About Lisa Jenkins, PMHNP-BC
Psychiatry shaped by more than psychiatry.
I'm a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner whose path to this work has taken me through social work, nursing, emergency medicine, hospital case management, and mental health care.
Each role showed me a different side of healthcare—and a different side of people.
I've cared for people experiencing trauma, serious mental illness, addiction, homelessness, chronic medical conditions, caregiving stress, and major life transitions. I've seen people at their most vulnerable and I've seen how easily important pieces of someone's story can be missed when healthcare becomes fragmented or rushed.
Those experiences reinforced a belief that now sits at the center of York Psychiatry:
There is always more to a person than a diagnosis.
A diagnosis can be useful. It can give us language, guide treatment, and help make sense of symptoms.
But it doesn't tell me everything I need to know about you.
I want to understand what changed, what you've adapted to, what you've already tried, what may have been overlooked, and what is happening in the rest of your life and health that could be influencing the way you feel.
That's the kind of psychiatry I wanted to practice—and why I created York Psychiatry.
I’ve Been in Your Shoes
How My Experience Crafted My Approach
A core part of who I am - and thus what also informs how I practice - is being a caregiver, helper, and someone who believes in growth.
I have experienced healthcare from all angles: as a woman, as a parent, as a caregiver and daughter, as a wife, as an empathetic human, as a social worker, as a therapist and as a medical professional.
This has deeply compounded to develop my own perspectives in seeing how I believe care should be handled:
Providing space to listen fully
Looking at the whole person: body, mind, history, context etc.
Asking the right questions to uncover the root cause
Using medication as a tool along side other tools such as nutrition, labwork, sleep etc.
Working in collaboration with the patient so they can be involved and actually understand
And that is why I now have my own practice so that people like you can finally feel seen, understood, and cared for.
Sometimes it just takes one person who cares.
Over the years, I've learned that "How are you?" often isn't enough.
People adapt remarkably well and thus normalize their experiences and symptoms.
They normalize poor sleep. They organize their lives around anxiety. They develop elaborate systems to compensate for ADHD. They become accustomed to exhaustion, irritability, hypervigilance, or chronic stress.
Eventually, something that significantly affects quality of life can start to feel normal simply because it has been there for so long.
That's why I tend to ask specific questions.
Often, the details that initially seem insignificant are the ones that help us understand the larger pattern.
My goal isn't simply to identify a diagnosis. It's to understand you well enough to make thoughtful decisions about what may actually help.
Who I Am Outside the Practice
For much of my life, I've been the planner, the fixer, and the person people call when something needs to be handled.
Like many of the people I work with, I understand how easy it is to become so focused on responsibilities, work, and caring for others that parts of yourself quietly move to the bottom of the list.
Life transitions have taught me that we don't always need to become a completely different person.
Sometimes we need enough space to understand what's changed—and decide what we want the next chapter to look like.
Education & Professional Background
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Education & Professional Background *
Education
Master of Science in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing
Master's Degree in Nursing Education
Bachelor's Degree in Social Work
Certifications
Board-Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC)
Accredited Case Manager (ACM)
Basic Life Support (BLS) certified
Prior emergency and critical-care certifications including CEN, ACLS, PALS, and TNCC
Licensure
Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN)
Licensed to provide psychiatric care in New Hampshire and Vermont
Clinical Experience
More than 20 years of experience across healthcare, nursing, social work, care coordination, and mental health
Clinical experience across inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, emergency nursing, medical-surgical nursing, and hospital case management
Finally Feel Seen & Cared For
If you are ready to get started you can book a free 15 minute consultation or continue learning more about my approach and way to work together.