What I Do

Most people come to a psychiatry provider looking for relief—but just as often, they’re looking for understanding.

As a PMHNP in Vermont & Utah, I specialize not only in Psychiatric Care & Women’s Mental Health, but also in listening and understanding your story.

I’m a double board-certified as a nurse- midwife and as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. I am licensed as a PMHNP in Vermont and Utah and focus on women’s mental health, hormonal transitions, and periods of significant life change. I work with anyone who wants thoughtful guidance and care that makes sense in the context of their lives.

How I Got Here

Have you ever watched that TV Show, The Pitt? Early in my career, that was me.

I was eager to do: to diagnose, intervene, and fix. To be involved in trauma. In the Emergency Dept. (pretty much the opposite of psychiatry).

One of my first clinical lessons, however, had very little to do with diagnosing, intervening, or fixing.

As a new Nursing Assistant at a large academic medical center’s cardiac unit, I was assigned to sit with an older gentleman who had just received some medicine to help him but was still temporarily struggling to fully breathe. (For some reason, I still can picture his cane leaning in the corner of the room.) This man was clearly very frightened, as you would be in his situation. At that moment, there was no procedure to perform, no big save to make—just time, presence, and attention. Over the course of about an hour, the medicine started to work and his breathing eased. His anxiety lessened. Before I left, he squeezed my hand and thanked me.

What stayed with me after that wasn’t the name of the medicine that helped him—it was the life-altering realization that being with someone can be as important as doing something to them.

That understanding has guided my work ever since and eventually led me to becoming a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner.

I’ve had many other roles in healthcare including unit secretary, Paramedic, cardiac cath lab technician, nurse, and now psychiatric nurse practitioner, I’ve seen this truth repeat itself: people feel better not only when symptoms are addressed, but when they are understood, grounded, and met with steadiness during uncertainty.

“Nature alone cures…what nursing has to do…is put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon them.”
— Florence Nightingale

Lisa Hardy, APRN, PMHNP-BC
OptiMind Psychiatry