Dr. Tracy Hicks, DNP ( Class 23), MBA, APRN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, CARN-AP, FIAAN, FAANP
“I started in 2015 with myself and a front desk person,” Hicks said. “By 2020, I had a front desk person and a part-time nurse.”
Currently, the clinic has 12 staff members, including a psychiatrist/medical director, a physician assistant, a licensed master social worker, a licensed vocational nurse, a medical assistant, a licensed chemical dependency counselor, three psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners, two patient navigators/crisis interventionalists, and a front desk manager/executive assistant and assistant clinical director. Incredible to think that this vitally important clinic almost never existed.
Hicks always wanted to be a nurse, but it wasn’t until she was in the family nurse practitioner (FNP) program at the University of Texas at Arlington that she was drawn to the possibility of being a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner.
“We had to take a full semester of psych with a 45-hour clinical rotation,” Hicks said. “The PMHNP Director at the time asked me if I would be interested in the PMHNP program because of my performance in didactic and clinical. I told her I wanted to complete the FNP program because I wanted to offer a holistic care model, but I promised her that I would take a semester off and return because I did love the psych rotation. I did just that, and my Program Director remains in my life today as a mentor and like a second mom.”
Hicks’ real mom was also a nurse but encouraged her to become a physician. “I told her I wanted to become a nurse because I had watched her and how her colleagues and patients loved her,” Hicks said. “She loved her work. She made me promise that if I wanted to be a nurse, I would go to the top and make an impact.”
Establishing a psychiatric-mental health clinic in the state with the lowest access to mental healthcare certainly makes an impact. Hicks credits FNU’s DNP program for helping prepare her to establish and manage her own practice.
“When I researched universities online, I was attracted to FNU's rural health focus,” said Hicks, who is also an associate professor in the College of Nursing at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. “I remember being inspired by Dr. Diane John. She was so helpful and supportive throughout my journey at FNU. I met Dr. Khara’ Jefferson toward the end of my journey, and she was instrumental in my grounding toward the end. Dr. Eileen Thrower taught the ‘nurse as an educator’ course, which solidified my interest in teaching at the graduate level. I also used some of my courses as a guide in setting up and refining my clinic.”
Part of refining her clinic to meet the community's needs included the establishment of C-Trilogy Outreach, a non-profit branch of C-Trilogy, in 2020. This came in response to a growing number of patients, both insured and uninsured, who were presenting with more complex issues during the pandemic.
“I established a non-profit in 2020 in hopes of securing funding to expand and transform the practice to meet the needs of the community,” Hicks said. “I researched and studied the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model and met with stakeholders, including the local mental health authority. I applied for grant funding through SAMHSA and was blessed to receive funding in 2022 for the planning, development, and implementation of a CCHBC Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Planning, Development, and Implementation Grant.”
The CCBHC model ensures access to coordinated comprehensive behavioral health care and serves those who request mental health or substance use care. C-Trilogy has established relationships with the Harris County Jail System and the Jim Meyer Comprehensive Health Center, which is partially funded by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.
“We used to have contracts with them, but now we work collaboratively referring patients between organizations when needed,” Hicks said.
Understanding that C-Trilogy cannot fix the state’s mental healthcare needs alone, Hicks has become a vocal leader in advocating for increased awareness and funding. As a presenter and speaker, she addresses the importance of the social determinants of health in providing individualized and holistic care on a broader scale.
“My motto is ‘restricted NP practice anywhere is restricted access to care everywhere,’” Hicks said. “Increasing access to mental health services is key. We have to take a more proactive approach versus a reactive approach. Mental healthcare tends to get more attention when there a tragic events such as mass shootings and the pandemic, which highlighted health inequality. Issues such as this wreak havoc on the population's mental health. We need to continue to be proactive and promote and cultivate crucial and fierce conversations on the state of mental health and the solutions that are needed. We need all healthcare providers to practice to the fullest extent of their education without unnecessary barriers and restrictions.”
Balancing her duties as a clinician, educator, and advocate might seem daunting to most, but to Hicks, it is the most effective way for her to serve her community and her state.
“I plan to continue work as an educator and clinic owner/entrepreneur while being an exemplary leader and addressing the needs of underserved populations,” she said. “I hope to expand my clinic model into Full Practice States. I intend to continue to support Texas Nurse Practitioners and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners as we work with legislators to secure Full Practice Authority in Texas and across the nation.”
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).