We caught up with the brilliant and insightful MacKenzie Kampa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

MacKenzie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?

My first job in the field of mental health as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner was actually chosen for me. Looking back now, I am incredibly grateful for how it worked out because it shaped me both personally and professionally.
I was a Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) recipient with the US Air Force in graduate school at the University of Washington and as a part of my agreement with the Air Force I was to serve one Active Duty year for every year of graduate school the Air Force financed. My graduate program was three years long, meaning I had at least three years of Active Duty to serve upon graduating. The HPSP didn’t guarantee much about a job after graduation except that I would have one in my field/area of study (Psychiatric/Mental Health Advanced Practice Nursing). All I knew was that I should expect to have a choice of military bases to be stationed at, and that I may or may not get my top choice.
About six months before I graduated from my program I received an email from the Air Force HPSP headquarters that said, “Please rank the bases below in order of preference” but there was no list of bases to choose from. I kept reading. The second paragraph said, “Congratulations! You are being stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, AK.”

I was truly stunned. I expected some small base in Middle-of-Nowhere, USA. I was expecting to work at a small outpatient mental health clinic, not a big hospital with an inpatient unit and an outpatient clinic.
Fast forward to arriving in Anchorage to start my first job as a PMHNP. The learning curve was incredibly steep, and I worked long hours most weeks for the three years I was stationed there. Fortunately, the experiences I had at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson made me into the clinician I am today. I received more experience there than I thought I would – inpatient, outpatient, partial hospitalization/leading groups, crisis consultation in the ER, and more. The breadth and depth of clinical exposure helped give me direction for my future career aspirations and provided an excellent foundation for the comprehenive, whole-person approach I have with my patients now in private practice.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am MacKenzie Kampa and I work as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner in the southwest metro area of the Twin Cities, MN as well as see adults via telemedicine across the state. My interest in mental health starting in my undergraduate nursing program when I rotated through a child and adolescent inpatient psychiatric unit. I felt so much empathy for these children and teenagers suffering from mental health conditions. My interest piqued further in my first job out of nursing school when I was working as an ER nurse outside of Seattle, WA. I remember feeling sad and helpless about the high number of individuals coming to the ER experiencing a mental health crisis; we were limited by the availability (or lack thereof) of mental health professionals in the community able to take on new patients. It was there that I thought I could do more to help these individuals, and decided to go back to school to get trained to work as a Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP).
Traditionally Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners are trained to evaluate, diagnose, and prescribe medications for mental health conditions as well as provide supportive therapy to patients. I have completed an integrative psychiatry fellowship through IPI to help me better meet the needs of adults in Minnesota who feel limited by traditional psychiatry models of care.
I have special interests in perinatal mental health (from pre-conception to postpartum) and holistic treatments and have carved a niche for myself focusing on bringing holistic/whole-person care and treatment to the community I serve. Most of the individuals I care for are between 20-40 years old, in a period of major transition (be it pregnancy, parenting, new job, etc), and are looking for more than medicine to support their mental health needs. I also have been able to train and certify my lovely Boxer Dottie as a therapy animal who can attend patient appointments and offer emotional support to patients.

In addition to my clinical work, I have recently launched 1:1 coaching and mentoring services for other licensed nurse practitioners. One of my greatest joys is educating others, and I have long been concerned about the lack of mentorship and consultation support in the nurse practitioner field. It is a privilege to help other nurse practitioners take the leap into solo private practice, coach them through difficult clinical scenarios, and provide seasoned advice as they clarify their career goals.

I am most proud of the way I work with my patients. I don’t just prescribe a medicine and tell someone to come back in three months. I spend extended amounts of time with my patients and offer medication and nutraceutical/herbal interventions alongside nutrition, sleep, and exercise counseling to help get patients living more in alignment with their values and goals.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

There are many ways to engage in the world of marketing and advertising. The world of mental health, and healthcare in general, is a bit more delicate. I have found that the best way to grow in mental health private practice is to first network with other clinicians in the field.
As a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, my primary role is not that of a therapist, but I often ask that my patients engage with a therapist regularly. This creates a perfect space for me to build trusted relationships with therapists that share my values, areas of interest, and target patient demographics so we can collaborate in care and refer patients back and forth as needed. When I am able to connect with therapists that I trust and refer my patients to them for quality, effective therapy, they begin to trust me and my services and refer their patients my way, too.
Sometimes the hardest part to network is getting started; it can take some courage to cold-call or cold-email another professional. Nine times out of ten I get a response where someone is at least willing to hop on a 30 minute video call with me to tell me about themselves, their practice, their patient population, etc. Then, staying in touch and giving a heads up when I refer someone to them keeps me in the front of their mind when one of their patients needs psychiatric care.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think there are a few key principles I try to work by that have helped me build a positive reputation in the field:

1. Maintain authenticity.
The MacKenzie that you read about on my website is the same person you see during an appointment, or during a networking call or coffee.
2. Do what you say you will do.
If I make a commitment to someone, be it a patient or another clinician I’m working with, I will make every effort to follow through on that commitment or let them know why I can’t as soon as possible.
3. Shared decision-making.
I like to describe myself as a bowling coach to my patients. I am the one deciding when to put the bumpers up and telling them what weight their ball should be, but they are the ones ultimately rolling the ball down the lane. I see myself as more of a guide, listening to what someone needs and wants and then providing them safe, evidence-based treatment options and helping them choose which of those options is best for them.
4. Answer the phone.
I make every effort to answer a call as it comes in vs let it go to voicemail and to respond to an email within 24 hours. Prospective patients are more likely to work with me when I answer their questions and offer solutions quickly. It helps me build trust and rapport.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.reveriemh.com
• Instagram: @mackenziekampa

Image Credits

Meghan Doll Photography