Welcome to Crowe Connection: Mental Health Psychiatry

I am a Nurse Practitioner. Nurse Practitioners are prescribing providers that start as Registered Nurses. We complete graduate degrees and clinical studies allowing us to work with patients. In Oregon, Nurse Practitioners can prescribe medications and work independently with patients. I am not a psychiatrist. I am a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. I am a nurse first. I write medications for mental health. 

I've been involved in health care as a nurse since 2006. I worked as a Registered Nurse on hospital floors from 2006 to 2015. After completing 4 years of Pre-Med and additional Nursing studies at Portland State University,  I earned my Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Oregon Health & Science University in 2005. In 2016 I finished my Masters of Nursing at Vanderbilt University in Nashville for my Family Nurse Practitioner Degree. In 2022 I finished my Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Post-Masters degree. My four years of Pre-Med studies included general and organic chemistry, anatomy and physiology, advanced math, microbiology and general biology, physics, and genetics. My additional nursing prerequisite classes included psychology, anthropology, statistics, and human development. I was part of the PSU honors program until I started the RN program at OHSU.

I worked from 2016 to 2023 with a prominent medical organization as a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner using my Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) degree. I took care of patients in an outpatient office and provided medical care and assessment and prescribed medications. 

Please see more of my approach to medicine in the next section. 

Please note I am not a counselor.

I require screening forms, your insurance information, identification, medical and mental health records. They must be available ahead of time. 

I AM NOT CURRENTLY PRESCRIBING SUBOXONE/SUBUTEX or BUPRENORPHINE.

Some Nurse Practitioners that work just with mental health medications do not have experience managing physical health illnesses. I have seven years experience as a Nurse Practitioner working in primary care managing complex medical conditions, as well as mental health conditions. This sets me apart. I have the experience to help me judge when medication treatments I prescribe are appropriate. Also I can often assist patients who have physical health questions. I am very familiar with a wide range of classes of treatments and medications for cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, and dermatology and wound care related conditions. I am also familiar with treatments for common illnesses like diabetes 1 and 2, tobacco and chemical lung injuries, and obesity. I have extensive experience with working with patients ages 65 and older. There are special considerations that need to be observed when prescribing for the very young or for older patients. 

It is important to know that I am not a counselor. I have some training in psychology, but that is not my focus. My focus is medications for patients for mental health, when they are indicated. It is very important to note that not everybody needs medication. Also, medications by themselves, without focused therapy, is not the best way to untangle mental trauma and problems. 

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There is never just one thing that makes a person feel poorly. I am trained to look at the physical health of the person AND the mental condition of a person. Sometimes medications are needed. I am here to help identify what will best help the unique person, and meet them at the place they are ready to start at. 

I do not have advanced training for talk therapy. However, that is a very important part of healing mental illness. I frequently tell people that health is like going on a car trip. When you first start, you are in a car that is not turned on and maybe you are new to driving. Medications are like turning on a car engine, and talk therapy are the driving lessons. Your are not going to have a great trip without both things. I joke that without driving lessons, you will end up in a ditch!

I can provide the medications. I will always encourage patients to find a talk therapist as well.