Today we’d like to introduce you to Jami Dickson.
Jami, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have been a registered nurse for 20 years and spent the majority of my career working in oncology. Helping patients face life changing and often terminal diseases, counseling them through end of life transitions and supporting families through loss helped me discover my calling to helping patients along their emotional journeys. I completed my graduate education to become a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner so that I could specialize on meeting the emotional and mental health needs of individuals.
Through my career, I have worked in both private and public entities with a special focus on children’s mental health, women’s mental health and addiction psychiatry. I feel a particular passion for working with indigent and under-served populations and make it a priority to be accessible to patients who don’t normally have many treatment options. I opened up Total Mental Wellness in 2015 so that I could do just that, I aim to be on most all insurance plans, including obscure plans, and I keep cash rates comparatively low.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting a business is never an easy thing to do. I could never have done this without the encouragement and support of my sister who believed in me more then I think I believed in myself. She has her own successful Birth Center in McKinney and graciously allowed me to start seeing patients one day a week in her office until I could afford rent. Within a few months I was able to open my own office, but navigating the ins and outs of insurance and billing was all new to me. I was very fortunate to have my friend Brandy Morgan join me as my office Manager, She took me from a struggling, barely existing practice, to the success we are today.
Please tell us about Total Mental Wellness.
Total Mental Wellness is a comprehensive metal health practice serving the emotional needs of children, adolescents and adults. We are a full-service practice offering psychiatric evaluation, medication management and individual therapy. Our team is made up of myself, our therapist Neneh Brewah, LPC, LCDC, CCM and our office manager Brandy Morgan. Our approach to treatment is a holistic one encompassing emotional health, medical health, physical fitness and nutrition. We strive to offer integrative options utilizing both scientifically based modalities and alternative treatments. Our goal is to help each individual achieve mental wellness as quickly as possible and obtain skills to manage future life stress.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite childhood memories has to be putting up Christmas lights with my father. Every year I would plan out a more elaborate design and he was such a good sport. We would spend hours, even days, wrapping trees and bushes, climbing on the roof outlining the house. We would put luminaries all around the driveway and yard. This annual tradition even continued into my college years and is something I hope to continue with my own children.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2411 Virginia Parkway, Suite 7
McKinney, Texas 75071 - Website: www.totalmentalwellness.com
- Phone: 9727120591
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/totalmentalwellness/
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Manny
August 9, 2017 at 11:52 pm
We wish you the very best, Jami!!