Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumna Dr. Stephanie A. Patterson, DNP, PMHNP-BC, obtained her doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree in the summer of 2019 and is making strides in the mental healthcare field. In her urban community of Los Angeles, Calif., mental illness is a widespread problem.
“In Los Angeles, there is a high need for DNP-prepared PMHNPs like me because of the pervasiveness of mental illness in the community. Current statistics show that 63 percent of adults in California with mental illness did not receive treatment during the past year,” said Stephanie.
Stephanie currently serves as an inpatient psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP), where she works with mentally ill adults. Her patients are typically admitted involuntarily after presenting themselves as a danger to themselves or others. Stephanie and her team evaluate and observe patients until they are stabilized and discharged into a lower level of care.
Stephanie is a strong advocate for medication management among patients with mental illnesses, knowing what medication regimens typically work for particular diagnoses. She takes time to listen to each patient, observe for side effects of medication and educate the patient on the importance of consistent medication and follow-up appointments.
“It is important that our patients know that they can still maintain a functional life in the community, hold jobs or stay in school, etc., despite having a mental health condition. This is why patient education is so crucial,” Stephanie said.
Improving quality for better patient outcomes is one of Stephanie’s passions, which prompted her to pursue her DNP. She recently presented her final DNP project at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum in Orlando, Fla., highlighting a patient-centered approach to improving appointment adherence rates in the mental health arena.
“I was very excited to present my project among like-minded professionals,” said Stephanie. “It was the culmination of my education at FNU and my commitment to the underserved in mental healthcare.”
In deciding where to enroll for her DNP, Stephanie did a lot of research and settled on FNU.
“I researched FNU’s history, plus the flexibility was really important so I was still able to work while pursuing my DNP. I’m very happy with my decision.”
Stephanie was also drawn by the renown of FNU’s faculty. “Many faculty have been in the field for 30 years or more across all different regions of the country, offering a wealth of clinical expertise and institutional knowledge,” she said.
She also benefited from receiving education from both certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and nurse practitioners (NPs), which was an important opportunity.
During her DNP studies, Stephanie picked up a major tool that she has since implemented into her practice. She uses a shared decision-making aid to engage patients and takes time to explain to her patients why keeping their appointments is so important.
“The shared decision-making model isn’t used much in the mental health community, but FNU taught me to use it and it has been an effective way to provide the patient with a foundation for making decisions based on individual values, preferences and goals for treatment,” she said.
She uses the motivational interviewing strategy during her initial consultations with patients, helping them commit to making changes to improve their health and wellbeing. She has seen this method improve mental and overall health outcomes and reduce relapses.
We are proud of Stephanie for her work with the underserved mentally ill community and her commitment to quality improvement in mental healthcare. Thank you, Stephanie!
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).