Professor named 'President-Elect' for the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Florida chapter
Dr. Helene Vossos, UNF assistant professor of nursing and director of the post-MSN Doctor of Nursing Practice – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-DNP) program, has been named "President-Elect" for the Florida chapter of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. She will serve as the president in 2022.Vossos has been involved with the American Psychiatric Nurses Association at the local level through committee work, serving as a conference attendee, podium presenter and a professional journal reviewer. She was elected to this position by the APNA Florida Board Committee after writing and participating in advocacy for PMH-NPs to to receive full practice autonomy similar as primary care practitioners as whole-health starts with mental health. Vossos and APNA Florida are currently planning a Mental Health Summit in the fall with plans to invite First Lady DeSantis to be the keynote speaker.
Vossos also co-presented a podium presentation on "Mitigating Depression in the Hispanic Population” with a UNF PMHNP-DNP student at the annual APNA Spring Florida Conference in 2019.
Vossos began her career in healthcare as a medical assistant, then LPN and earned her degrees in RN, BSN, double MSN in adult nurse practitioner (primary care practice) and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, graduating from the University of Michigan-Flint in April 2010. She has been a psychiatric nurse and ICU registered nurse for more than 15 years, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMH-NP) for over 11 years, doctoral prepared, and is a specialist in treating clients with serious mental health disorders including dual diagnoses.
Vossos has served as the PMHNP-DNP program director at UNF for the past five years and is also St. Vincent's professor of mental health nursing. Her passion and goal for UNF mental health nursing students is to increase the visibility among other Jacksonville nurses and help promote UNF’s School of Nursing as a center of excellence in mental health.