James Quackenbush

​​Like Juliana, I am a second-career nurse, having previously worked in various roles in banking and finance. At a low point in my career, I realized it was time to do something more meaningful to me, and I entered a nursing program, working my way through school to finally become a nurse practitioner. For several years before becoming a nurse practitioner, I worked as a psychiatric registered nurse at McLean Hospital. I was fortunate enough to also train there while studying to become a nurse practitioner.

In my capacity as a nurse at McLean, I frequently ran therapeutic groups, shadowed group therapists, trained newer nurses and mental health specialists, and collaborated on interdisciplinary teams of psychiatrists, social workers, and nursing staff. My nursing practice brought me to inpatient psychiatric units where I learned to treat and care for patients with depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. I was later promoted to the role of Nursing Program Director on the McLean Hospital’s Trauma & Dissociative Disorders Inpatient Unit, where I collaborated with a multidisciplinary team in treating a diverse population of patients and psychiatric diagnosis.

My mission is to provide psychiatric care to a diverse population of individuals who are on their journey to wellness and don’t know where else to turn. My goal is to reduce the stigma in asking for help, especially in populations who often get overlooked by society’s majority populations.