Today we’d like to introduce you to Nichelle Haynes.
Hi Nichelle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey to where I am started at age 5 playing Richard Scarry Busytown video game and always coming back to playing the doctor portion of the game where the sole focus was putting bandages on things. It’s at that age I decided to become a physician and never looked back (aside for a few months in college where I thought I wanted to go to graduate school to become a psychologist). Through this journey I have been drawn to helping mothers and children and didn’t know how that would manifest until I found perinatal psychiatry. After having both of my children during residency, including a journey with infertility, I found myself even more pulled toward pregnancy and postpartum. After residency I worked at an inpatient unit where I started the city’s first unit designed just for women. It was an incredible learning experience that left me with little time and energy for myself and my family and was the catalyst for the change that got me to where I am today. I joined Reproductive Psychiatry and Counseling after meeting our founder, Kristin Lasseter, MD, and immediately feeling connected to the vision. Over the past 7 years she and I have grown the business from the two of us to now employing 4 psychiatrists, 1 nurse practitioner and 5 therapists. We are so proud of the work we do and the space we have been able to create.
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?
Absolutely not a smooth road. I recently heard someone say that people will explain that they had to learn things “the hard way” but there is actually no “easy way” to learn big lessons. That resonated with me so much! The bumps along the way have been numerous, both inconsequential and absolutely life-shattering and everything in between. Through college, medical school, residency, adjusting to attending life to building a business I am so proud of, it has been mostly bumps. I do feel we are hitting a stride where the suspension of the car we built from scratch does absorb a lot of the bumps and I’m so grateful for that! I finally trust my capabilities to handle the things life throws at me.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a perinatal psychiatrist. This means I am a board-certified psychiatrist with specialized training in supporting people who are intending pregnancy, experiencing infertility, pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding and adjusting to parenting. I absolutely love this work and I am so proud to do it. The pride comes from the knowledge that when a parent is feeling better, feeling more like themselves, that their improvements ripple out. When mom is happier so is her home, so are her children and that generational improvement can set the tone for generations to come.
My favorite is to see a mom come to life, to get her spark back. I love it when someone comes to me really struggling and I get to walk alongside them and see them find themselves, feel better, lean into their skills and start loving life. There’s nothing like it!
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
What I really want people to know is this: psychiatric illness like depression and anxiety are treatable. They are not risk-free in pregnancy or postpartum and you don’t have to “tough it out.” We are available to help at Reproductive Psychiatry and Counseling (rpcclinic.com).
If you’re looking for more information find me on social media!
IG/Threads: https://www.instagram.com/dr.nichellehaynes
Podcast: https://morethanmomwithdrnichellehaynes.buzzsprout.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://RPCClinic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.nichellehaynes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MedicalMamas
- Other: https://morethanmomwithdrnichellehaynes.buzzsprout.com
