Frontier Nursing University (FNU) Student Rachel Featherstone, WHNP-BC, MSN, PMH-C, has
spent their career finding problems in the world around them and looking for ways to meet those needs. Originally a member of the United States Army, Featherstone began to think about switching their career path after having a challenging birthing experience within an Army hospital.
“I felt disrespected by a lot of the hospital staff and had a very emotionally draining delivery,” Featherstone said. “I walked away from that experience thinking when I get out of the military, I’m going to make a difference for other people in this position and become a midwife.”
After finishing their time in the military, Featherstone became certified as a nurse and then moved on to FNU to pursue a Certified Nurse-Midwife degree when they realized that midwifery might not be the best fit for them after all.
“As a single mother who was already sleep-deprived, the schedule of a nurse-midwife simply didn’t seem like one that I would be able to sustain,” Featherstone said. “During that time, I also realized that my favorite part of midwifery wasn’t the births. What I really loved was sitting down and talking to people and building relationships with them as they transitioned into parenthood.”
Following this revelation, Featherstone pivoted to the Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) program with the intention of pursuing a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) degree following graduation. Featherstone is currently in the clinical portion of earning their PMHNP.
Once Featherstone earned their WHNP, they were given an exciting opportunity to build a cutting edge interventional psychiatry clinic with a physician where they were able to dive into research on neurotransmitters and learn all about mental health on a cellular level. However, they really missed working with pregnant and postpartum families. So, when COVID-19 changed the face of healthcare, Featherstone realized it was time to open their own telehealth practice.
“I knew I wanted to work where the need was the greatest,” Featherstone said. “After significant research, Idaho was the place I chose to open my telehealth clinic.”
Featherstone chose Idaho because every county in the state is underserved in mental health services. Additionally, in 2020, Idaho saw an influx of population as people in California sought a cheaper cost of living. Families from multiple western states fled wildfires and chose to reside in a less volatile area.
“Idaho was in desperate need of mental care before 2020,” Featherstone said, “even though I live in Virginia, I knew this was the community that most needed my services.”
In November, Featherstone opened Eucaplytus Health, a private practice focusing on perinatal mental health. Upon opening, Featherstone reached out to the public health department, the doula community, and Idaho pediatricians to build a network that could best connect them to new patients who could be screen and treated early.
One of Featherstone’s mottos for Eucaplytus Health is “bringing the heart of midwifery to mental health.” Featherstone chose this because although they transitioned away from midwifery, they still feel very connected to the mission of building relationships, sharing helpful information, and honoring the decisions of their patients.
“Perinatal health is so misunderstood by healthcare providers for how common these issues are,” Featherstone said.
Between 1 in 5 and 1 in 7 birth parents experience a mood disorder. Yet, many parents are afraid to take drugs for their mental health because they are scared of the effects on the baby. However, most of what these parents have heard is misinformation. The reality is that the risks are much higher for a new parent experiencing mental distress than for a fetus or baby whose parent is stable on psychiatric medication.
“I believe it is important to prepare birthing parents for the emotions they may face and inform them that medication is better for them and their baby than suffering,” Featherstone said.
“It is the 6-9 month postpartum period where we see the highest rates of suicides and overdoses following a pregnancy,” Featherstone said. “This is due to several factors. At this time, it is common for parents to have returned to work, be caring for multiple children, and have an expectation of feeling ‘normal’ again, when, instead, the family is constantly evolving and there is usually a lot of chronic sleep deprivation. Unfortunately, the combination of these factors can lead to a breaking point.”
“I truly believe that the most important part of my job is listening,” Featherstone said. “So many women simply need someone to genuinely ask them how they are feeling, how their body is doing, and what struggles they are facing. OBGYNs and psychiatrists both do great work, but they are often overwhelmed by the unique needs of these patients. We need more people specifically trained and dedicated to helping parents in these transitional stages.”
Featherstone is committed to reaching as many parents as possible with their services and has partnered with every form of willing insurance. Eucalyptus Health accepts Medicaid, Medicare, Tricare, and many commercial plans, with sliding scale also offered.
“I struggled to find the right help when I needed it; I want to make sure that as many people as possible know that there are options,” Featherstone said. “Reaching underserved populations is what brought me to healthcare, and that is why I feel so aligned with Frontier.”
“I have also been very pleased with the way FNU has addressed racial disparities in the history of the university, as well as how they have respected my requests and concerns as a non-binary provider. I am proud to be part of such an inclusive community that I see continuously working to do better to understand and support marginalized people.”
Thank you, Featherstone, for your dedication to caring for underserved communities and bridging the gap between birth and psychiatric care. We cannot wait to watch the ripples of your work extend across the country as more providers become aware of this need.
Click the links to learn more about Frontier’s Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner Program, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program, and our growing Diversity Inclusion Program.
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).