Dr. Laurie Sewell DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Dr. Sewell was born in Omaha, NE and raised in Gretna, NE. She started out in the Arts and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Painting and Drawing with a minor in Art History and Women’s Studies in 2010 from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. After working in a local gallery for several years she returned to school in 2014 to pursue a BSN degree in nursing at UNMC. She felt a driving force that she wanted a career where she could care for others while still pursuing creativity. After receiving her BSN in 2016, she worked as a mental health RN at a nonprofit community mental health center, Community Alliance, for 3 years on the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Program, taking care of individuals with serious mental illness in the community, both in their homes and in the ACT outpatient clinic. In this position, Dr. Sewell developed a true passion for mental health nursing and set out to further her nursing education and ability to help those that struggle with mental illness by becoming a psychiatric nurse practitioner. She began her graduate experience at UNMC in 2018 and graduated in May of 2022 with her Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Psychiatric Mental Health Care Across the Lifespan.
Dr. Sewell was the recipient of a Behavioral Health Workforce & Education Training (BHWET) grant through Munroe-Meyer Institute at UNMC, where she received additional training and clinical experiences in integrative behavioral health. She was awarded two creative writing awards and publications (2021 and 2022) for writing poems related to her mental health nursing journey through the UNMC College of Nursing Creative Writing Awards. She completed her DNP group capstone research project, The Usability and Feasibility of a Nursing Evidenced-Based Comorbidity Educational Website for an Urban Mental Health Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Program, with two of her UNMC peers, furthering support and care for those with serious and persistent mental illness.
After graduation, Dr. Sewell began a position as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) providing mental health care for children and adults. She gained experience in treating a wide variety of mental health symptoms and disorders including major depression, bipolar disorders, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders, ADHD, and alcohol/substance use disorders.
Dr. Sewell has unique experience working as an ACT RN in a community mental health center and also as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at a federally qualified health center serving individuals of all economic and social backgrounds. Dr. Sewell values evidence-based practice and integrative whole-person care. She believes that every person is unique in their individual strengths. She provides individualized care through evidence-based practice, psychoeducation, and integrative collaboration, to create individualized treatment plans that encourage patients to engage, learn, and collaborate in their mental health care journey.
