Psychiatric Mental Health Certificate Program
This program is designed for currently licensed and certified advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who have earned a master's or doctoral degree in nursing. The program prepares graduates to provide comprehensive psychiatric and mental health care across the lifespan and to meet the educational requirements for national certification as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner through either the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB). Approved clinical experiences occur in a variety of psychiatric-mental health settings, including acute inpatient psychiatric units, outpatient behavioral health clinics, community mental health centers, substance use treatment programs, integrated behavioral health practices, and private psychiatric practices that provide care across the lifespan.
The certificate is a 21–23 credit-hour program consisting of five didactic courses and three variable-credit clinical practicum courses. All didactic coursework is delivered online to provide flexibility for working professionals. Four didactic courses focus on developing disciplined clinical reasoning and applying evidence-based psychiatric-mental health advanced nursing practice across the lifespan. An additional didactic course introduces the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) role by emphasizing role delineation between primary care and psychiatric-mental health APRNs while exploring professional responsibilities, scope of practice, and common clinical, ethical, and regulatory issues encountered in practice. The course also provides a foundational overview of psychiatric-mental health assessment, diagnosis, and evidence-based treatment across the lifespan.
National certification requires a minimum of 500 clock hours of direct patient care in the advanced practice psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner role and population focus. Because some applicants may have previously completed academically supervised psychiatric-mental health clinical practicum hours as part of an APRN program, each student will have the opportunity to undergo an individualized gap analysis (see Appendix 1) to determine the number of additional clinical practicum hours required to meet program and certification requirements. To be eligible for consideration, prior clinical hours must have been completed under academic supervision in approved psychiatric-mental health settings. Based on the results of the gap analysis, students may be required to complete up to eight clinical practicum credits (510 hours of direct patient care) in addition to 30 psychotherapy clinical observation hours. Students are responsible for coordinating their clinical schedules each semester in collaboration with the PMHNP Track Coordinator while balancing personal and professional commitments.
Graduate students should plan to devote approximately four hours per week for each registered credit hour, including one hour of classroom instruction (delivered through synchronous and asynchronous online learning) and approximately three hours of independent study. For example, a five-credit course typically requires approximately 20 hours of academic engagement per week. Clinical practicum placements are coordinated with course faculty and approved preceptors and should be arranged well in advance to ensure timely progression through the program