I am a "seasoned" professional, still going full speed. I live in Placerville, CA and have been working for years in Sacramento.
I am thrilled to begin my journey to gain a post-master's PMHNP certificate. I have begun this week and envision finishing in November 2024.
I have experience as a Certified Nurse Midwife (20+ years), an attorney (10+ years), a public health professional, and most recently, a faculty member teaching and leading prelicensure education in nursing.
- I hope to serve clients in the perinatal mental health clinical area. I was on medical staffs at large healthy systems delivering babies for a long time, and caring for clients with mental health issues was always a specialty of mine given that the field was not well-developed at the time. It would be great to share thoughts and visualize how to grow this area of practice.
- I am also interested in working with professionals struggling with career issues. I know this territory well as a health care professional and as an attorney.
- I hope to get into integrative health and explore various modalities that are proven effective. I have always had one foot in CAM as a nurse-midwife and want to retain that perspective while having a firm foundation in mainstream practice.
- I am interested in the concept and practice of using "nature" as a healing tool. Have always lived surrounded by nature and rely on that to stay resilient.
Like many others, I would be very grateful for help in locating preceptorship opportunities: I need to find a high volume site and work with a preceptor psychiatrist starting in November. I am not seeking experience in the specialties above for that rotation. I would like to see a broad variety of psychiatric diagnoses and acuities, hopefully in an acute care setting.
After that rotation, I will seek experience that support my interests, and would be happy to receive advice/contacts for next year.
Hoping to get to know you all, Best wishes, Deborah Acker