The Foundation Course
The Clinical Foundation No Program Has Time to Teach
A structured video course covering the complete psychiatric assessment, diagnostic reasoning, prescribing essentials, risk assessment, and the documentation habits that protect your license. All built by a practicing PMHNP for providers to gain confidence and independence in practice.
Per Year ·
Certification proves you can pass a test. It doesn’t teach you how to structure a psychiatric assessment so nothing gets missed, how to reason through a diagnosis you’re not certain of, how to titrate a first medication safely, or how to write a note that actually protects you. That gap between “certified” and “clinically confident” is what most providers spend a rough first year closing on their own, one hard case at a time. This course closes it deliberately, module by module, before the hard cases show up.
Psychiatric Assessment Template — Yours With Module 1
The structured assessment template used throughout this course is included as an editable download in Module 1, so you can start using it on real patients the same week you watch the lesson.
Eight modules. Thirty-two lessons. The clinical foundation for year one.
The Psychiatric Assessment — Building Your Clinical Foundation
The complete, structured psychiatric assessment — the skill everything else in this field builds on.
- The Structure of a Complete Psychiatric Assessment
- Taking a History That Actually Gets You Useful Information
- The Mental Status Exam — What to Look For and How to Document It
- Building Your Assessment Template and Workflow
Diagnostic Reasoning — From Symptoms to Diagnosis
How to move from a list of symptoms to a defensible diagnosis, using DSM-5-TR criteria correctly.
- Diagnostic Reasoning as a Process, Not a Guess
- Using DSM-5-TR Criteria Correctly in Practice
- Differentiating Look-Alike Presentations
- Documenting Your Diagnostic Reasoning
Psychopharmacology Essentials for Independent Practice
The prescribing knowledge you need to practice independently and safely.
- Choosing a First-Line Agent — A Decision Framework
- Titration, Monitoring, and Managing Side Effects
- Polypharmacy and Drug Interactions in Psychiatric Practice
- When to Refer to Psychiatry or Consult
Risk Assessment — Documenting Safety in Practice
The single skill most likely to protect both your patients and your license.
- Structured Suicide and Violence Risk Assessment
- Safety Planning That Actually Works
- Documenting Risk Assessments Defensibly
- Escalation — When and How to Involve Higher Levels of Care
Professional Limits — Setting and Holding Boundaries
The boundary skills most new providers learn the hard way — taught here first.
- Why New Providers Struggle With Limits
- The Six Boundary Categories Every Provider Should Know
- Scripts for Holding a Limit Without Damaging the Relationship
- When a Boundary Issue Signals It’s Time to Refer Out
The Difficult Patient Encounter
De-escalation, tough conversations, and staying clinically grounded under pressure.
- What Makes an Encounter “Difficult” — Reframing the Dynamic
- De-escalation Techniques for the Outpatient Setting
- Having the Hard Conversation — Refusal, Non-Adherence, and Disagreement
- Protecting Yourself Emotionally After a Hard Session
Documentation That Protects Your License
Writing notes that hold up — for patient care, for audits, and for your own protection.
- What Makes a Note Defensible
- Common Documentation Mistakes That Create Liability
- Documenting Informed Consent for Medications
- Audit-Proofing Your Charting Habits
Surviving and Thriving in Year One
Closing out the clinical foundation with the mindset and habits that carry a whole first year.
- The Year One Learning Curve — What’s Normal
- Building a Peer and Consultation Network Early
- Recognizing When You Need More Support
- A Message From Priscilla — Closing the Foundation Year
Built for the provider who wants structure, not just confidence.
New Grad PMHNPs
NPs New to a Psychiatric Caseload
Providers Wanting a Repeatable Assessment Framework
Providers Focused on Defensible Documentation
Providers in Their First Year
I’m Dr. Priscilla Garrett, DNP, PMHNP-BC.
I built this course because certification tells you nothing about how to structure an assessment so you don’t miss what matters, how to reason through a diagnosis you’re genuinely unsure of, or how to document a risk assessment so it actually protects you. Most providers build that judgment the hard way, case by case, in their first year. This course isn’t clinical supervision and it isn’t a substitute for your own clinical judgment or your collaborating relationships where required by your state — it’s the structure I wish I’d had before my own hardest early cases.
How to Use This Course
This is professional clinical education, not a replacement for your own clinical work.
- Complete your own thorough clinical assessment of the patient in front of you, every time.
- Apply your own clinical judgment to every diagnostic and prescribing decision, including full medication reconciliation and consideration of contraindications specific to that patient.
- Use this course alongside — never instead of — your organization’s policies, your state’s practice regulations, your licensing board’s requirements, and current, evidence-based clinical practice.
This course does not constitute clinical supervision, medical advice, or a guarantee of appropriate care for any individual patient. You remain fully responsible for your own clinical decision-making.
Before You Enroll
What format is the course in?
Video lessons hosted in your student portal on this site, organized into 8 modules, plus downloadable templates and reference guides attached to each module.
Do I need to create an account?
Yes. After checkout you’ll receive login credentials to your student portal, where your course and all its lessons and downloads appear automatically.
Is this an annual subscription?
No. Access is $297 for the first year.
Is this clinical supervision or medical advice?
No. This course is educational content — clinical frameworks and reference material — not a substitute for your own clinical judgment, your state’s practice requirements, or any required supervisory or collaborative relationship. See “How to Use This Course” above.
Can I share my login or the downloads with a colleague?
No. Course access and all materials are proprietary content licensed to you individually by Practical Provider Group, LLC. Sharing logins or redistributing files is prohibited.
What’s your refund policy?
Because this is an instant-access digital course, all sales are final once portal access has been granted. If you run into a technical problem accessing your course, contact priscilla@practicalprovidergroup.com and I’ll make it right.
Build the clinical judgment before the hard case walks in.
Practical Provider Group, LLC provides professional coaching and clinical education. This is not clinical supervision and does not replace any supervisory or collaborative relationship required by your state’s scope of practice. All content is proprietary to Practical Provider Group, LLC; no refunds after portal access is granted.