SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Linda L. Lane is a Masters-level prepared Nurse Practitioner in both Psychiatric/Mental Health and Family Health with a subspecialty in Addictive Behaviors. While completing the clinical portion of her graduate program she was struck by the number of untreated mental health issues she observed during her primary care rotation, as well as the multiple, uncontrolled physical comorbidities she saw during her psychiatry placement; in both, substance use disorders were common and unaddressed. At the time (2007), integration of primary care and behavioral health was not the norm, and specializing in both disciplines was unsupported and required special permission. Now of course, this is the standard of care.

Committed to working with underserved populations, Ms. Lane has been fortunate to be a member of the National Health Service Corps. Her participation in the program as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner has afforded her the opportunity to work with the homeless, in rural areas with few providers; with patients recovering from traumatic brain injuries; and with incarcerated individuals with mental illness. In each of these populations she has worked with increasing numbers of veterans. After practicing as the sole psychiatric provider in a maximum-security men’s prison in Pennsylvania for three years, Ms. Lane observed first-hand the unfortunate reality that “prisons are the new mental hospitals”. Many persons with severe, persistent mental illness have become caught in the mass incarceration system, often because their access to appropriate care in the community is limited or nonexistent.

New York is one of the states that have adopted multiple “problem-solving courts” including Mental Health Courts, Drug Courts, and Veterans Courts that seek to utilize innovative solutions by addressing underlying issues to better serve the needs of communities and litigants. Ms. Lane is a supporter of these alternative approaches in criminal justice and is also involved with NYU PrEP, an advocacy organization at NYU Law School focused on prison reform and education. As a Jonas Scholar she would like to investigate opportunities for Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners to improve the provision of, and outcomes in, correctional psychiatry as well as related policy reform.

Ms. Lane’s DNP Capstone project is developing an effective, evidence-based tobacco cessation program for SPMI individuals who are taking second-generation antipsychotics while smoking.