Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Hernandez, APRN, PMHNP.
Hi Jessica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
While it was not a conscious decision at the time, I believe what led me to my career in mental health was a desire to better understand my own adversity and the challenges I experienced growing up in my family of origin. After getting my undergraduate degree in Psychology, I started working as a direct care staff at The Settlement Home for Children, a residential treatment center for girls who have experienced severe emotional trauma, abuse, and neglect. It was during my four years working there that I discovered my passion for working with vulnerable populations and supporting their mental health. At this time, I decided to pursue a career in psychiatric/mental health nursing.
I entered the Alternate-Entry MSN program and graduated in 2012 with a specialty as a Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. For the first five years of my career, I worked at Austin State Hospital and gained invaluable experience serving marginalized peoples with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. While I found great meaning and purpose in this setting, I found myself chronically frustrated and disappointed by the constraints and barriers within our current mental health care system. At this point in my career, I decided it was time for a shift. With a heavy heart, I left inpatient practice to pursue a career in private practice so that I could have more autonomy and practice in a way more aligned with my values as a nurse and caregiver. So it was in 2017 that I joined some fellow colleagues at one of Austin’s first Nurse Practitioner-owned clinics, Greater Austin Psychiatry and Wellness.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No success story is without a few bumps along the way, personally and professionally. In 2020, I became owner of Greater Austin Psychiatry & Wellness just two months before the COVID19 pandemic. I successfully transitioned our practice to full telehealth services so that we could continue providing the same level of care to our clients during this unprecedented time. As the pandemic progressed, it was certainly a struggle at times to balance being a clinician, business owner, colleague, wife, mother and take care of my own mental well-being. I am also a trauma survivor myself and have lost my only sibling to the opioid crisis.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Greater Austin Psychiatry & Wellness. We are a nurse practitioner owned and operated psychiatric clinic in Austin, TX. We focus on diagnosis, medication management, and brief psychotherapeutic interventions for clients with psychiatric disorders. We take most major insurance plans and offer competitive self-pay rates.
Jessica is a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and has been practicing in the Austin community since 2012 after graduating from The University of Texas at Austin. She has practiced in a variety of settings including inpatient psychiatric hospitals, detox and inpatient substance use treatment centers, and outpatient private practice. Jessica served as adjunct professor at Concordia University 2012-2013. She also serves as a preceptor to PMHNP students from UT.
Jessica provides psychiatric diagnostic services and medication management with brief psychotherapeutic interventions. Her approach to care is holistic, collaborative, empowering, practical, and evidence-based in order to improve the lives of those whom she provides care. She can diagnose and treat any psychiatric condition but has a special interest in psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, complex trauma and PTSD, and substance use disorders. Jessica sees clients 15 and up.
What are your plans for the future?
With the exciting evidence regarding psychedelic/plant-based medicines, we will be incorporating psychedelic-assisted therapy with these substances as legalization becomes closer to reality.
We also have hopes to expand our clinic to provide mental health services via telemedicine to rural and underserved populations in Texas.
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Kerry Gray
Stella
May 19, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Greater Austin Psychiatry and Wellness is a fantastic resource, and Jessica is both a great administrator and clinician. The group there provides excellent psychiatric care enhanced by a holistic nursing perspective. Jessica has turned her personal journey into an opportunity to serve with honesty and compassion. Thanks for sharing her story!