-time pass rate of 96% in 2022, which ranked FNU in the top 3% of schools nationwide.
“Frontier’s PMHNP program is preparing students to address urgent mental health care needs in their communities,” Dr. Scalf said. “Students have the opportunity to immerse themselves into the role of the PMHNP by engaging in rigorous academic preparation, including simulation activities involving standardized patients. By participating in simulation activities, students have an opportunity to optimize critical thinking and apply knowledge and skills to patient care scenarios. FNU has always emphasized the health of the community and family. Good mental health is a prerequisite for healthy families and communities. The impact of the PMHNP program promises to grow exponentially over the next five years and beyond.”
Visit this link to learn more about the PMHNP program.
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Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).