Honored to Serve: USU Nurse Practitioner Students Reflect on What Inspires Them
By Ian Neligh
‘Passionate about mental health, preventive medicine, and the desire to help those in uniform’ are among the many shared sentiments of the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner students attending the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing (GSN).
In honor of National Nurse Practitioner Week, held to recognize the work of nurse practitioners throughout the United States, four students in USU’s psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program reflected on what inspires them and what advice they’d offer to others looking to follow in their footsteps.
Nurse practitioners are high-level, advanced-practice nurses who can treat, diagnose and prescribe medications, while managing a patient's health.
In addition to psychiatric mental health, military nurse practitioners are found in pediatrics, family medicine, women’s health, acute care, neonatal medicine and as certified nurse midwives.
Navy Lt. Nicole Barthelme
Navy Lt. Nicole Barthelme will graduate from USU as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner next year. She became interested in pursuing a career in nursing out of a strong desire to help others and make a difference.
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| Navy Lt. Nicole Barthelme will graduate from USU as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner next year. She says she's inspired by the resiliency of her fellow military service members and their families. (Photo courtesy of Navy Lt. Nicole Barthelme) |
She adds she’s inspired by the resiliency of her fellow military service members and their families.
“I am honored to be able to help provide them with the care they need to continue the mission and meet their needs both in and out of the military,” says Barthelme.
To new students entering into the program, Barthelme says her advice would be to take the time to not only learn the skills and knowledge to be a great nurse practitioner but to also take advantage of the many learning opportunities that USU offers in both clinical and operational courses.
“Learn everything you can and never stop asking questions,” says Barthelme. “If there is something you are interested in, do it. You may not get another chance.”
Barthelme says for her part she got the opportunity to go underway on a destroyer and spent two weeks on an LHD, an amphibious assault ship.
“Also remember that while studying is important, self-care is just as critical to keep from burning yourself out,” says Barthelme. “Finally, the most important piece of advice I can give is this: The journey may feel long and difficult, but when the going gets tough, remember what brought you here and let that be your motivation to keep pushing forward. It will be worth it!”
Air Force Captain Chantel Belfon
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| Air Force Captain Chanel Belfon is studying to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner in part because she was inspired by her mother, who is a registered mental health nurse. (Photo courtesy of Air Force Captain Chanel Belfon) |
“So at a young age, she introduced me to that field, and just by the virtue of her doing it that destigmatized (mental health) and took away all the shame of mental health.”
Throughout her career, she said she also realized she was often working with mental health patients.
“Within my community – I’m of Black-Caribbean descent – mental health really isn’t at the forefront and I’m looking forward to being a change agent because mental health is for everyone,” Belfon says. “So that was my inspiration. Mental health is something that needs diversity, it needs more people, in general, to be there to help and realize that it is just as important as your physical health — and we need to take it more seriously in the military.”
Belfon says she encourages people looking to become nurse practitioners to take care of themselves and to make sure mental health gets the same focus and respect as other parts of the body.
“I think that’s my biggest push is that it is just as important,” Belfon says.
Navy Lt. David Frey
Navy Lt. David Frey graduates next year from USU’s psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program. He says he thinks the career field is one of the most exciting in medicine right now.
“We’re still discovering so many new things about how to help people with mental health problems, and that could be something as simple as a new medication or applying alternative therapies such as acupuncture,” Frey says. “It’s a field with a lot of potential for continued growth and discovery.”
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| Navy Lt. David Frey (pictured center) graduates next year from USU's psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program. Here, Frey participates in the Operation Bushmaster practicum, which introduces students to the types of chaotic scenarios they might face in medical emergencies. (Photo credit: Lt. Cdr. Tarah Lewis) |
Frey says it’s exciting to be a part of a field that is still exploring novel treatments, adding there’s still a lot about the brain and how it works that is still being understood.
“My guidance (to future students) would be to work with psychiatric patients — whether as an in-patient mental health nurse or simply focusing on improving the mental health aspect of care in their current field of nursing.”
Navy Lt. Sheila O’Connor
Navy Lt. Sheila O’Connor is currently in her second year at USU’s psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program.
O’Connor, who graduates in 2024, says she started as an in-patient mental health nurse, then became an ER nurse before deploying with the Marines. It was this deployment that ultimately led her to want to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.
“While we were deployed – I’m all about preventive medicine when it comes to mental health – and we didn’t have any mental health team,” says O’Connor. “A lot of mental health nurses are not billeted to go out with operational units. I had a passion for it. I decided to set up an operational stress control and readiness program in conjunction with the combat operational stress control team, even though I was deployed as a trauma nurse.”
When she returned from her deployment, she was offered the opportunity to obtain her doctorate of nursing practice as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, which she took.
“I am so passionate when it comes to preventive medicine with mental health,” O’Connor, says.
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| Navy Lt. Sheila O'Connor, currently in her second year at USU's psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program, believes it is better to be proactive as opposed to reactive when it comes to dealing with many mental health issues. (Photo courtesy of Navy Lt. Sheila O'Connor) |
She says from both an ER perspective and the in-patient side of the house, nurses see patients diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and other issues — many of which could be prevented if they had been given the tools to prevent further progression.
“It’s like if someone had a heart attack, it’s better intervening earlier on — why can’t we do that with mental health?” O’Connor says. “So from that perspective, ‘what are we doing about these conditions?’ in my mind, I’m like, let’s be more proactive as opposed to reactive when it comes to dealing with mental health.”
O’Connor suggests anyone looking to follow a similar path be willing to take the risk and face the challenges that come up.
“Those challenges will strengthen who you are as an individual and when you fall seven times you get up eight times,” O’Connor says. “And you just don’t give up. It’s a little progress each day that adds up to big results. In the end, the result was me getting an opportunity to do the program with USU.”
