Advance your career and enhance your credentials with a Post-Master's Certificate in Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing.
Post-master’s certificate programs build your clinical skills and knowledge and provide the opportunity for you to take on new challenges and redefine your career path. The Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certificate qualifies graduates to assess, diagnose, and treat the mental health needs of individuals and groups.
Rivier offers post-master’s nursing certificates to RNs that have already earned an MSN degree.
The Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate program requires a minimum of 19 credits. The average completion time for this program is three semesters. Courses are offered in 7-week and 14-week terms. Multiple term starts are offered throughout the year.
Applicants must document successful completion of a graduate-level course in Pharmacology (3-credit equivalent) less than five years prior to application to the Certificate Program. Waiver is considered for experienced, practicing nurse practitioners. Applicants must also document successful completion of a graduate-level course in Pathophysiology (3-credit equivalent) less than 10 years prior to application to the certificate program. This may also be waived for practicing nurse practitioners.
Clinical specialty preparation will be reviewed as part of the application process and used by faculty in developing the individualized program of study. Applicants who do not have clinical work in their master’s program will be required to take additional coursework.
Registered nurses (RN) who complete this advanced degree coursework and clinical education (if necessary) are qualified to sit for the national exams to become a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC).
Rivier University is unable to accept students from some states due to the post-secondary higher-education requirements. There are also some restrictions for programs that lead to professional licensure due to the various requirements of individual state boards of nursing. See State Guide.
For further information on Professional Nursing Licensure at the state level, please use the following contact list (also available on the NC-SARA website).
Rivier University’s ASN, BSN, MSN, Post-Master’s Certificates and DNP programs are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), 3390 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1400, Atlanta, GA 30326, (404) 975-5000.
View additional information on this certificate program required by the U.S. Department of Education.
Assistant Professor of Nursing Dr. Donna Proulx, Ph.D., RN, CCRN, CSC is working to advance substance use disorders treatment for vulnerable populations. Her doctoral research was a qualitative inquiry titled “The Lived Experience of Postpartum Women Attending Outpatient Substance-Abuse Treatment for Opioid or Heroin Use.” She holds two certifications in critical care from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (ACCN)—one in adult critical care (CCRN) and a second in adult cardiac surgery (CSC)—and is a past president of the New Hampshire Chapter of ACCN.
With a Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certificate from Rivier, you can expand or change your advanced nursing practice with a new area of specialization.
In Rivier's Post-Master's certificate program, you can pursue specialty certifications to add to your skill set.
Learn about criteria, how the admissions process works, and what you will need to apply.
Faculty will serve as your mentors and guides.
Prepare to advance your career with a Post-Master's Certificate.
