The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing will launch a new psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program in fall 2025 in response to the growing need for mental health professionals in Tennessee and across the nation.
The new concentration, housed within UTC’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program, is designed to prepare advanced practice nurses to diagnose and manage mental health conditions across the life span.
It offers two pathways: a full-time, eight-semester track for students entering with a bachelor of science in nursing and a five-semester postgraduate certificate track for advanced practice registered nurses who already hold a master’s degree.
Both tracks require 1,050 hours of supervised clinical experience and prepare graduates to sit for national board certification as psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners.
“There is a mental health crisis unfolding in Tennessee and across the country,” says Dr. Chris Smith, director of the UTC School of Nursing and chief health affairs officer for the University. “We need more nurse practitioners trained not just in screening and support but also in diagnosing and managing care – especially when it comes to medication management. This program gives us the tools to help address that shortage.”
The demand for psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners is growing at a rapid pace. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration projects an 18% increase in demand for PMHNPs by 2030. In Tennessee, the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services estimates a shortage of more than 1,200 mental health counselors and roughly 800 psychiatrists. Tennessee ranks 46th nationally in access to mental health providers, Mental Health America reports, while ranking 16th in prevalence of mental illness.
The need is especially urgent for children. The State of the Child 2022 report found that one in four Tennessee children has a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral disorder. Yet the state ranks 47th for youth experiencing major depression who did not receive mental health treatment.
“The launch of this program is timely and essential,” Smith says. “Our faculty have worked hard to build something rigorous, evidence-based and responsive to the needs we’re seeing in primary care, emergency departments and counseling centers.”
Assistant professor Jason Peter, a dual-certified family and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and a two-time UTC graduate, played a leading role in developing the program. He currently teaches mental health nursing in both the traditional and accelerated undergraduate programs and practices clinically as a mental health provider.
“I’ve always been an advocate for underserved patients who struggle to access health care, and many of them face mental health challenges,” Peter says. “Through this program, we want to instill that same passion in our students and give them the tools to provide meaningful care where it’s needed most.”
The new PMHNP concentration will go beyond general mental health instruction offered at the undergraduate level. Students will receive advanced training in psychiatric diagnosis, psychopharmacology and counseling techniques, including individual, group and family therapy. The curriculum also covers foundational subjects such as advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology and health assessment.
“This program focuses exclusively on mental health across the life span,” says Dr. Amber Roaché, associate professor and coordinator of UTC’s nurse practitioner programs. “It fills a unique and growing gap in care by combining therapy and prescriptive authority. PMHNPs are able to conduct assessments, provide counseling and prescribe medications. That combination allows them to bridge the gap between counselors and psychiatrists.”
Roaché says that the curriculum was developed in response to the dramatic rise in mental health needs following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There have always been mental health issues – depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder – but COVID exacerbated what we were already seeing. Social isolation, financial stress and grief drove more people to seek help – and many providers were overwhelmed.
The PMHNP program also offers expanded opportunities for currently practicing nurse practitioners to deepen their expertise and broaden their scope of care. Postgraduate certificate students will complete the same clinical hours as DNP students but will not be required to complete a doctoral research project.
“This is just another groundbreaking program for us,” Roaché says. “It gives DNP students advanced clinical and leadership training at the doctoral level, and for those earning the postgraduate certificate, it opens the door to providing care for more diverse patient populations.
“It’s about expanding knowledge, expanding access and getting more practice-ready providers out into the community.”
Applications are currently being accepted for the first PMHNP DNP cohort, which begins coursework in August 2025. The certificate program is expected to launch in the 2026 academic year.
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