What Makes Our Program Distinct?

Because of the significant national shortage of psychiatric professional providers, our program prepares students for a wide variety of employment opportunities across the mental health care service spectrum including community-based psychiatric case managers, private practice clinicians, and hospitalists for inpatient psychiatric units.

Students learn to diagnose disorders and provide holistic treatment and lifestyle management including pharmacological interventions, complementary and alternative therapies, and individual, group and family psychotherapies that promote mental health and reduce disability.

The Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner specialty utilizes an integrative mental health framework for teaching patient care and provider self-care.

Faculty in the program are nationally acclaimed and doctorally-prepared. 

In recent years, 100 percent of students pass the certification exam for licensure on the first try.

Starting annual salaries for new graduates in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area average about $95,000 and graduates often have multiple employment opportunities from which to choose.

Our graduates are prepared to:

• Practice independently and in interprofessional teams in a variety of different clinical settings to address the multi-system health and mental health care needs of people who experience acute and chronic psychiatric illnesses
• Graduates are prepared to work effectively with people across the lifespan and their families
• Examine mental health organizational systems to identify leadership opportunities for improving clinical practices and outcomes
• Maintain personal balance in their own lives to be accountable for their own health and mental health and be present for their patients