Meet Veronica Johnson | Psychiatric and Family Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP and FNP)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Veronica Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Veronica, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I currently work in psychiatry, and have worked in the medical field for over 30 years. Over this time, I have realized that medicine is becoming more and more about profits and not about people; and with more people being on an antidepressant than ever before, psychiatry is leading this movement.

One of the toughest things about psychiatry, is that it is a field that is not based in science. And in both North and South Carolina, I have to have a collaborating physician to oversee my work (though I do the same thing I do in several other states I’m licensed in where I don’t need a physician collaboration (it doesn’t take long to realize this too is a money scheme). And if I work for a company with a medical director (collaborating MD) that is heavy on the drugs (like most prescribers are these days), I too am expected to practice this way. And I have to be able to lay my head on the pillow at night knowing that I did more good than harm that day. And this was getting harder and harder to do working for someone else.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My most recent business was called Conscious Psych, because I wanted to focus on bringing the consciousness back to psychiatry. However, I found that not many people knew what I was talking about, and the programming is so heavy, that a lot of my work is deconditioning and helping people untangle the stories they’ve been told that are just not true (like the chemical imbalance theory). So I have since moved into more of a holistic family practice and am creating a membership program for people who don’t have insurance, and will be credentialing with many of the major insurance companies for those that do.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in NC right on the SC border and I’m not sure if you want me to stay within the boundaries of SC or not…..

I’d take them to Asheville to Salsa’s for dinner and maybe a show if a good local band was playing
then we’d go hiking in Jones Gap the next day and maybe contra dancing at River Falls if it was a Saturday night that they had a dance
I’d also like to take them down to Congaree National Park near Columbia if it wasn’t too hot
or Cypress Gardens in Monks Corner if we had time for a day trip

if they wanted to stay closer to home I would recommend lunch in one of the local breweries in the Swamp Rabbit area of Travelers Rest
or at Cribs in Spartanburg

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
It is not easy practicing holistically in psychiatry, because we are not taught any of these skills in school. In fact, in school, I was taught to downplay side effects so patients won’t be afraid to take them, and to act like I knew what I was talking about, even if I did not. And during my transition from an allopathic to a holistic approach, it was my patients that I realized that held the answers through their own embodied experiences, so I would like to dedicated this shoutout to patients who have sat in front of. a medical or psychiatric provider and did not feel heard (or worse, gaslit).

Instagram: @holistic_family_psychiatry

Other: veronica@holisticfamilypsychiatry.com (website coming soon)