Justin Bethoney, PMHNP

JUSTIN'S PROFESSIONAL PROGRESSION

My professional journey began prior to entering nurse practitioner school. I didn't realize it at the time, but my undergraduate education would set me on a path of service. I attended Villanova University. My original plan was to obtain a degree in business. However, the school's core values of social justice and service to others pushed me in a different direction. My professors offered me a broader perspective on the world. Further, I joined a number of volunteer opportunities, which helped clarify my purpose in life—to teach and help others help themselves.

After finishing college, I found work in several direct care positions. I took several jobs working with children experiencing emotional disturbance and other mental health issues. During this time, I gained exposure to what it can be like for children and their families to have to cope with mental illness and behavioral issues. From special education classrooms to working with parents and children in their homes to pediatric hospital units, these environments added to my education and understanding of mental illness. In turn, these experiences motivated me to pursue higher education so that I could better serve children, adults, and families in need.

I completed my nurse practitioner degree at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in 2011. Soon after, I began my career treating children and adults with mental illness in Boston, MA. In 2015, I moved to Southern California, where I enjoyed working in outpatient psychiatry and started my private practice. After five years, I moved with my family up to Bend, OR, and reestablished my private practice in the community. This year, my family and I made the adventure to Florida for sunshine and to be closer to our families.

 

Over the first 10 years of practice, I took on prescriber positions at various clinics and practices. From weight loss camps to homelessness clinics, residential centers for individuals with intellectual disability and Autism, an inpatient unit for adolescents, and outpatient practices in both affluent and underserved areas, I broadened my clinical perspective by treating individuals with challenges in all aspects and stages of life.

In treating patients as a psychiatric prescriber for the past 10+ years, I have seen the merits of psychiatric medications. I have also witnessed their limitations. I learned that there should be much more to treatment than quick diagnosis and hastily prescribed medications. I came to understand that progress can be restricted with a medication-only approach. In my current treatment for common psychiatric problems, such as anxiety symptoms, depressed moods, and scattered thinking, a search for the underlying roots of illness takes priority in my approach to treatment.

In addition, over the past few years, I dedicated time to learning more about the connections between the mind and body. I have developed and honed my understanding of functional and integrative medicine, which views each patient as a unique individual and searches for underlying physical and emotional imbalances that contribute to illness. In my current practice, I incorporate conventional and functional medicine perspectives and address each individual as a whole person.

Common Client Strengths

  • Client with a thirst for knowledge and greater self-understanding tend to make swift progress in working with Justin. From making connections between physiology and mental health, to unearthing core beliefs, to learning better ways of communicating in relationships, clients find success through curiosity and applying new knowledge

  • Justin's clients benefit from increasing insight, finding new ways of thinking about lasting problems, and even finding humor in the ways in which life works sometimes. Clients often enjoy conversations about finding meaning and purpose, and even seeing beauty in life and strengths in oneself

  • With the extra time offered for appointments, many clients feel better in taking the opportunity to discover their authentic self, return home more confident in being their genuine self, and feeling more comfortable with their true feelings.