Center for Developing Hope

I cannot speak on Josh’s abilities as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, but the other one, Kristen Moen, lacks compassion, knowledge, and even basic respect as a practitioner. For disclosure: I only had the initial intake appointment with her, however it was enough for me to not want to be a patient of hers ever again. During my appointment with her, we went over the basic questions: general mental health, nutrition, sleep, trauma, and treatment goals. At several points throughout she interrupted me because of her own disorganization. In the very beginning, more specifically, she asked me a question about treatment goals and as I was answering she interrupted to firmly tell me we needed to go through things in the right order, as if to blame me for answering her question. Next, when discussing nutrition I explained that eating enough vegetables was something I struggled with due to struggling to cook them before they went bad. In response, she told me how “easy” it was to just “pop them in the oven”. When I explained to her that my difficulties with executive dysfunction and overall motivation made much more than microwaving food difficult, she acted incredibly surprised and even a bit judgmental. For someone who works with many depressed patients, I would expect better. Then, later on, when discussing how I’ve attempted to self-medicate for my difficulties before having access to the proper treatments, she immediately scolded me and told me how bad it was as if I wasn’t literally sitting in her office looking for proper treatments INSTEAD of self medicating. Later on, we discussed some difficulties I had growing up with following rules in school at least partially due to one of my disabilities. For some reason, she decided this meant I couldn’t follow rules at all, and when discussing treatment plans later on she was very accusatory, claiming she didn’t trust me to follow her treatment plans and that I’d forget to take them as well. Because of course not following unfair rules as a child directly translates to not following prescriptions for my wellbeing and health. And finally, when I was talking about which medications I believed would help me the most, as I’ve done extensive research on my disabilities and I have family members with the same ones as I have, I briefly mentioned the starting dosage of a medication. She was very quick to “correct” me, as if it was some sort of attempt to prove I hadn’t done my research. Ironically, however, she was just literally WRONG. Vyvanse traditionally starts at 30 mg, not 20 mg, both according to another physician I spoke with after our appointment and after double-checking several medical websites. I just really cannot say our appointment was very successful, productive, or worthwhile. I wish I had just stuck with my gut and canceled my appointment to just work with my PCP or literally anyone else.

My favorite part of this company is Josh's motto, "first responders first." I had been actively trying to find a therapist/counselor/someone to speak too but nobody had availability. Josh's motto/mission statement allowed me to get in right away and he has been great to work with. I would highly recommend him to anyone and actively recommend him to my co-workers.

We have children with co morbid IDD and mental health needs. We had been through several providers who were unable to stabilize the children. Josh and Tim worked together to do such a complete analysis that they were able to identify some vital changes and within months we were amazed at how well both children were doing. In addition they both have such rapport with our children who have delayed social skills it is a pleasure to work with them. We can’t thank them enough.

As the RN for one of Josh’s regular patients, I have been more than impressed with Josh’s knowledge, bed-side manner, and expertise. Josh listened to progress reports and carefully reviewed labs and other documentation every visit. Josh made slow and accurate medication changes which resulted in great progress and healing.