Today we’d like to introduce you to Aida Dabreo.
Hi Aida, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Eleven months after graduating from Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY, one of my college bestie’s passed away from pulmonary hypertension. While she was hospitalized, we made a promise to go back to college to become nurses. After she passed away, I went back to college and earned my Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing. I then became a Family Nurse Practitioner (NP) in 2011. I’ve most recently worked as a Pain NP for the last five years and graduated as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner in 2021.
While working as a Pain Nurse Practitioner, I noticed a trend of patients with mental health disorders requesting and/or requiring an increased amount of opiates for pain relief. My finding lead me to conduct some research where I found that there is an absolute link between increased opiate usage amongst the mental health populations. In fact, I found that 35-40% of patients with under-treated or undiagnosed mental health disorders have an increased amount of opiate use and sometimes even addiction. My work hypotheses along with the research I conducted lead me to apply for my Psychiatric Mental Health NP degree. I am currently working on launching my own tele-psychiatry business where I will provide virtual visits to the mental health population. I will accept some major insurances as well as self paying clients. Education is huge in my household, therefore I’ve been home schooling both of my toddlers. My son Chace began reading 2-4 letter works when he was only 18 months and has progressed to reading entire children’s books. He is now three years old and his first book “Chasing my ABC’s” will be published and sold on Amazon this year! My daughter is academically advanced for her age as well. My goal is for other parents to learn how to grab their kids’ attention and make learning cool and fun!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road. Working twelve-hour shifts overnight as a full-time RN while attending graduate school was hectic. It took a great deal of discipline, time management, and studying to accomplish my goal. When I went back to school to add psychiatry as a specialty, it was even more challenging. Not only was I working 12 hour overnight shifts as a NP, but I also had a toddler and another baby on the way! I gave birth to my daughter in March 2020 during the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic and was attending graduate school and working part-time as an intern in psychiatry. To be transparent, I felt like a chicken with my head cut off; a pregnant sleepy one! Despite challenges along the way, I have learned that with organization, determination, a support system, prayer and dedication I can accomplish my goals. I did not give up despite feeling overwhelmed and exhausted sometimes. I learned that meditation truly does help to clear and ease my mind for the day ahead. I learned self care is truly necessary in order to continue functioning optimally because we truly can not pour from an empty cup.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am currently working on launching my own tele-psychiatry practice where I will conduct mental health visits for my patients virtually. One of the beauties of tele-psychiatry for this generation and coming is convenience! We live in a digital world where pretty much everyone has a mobile phone or tablet. Tele-psychiatry allows patients to log in from a laptop, desktop, tablet, or mobile device to speak to their provider. In my experience as a student intern, this convenience allows patients optimal access to care from their provider, no travel time, not having to worry about finding a parking spot, and typically results in less cancellations of appointments or no shows. There has been an absolute increase across America in the amount of patients diagnosed with mental disorders such as General Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and so forth since Winter 2020. I am confident that my practice will provide the conveniences and benefits which I stated above, therefore patients can get the help they need with ease. I specialize in mental health areas such as anxiety, depression, women’s health issues including infertility, relationship issues, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and healthcare professional work issues including burnout.
I’d like my readers to know that mental health includes their emotional, social and psychological well being and therefore speaking with a mental health provider is great for their overall health. It provides patients with an opportunity to vent what’s on their mind in a safe space that provides guaranteed confidentiality by law. Our mental health affects how we think, feel, act, handle stress, interact with others, and make decisions. Our mental health even affects our physical health. A person may have temporary mental illness such as depression due to a break up, divorce, or a loved one’s death.
I want my readers to know that I am encouraging them to seek help for their mental health and to know that it’s judgment free when doing so.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The big shift happened during the peak of the pandemic when the USA was “shut down”. Patients still needed to receive their mental health treatments and tele-psychiatry has proved to be very effective.
Tele-psychiatry will continue to grow as it provides convenience and easy access to mental health care for patients, especially in remote areas that were previously very challenging for patients to find or gain access to providers. Mental health medications in combination with therapy can greatly improve a patient’s life. Continuing to make access to care for patients convenient is also better for that patient’s family, friends, and society in general.
Contact Info:
- Other: My profile will be listed on Psychology Today’s website.
- I will also have a business website along with other medical profiles online.
