Peplau's Ghost

Dan
  • 4.9 (7)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Biweekly

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP) discussing using psychotherapy within their practice. Four PMHNP program directors and a biostatistician from across the Unites States sharing their passion on how psychotherapy can help people with nearly all their emotional problems.

  1. 6h ago

    What If Medication Management Started With Trust with Dr. Kris Vandenberg-Harrison

    Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever left a psych visit thinking, “I wish I had more information,” you’re not alone and you’re not failing. We sit down with Dr. Kris Vandenberg- Harrison to talk about what real psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner practice looks like after the textbooks: messy timelines, incomplete histories, shifting diagnoses, and the steady work of building trust through the therapeutic relationship. We dig into a theme that keeps resurfacing in PMHNP education and practice: bringing psychotherapy skills back into medication management. Dr. Harrison explains why “meeting the patient where they are” is not a slogan, it’s a clinical strategy, especially for trauma, treatment resistance, and long-term engagement. We also explore how simulation training can help students develop clinical intuition, tolerate uncertainty, and practice the kind of therapeutic communication that can’t be reduced to checklists or box-clicking. You’ll also hear a memorable example of holistic assessment and differential diagnosis when “anxiety” is actually a neurological condition, plus honest reflections on boundaries in rural mental health care and what sustainable self-care really means when emotional bandwidth runs thin. If you want practical guidance grounded in nursing identity, this conversation delivers. Subscribe for more conversations on psychiatric nursing, PMHNP practice, and mental health education, then share this episode with a colleague and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What part of practice do you wish training prepared you for better? Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

  2. Jul 24

    The Prescription Has Meaning with Dr Kathleen McDermott

    Send us Fan Mail A prescription can land like a lifeline or like a verdict and we rarely ask what it means to the person holding it. We sit down with Dr Kathleen McDermott to unpack “psychodynamic psychopharmacology,” an approach to medication management that treats the prescription pad as part of the therapeutic relationship, not a replacement for it. If you’ve ever felt the tension between evidence-based psychopharmacology and the messy reality of trauma, family dynamics, stigma, and hope, this conversation brings language and structure to what you already sense in the room.  We talk about why the therapeutic alliance and Peplau’s interpersonal theory still matter in modern psychiatric mental health nursing, especially when the system pushes quick med checks and constant changes. Kathleen shares how she frames expectations, why slowing down can be the intervention, and how authentic curiosity can transform “nothing works” from a dead end into clinical information. We also dig into medication hesitancy, intense reactions that may be shaped by trauma, and when genetic testing can help clarify options without dismissing lived experience.  You’ll hear an integrative psychiatry mindset throughout: labs that often get missed, the basics of thyroid and vitamin D, sleep routines, sunlight, screen time, nutrition, hormones, and how to change one variable at a time so you can actually tell what’s working. We close with a candid look at where the field should go next: clearer public understanding of roles, more real choices for patients, psychotherapy staying on the menu, and healthy skepticism about profit-driven “breakthroughs.” If this supports your practice, subscribe, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more clinicians can find it. Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

  3. Jul 6

    How A Dual-Certified NP Connects Mind And Body with Dr Jen Wittman

    Send us Fan Mail Anxiety, anger, brain fog, panic, “can’t focus” days, and a body that feels like it’s betraying you often get treated like separate problems in separate clinics. That split can be costly. We’re joined by Dr. Jennifer Wittman, a dually certified Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, to talk about what changes when one clinician is trained to assess the whole system and take your story seriously. Jennifer shares her non-traditional path from an art degree and car sales to nursing and dual certification, and why she believes mind and body care belongs in the same room. We get specific about what integrated care looks like in practice, including a striking example where “just anxiety” was not the full answer and a cardiovascular issue needed attention too. Along the way, we dig into how she builds shared decision-making from the first minutes of a new patient visit, naming options clearly while keeping control where it belongs: with the patient. We also spend time on ADHD, especially the wave of adults, often women, getting diagnosed later in life. Jennifer explains how medication can help without changing who you are, why education and behavioral strategies matter, and how therapy can support relationships, executive function, and self-trust. We even name the grief that can come with a late diagnosis, the “what if” years, and how validation becomes a clinical tool. Finally, we get practical about dual-scope practice in Iowa as a full practice authority state, including how billing can work when psychotherapy is part of care. If you care about holistic healthcare, patient empowerment, ADHD treatment, and Peplau’s interpersonal nursing theory in the real world, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

  4. Jun 19

    Therapy Beyond The Med Check by Dr Karan Kverno

    Send us Fan Mail Fifteen minutes isn’t a clinical encounter, it’s a timer. We sit down with Dr. Karan Kverno to talk about what gets lost when psychiatric care becomes a rapid-fire “med check” and what PMHNPs can do to protect the relationship, the assessment, and the person in front of us. Karen shares her nontraditional training roots in stress response management, where behavioral learning, cognitive tools, and psychophysiology shaped a practical, skills-based approach to psychotherapy. We get into how biofeedback has evolved from bulky machines to today’s wearables, why heart rate variability (HRV) matters for calming the nervous system, and how simple breathing training can support stress regulation and trauma recovery. Along the way, we talk about the quiet power of therapeutic language, positive suggestion, and meeting patients where they are. From there, we wrestle with the real balancing act: integrating psychopharmacology with psychotherapy while practicing evidence-based care. Karen breaks down how she uses current best practice guidelines, how telepsychiatry can reduce access barriers, and why stable medication regimens should create more space for meaning, goals, and day-to-day coping rather than dominating the visit. We also confront burnout head-on, including documentation burden and high-volume schedules, and we close with a bigger lens on advocacy through community mental health, prevention, and building resilience in youth. If this conversation helps you rethink how you structure care, share it with a colleague, subscribe, and leave a review. What’s one change you’d make to keep mental health care more human? Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

  5. Jun 12

    One Table And Two Chairs with Ms Mya Yee Nander

    Send us Fan Mail A free clinic with two tables and one chair sounds almost too simple to work and that’s exactly why Mya’s story hits so hard. We talk with Maya, a dual-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, about how her life in Myanmar (Burma), her training across Thailand and the United States, and her commitment to transcultural nursing shaped a model of care built for people the system routinely overlooks. We get specific about what “culturally congruent care” looks like when the patient is a refugee or former refugee navigating language barriers, insurance gaps, and deep mistrust of institutions. Mya breaks down how she grounds her nurse-led free clinic in Leininger’s Sunrise Model and Watson’s Human Caring Theory, balancing cultural preservation with safe, evidence-based treatment. The conversation also connects physical health and mental health in a practical way: you can treat blood pressure and diabetes, but trauma and anxiety will keep showing up unless you address mind, body, and dignity together. We also wrestle with the pressure to move healthcare toward AI and non-face-to-face tools. Mya’s answer is direct: healing still starts with trust, respect, and listening. She shares how “disarming” humility and even humor can open the door to a real therapeutic relationship, especially when patients have every reason to be guarded. If you’re a psychiatric nurse, APRN, student, or anyone building trauma-informed care, you’ll leave with concrete ideas you can use immediately. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show and join the conversation. Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

  6. May 29

    Trauma Healing Beyond The Prescription Pad with Traci Powell

    Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever watched mental health care drift into quick labels and quicker medication swaps, this conversation will feel like a reset. We sit down with Traci Powell, a dual-certified neonatal nurse practitioner and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, to talk about what trauma treatment looks like when it actually works, and what breaks when the system stops listening. Traci shares her own story of depression, panic, and a devastating detour through mainstream care that left her worse, not better, and how that experience reshaped the way she practices trauma-informed psychotherapy as a prescriber.  From attachment science and early neurobiology to ego states, IFS-informed thinking, EMDR concepts, and the Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy (DNMS), we dig into how unmet developmental needs can keep people stuck in shame, insecurity, and persistent depression. Traci makes a clear distinction between processing a traumatic event and repairing an attachment wound, and she gives a concrete client example that shows exactly why “just treat the anxiety” misses the root. If you care about trauma therapy, complex PTSD, attachment trauma, and the future of PMHNP practice, there’s a lot here to bring back to your clinic.  We also go straight at nursing culture: stigma, imposter syndrome, burnout, and the reality that nurse suicide rates are higher than most people realize. Traci’s simplest “prescription” is also the hardest thing to protect in modern health care: connection and caring, including caring for ourselves. If you’re a student, new grad, or practicing PMHNP trying to build real psychotherapy skills and avoid the med-check treadmill, you’ll walk away with a practical mindset for finding mentors and community. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with the biggest question you’re still wrestling with. Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

  7. May 22

    The Relationship You Build Becomes The Treatment with Dr Elizabeth Francis

    Send us Fan Mail The best psychiatry doesn’t start with a prescription, it starts with how safe a person feels across from you. We sit down with Dr. Elizabeth Francis, Duke faculty, clinician, author, and APNA board member, to talk about what happens when you take Hildegard Peplau seriously in modern PMHNP practice: the relationship is not an accessory to treatment, it becomes part of the treatment itself. We trace how rigorous psychiatric nurse practitioner training can integrate high-level neurobiology with psychotherapy, including the idea that the brain is experience dependent. Dr. Francis explains how repeated emotional experiences shape neural architecture and why “corrective” experiences in therapy and in the clinical relationship can help patients change patterns that feel hardwired. From there, we get practical about what makes a strong psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner: deep curiosity, humility, and the ability to hold complexity without rushing to labels. Then we move into high-stakes environments and whole-person care. Dr. Francis shares what emergency department work taught her about building a therapeutic alliance in seconds through presence, tone, and calm confidence. We also talk metabolic psychiatry and why diet, metabolism, and brain health belong in everyday psychiatric assessment, including how patients respond when someone finally asks about what they eat. Her Alaska clinical rotation stories bring it all together through outreach psychiatry, ACT team care, long-acting injectable antipsychotics, and the reality that mental health can’t be separated from housing, trauma, and systemic inequities. We close with personalized care in private practice, including hyperbolic tapering and shared decision making, plus the real-world impact of state practice authority on access and delays in care. If you care about ethical medication management, patient agency, and the future of psychiatric nursing, this one will stick with you. Subscribe to Peplau’s Ghost, share this with a colleague, and leave a review telling us what idea you want to bring into your own practice. Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

  8. May 17

    A Craigslist Couch Purchase Changed Her Career Path with Dr Lindsay Hill

    Send us Fan Mail A Craigslist couch purchase leads to a first nursing job, and that job leads to a career in psychiatric mental health that eventually includes mentorship, education, and entrepreneurship. We talk with Dr. Lindsay Hill, PMHNP, about the nontraditional path that brought her from “psych was my least favorite rotation” to building a thriving professional community through her Psych NP Boot Camp and fellowship model. We get honest about clinician burnout and what it actually looks like when it’s not just workload, but a mix of postpartum strain, a traumatic brain injury, the isolation of telehealth, and feeling boxed in by systems that don’t understand a PMHNP’s scope of practice. Lindsay shares how she evaluated her options, what pushed her toward taking smarter risks, and how reconnecting with areas of passion can restore longevity in psychiatric nursing. We also go deep on vulnerability and self-awareness as clinical tools, including the risks of self-disclosure when it shifts focus away from the patient, and the rewards when it builds safety and strengthens the therapeutic alliance. From there, we zoom out to PMHNP education: why psychotherapy training and clinical application often feel thin, how DBT and dialectical thinking can help new psych NPs navigate real-world pressure, and why “the therapeutic relationship” is the piece of Peplau’s wisdom we can’t afford to lose as AI and productivity metrics reshape care. If you’re a psych NP, PMHNP student, or mental health clinician trying to practice ethically in fast systems, this conversation will give you language, frameworks, and permission to protect what matters. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with the biggest pressure point you want us to tackle next. Let’s Connect Dr Dan Wesemann Email: daniel-wesemann@uiowa.edu Website: https://nursing.uiowa.edu/academics/dnp-programs/psych-mental-health-nurse-practitioner LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wesemann  Dr Kate Melino Email: Katerina.Melino@ucsf.edu  Dr Sean Convoy Email: sc585@duke.edu  Dr Melissa Chapman Email: mchapman@pdastats.com

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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP) discussing using psychotherapy within their practice. Four PMHNP program directors and a biostatistician from across the Unites States sharing their passion on how psychotherapy can help people with nearly all their emotional problems.

Information

  • Creator
    Dan
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    57
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Peplau's Ghost
  • Show Website
    Peplau's Ghost

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