Frances Burns, an Advanced Practice Nurse and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, believes that the stigma attached to mental health issues derails many individuals from their goals and life plans. Add social media and the effects and aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and ISOLATION becomes a huge and prevalent problem for many individuals.
The combination of factors makes “re-railing an imperative for clients and their families and heightens the need for comprehensive mental health care,” says Frances who’s been engaged in the mental health field for 20 years and in healthcare even longer working as a critical care nurse with an expertise in neuroscience and neurosurgery, the neurobiology related to mental health.
“Clients come to me saying, ‘I want to feel like myself again. I want to feel in control again,’” she says. “My priority is to create a therapeutic alliance by empowering them to take an active role in their treatment plan and then modifying the plan when they feel it’s not effective.”
For Frances, staying invested in client outcomes and staying current in medical science for all medical disciplines are priorities. “Treating clients with respect and dignity and providing a no judgment zone accelerate positive outcomes.”