We recently connected with Dr. Jonathan V. Llamas and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dr. Jonathan, thanks for joining us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?
One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned throughout my nursing career is to never forget your “why.”
As a healthcare provider, it can be very easy to get lost in the politics and the drama that eventually you lose touch with yourself and the very reason why you chose to pursue medicine in the first place.
But one of the ways that I’ve found that has helped me stay grounded is by remembering my own personal journey and what it took for me to get to where I am today.
Working in psychiatry presents both unique challenges and rewarding benefits. One of the key challenges in working in this specialty is the emotional toll that it can take, as psychiatric nurse practitioners often deal with individuals facing severe mental health issues and personal trauma. Because of this, it not only requires a deep understanding of human psychology but also empathy and patience to navigate through complex cases while also promoting awareness and acceptance of the things that we have control over.
Never forgetting your “why” is like the North Star guiding your journey through life. It’s the deeply-rooted purpose that fuels your passion, motivation, and determination and serves as a constant reminder of the reasons you began your journey in the first place. Remembering my “why” helps ensure that every step I take is purposeful and meaningful and is the driving force that empowers me to keep moving forward, even when the path may seem unclear or challenging.
Jonathan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Of course. My name is Jonathan V. Llamas, DNP, RN-BC, PMHNP-BC, PHN and I am a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner from Los Angeles, CA.
I received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing from West Coast University in 2013 and my nursing background largely involves working with the adult population in both the acute care and inpatient psychiatric settings at various teaching hospitals around the nation including AdventHealth Orlando, Harbor UCLA Medical Center, and Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Center.
After six years of working as a registered nurse, I decided to pursue my graduate education and I later received my Doctor of Nursing Practice from Loma Linda University in 2019 after successfully completing my Doctoral Project which utilized the LOWLINE model that significantly increased both patient and staff safety by reducing the usage of physical restraints on emotionally dysregulated patients in the mental health setting.
Over the course of my professional nursing career, I’ve been very fortunate and privileged to have been able to collaborate with many well-renowned brands and companies including Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals to help promote mental health awareness across the nation and I’ve also been featured on many news media outlets such as Nurse.Org, DailyNurse.com, My American Nurse, The Mighty, ABC 7, Voyage LA Magazine, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and ShoutOut LA Magazine for my impactful work in the mental health space.
I’m very passionate about empowering the future generation of nurses and healthcare providers and in addition to being a provider, I also serve as the Chapter President for the West Coast University Alumni Network and function as a contributing writer and mental health consultant for Minority Nurse Magazine (Springer Publishing Company), NP Student Magazine, and MedPage Today.
For my clinical work and scientific contributions, I was recognized by Kaiser Permanente as an Everyday Hero in 2019, and I was also honored with the Helena Emory King Professional Leadership Award upon receiving my DNP degree as well as the ABC 7 Healthcare Hero Award for helping to increase mental health access in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020.
In addition to this, I was also the recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from West Coast University and was recently named 2023’s Nurse Leader of the Year and Nurse Icon of the Year by Nurse.Org.
I strongly believe in the importance of leaving the world a better place than how we found it and I’ve made it my lifelong mission to not only use my platform as a force of good but also inspire others to be authors of their own stories of greatness.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
If I could go back in time, I strongly believe that I would still choose to work as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner since working in this role has truly taught me a lot about myself and has filled my life with immense meaning and purpose.
As a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, I’m extremely privileged to be able to make a lasting impact on the lives of my patients by helping them regain their mental well-being and lead fulfilling and meaningful lives.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Reading books is a cornerstone of personal growth and intellectual enrichment and I truly believe that books and stories serve as windows to new worlds, providing insights into different cultures, perspectives, and experiences that broaden one’s horizons and stimulate critical thinking, fostering empathy and understanding of diverse viewpoints.
One of the best books that I’ve recently read is titled “The Life You Were Born to Live” by Dan Millman. In the book, the author explains that the path of life holds adventure and danger, pleasure and difficulty. At certain points on our journey, the road forks, and we are forced to make choices that influence the rest of our lives; we may choose to push onward and upward, to coast downward, or to remain where we are. Each path has its own challenges, each challenge contains, a lesson, and each lesson leads toward the summit of the mountain we were born to climb. Although our paths may feel very difficult at times, the higher we climb, the better the view. The extent to which we fulfill our potential however largely depends on how we choose to respond to the challenges that we meet on our path.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lifestance.com/provider/jonathan-llamas-ca/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjonathanvllamas/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjonathanvllamas/