Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: From Suffering to Hope, 1st edition

Mertie L. Potter received her bachelor’s degree from Simmons College, her master’s degree from the University of Michigan, her doctoral degree from Case Western Reserve University, and her Post-Master’s Certificate as a Family Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner from Rutgers University. She acquired common sense and a hard work ethic from working alongside her parents at Maple Leaf Farm. Her lifelong passion for helping those struggling with mental health issues piqued as a result of the family’s farm property being next to a state psychiatric facility. That led to summer jobs there and observations of her parents’ respect and compassion for patients at that hospital.

Dr. Potter is a Clinical Professor of Nursing at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions; a nurse practitioner at Merrimack Valley Counseling Association in Nashua, NH; and a nursing consultant in private practice. She is ANCC certified as a family psychiatric—mental health nurse practitioner and as a clinical nurse specialist in adult psychiatric—mental health nursing. She is abundantly blessed by her life’s calling.

Dr. Potter’s professional interests include group work, crisis intervention, stress management, chronic illness, pain management, suffering, grieving, spirituality, older adults, medical missions, camp nursing, and nursing theory. She has experience in education, counseling, prescribing, group work, team building, consulting, camp nursing, medical missions, and speaking/presenting. She has spoken on a number of these topics.

Dr. Potter has authored and co-authored articles, chapters, and books, one of which received an AJN Book of the Year Award. She served on the NH Board of Nursing for 5 years and had the privilege of being elected Vice-Chairperson for a number of them.

Mary D. Moller received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Mt. Marty College in Yankton, SD; her master’s degree in psychiatric nursing from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing; and her doctoral degree from Case Western Reserve University Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. Her doctoral research in schizophrenia received the Dean’s Legacy Award in 2006. However, she attributes her real education to what she has learned from her thousands of patients and their family members encountered since 1971, when she had the privilege of becoming a registered nurse. She is dually certified as an adult psychiatric—mental health clinical nurse specialist by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and as a certified psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner by the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.

Dr. Moller was drafted rather unwillingly into psychiatric nursing in the late 1970s while teaching neurological nursing at a diploma school of nursing. Although initially she was very apprehensive, she quickly saw the parallels between neurology and psychiatry and began implementing the only kind of nursing she knew: rehabilitation nursing, working with a group of patients who had never been exposed to this kind of nursing. After seeing patients who had been experiencing catatonia respond for the first time in years, she literally fell in love with psychiatric nursing and, since 1978, has dedicated her career to improving the lives of individuals with serious and persistent mental illness and their families.

Dr. Moller is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. From 2009 through 2014 she was the Coordinator of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Specialty at the Yale University School of Nursing. She is in private practice as an advanced registered nurse practitioner and conducts telemental health practicing in the specialty of telepsychiatry. Dr. Moller has an active consulting practice with an emphasis on psychiatric wellness that has taken her to China, Australia, Hong Kong, Israel, Cuba, and several other countries. Prior to returning to education, Dr. Moller founded and served as clinical director of the first APRN-owned and managed rural outpatient psychiatric clinic in the United States–the Suncrest Wellness Center, which was located in Spokane, WA, from 1992 to 2008. The experiences and relationships developed during this time in her life have blessed and continue to truly bless not only Dr. Moller, but also all those she encounters as she shares what she learned.

Dr. Moller’s professional interests include psychiatric rehabilitation with people recovering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, PTSD, attention deficit disorder, and personality disorders. She is the co-author of the Three R’s Psychiatric Wellness Rehabilitation Program, which includes three training/participant psychoeducational manuals focusing on relapse, recovery, and rehabilitation. This program was a CMS model training program in 1996. She has also produced four videos in the award-winning Understanding and Communicating with a Person Who Is Experiencing series, which include hallucinations, delusions, mania, and relapse. She is also co-author of the Be Smart trauma recovery program, which also has both training and participant manuals. Her work centers on both individual and group therapy.

Dr. Moller has presented more than 900 research and training seminars in 49 states and 9 countries. She has published numerous articles and book chapters and received many awards, including an honorary PhD from Mt. Marty College and the Distinguished Alum- nus Award from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing. She is an active member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and served as President in 2009—2010. She has received the APNA Award for Clinical Excellence and the Distinguished Service Award, as well as the NAMI Professional of the Year Award.