‘My Greatest Joy’: Fighting Stigma and Serving Patients Backed by Faith and Family
As a nurse, Dr. Mercy M. is driven by the desire to understand what a person truly needs at the foundational, emotional, and medical levels.
“I love to listen and get the point of the person — what they’re trying to say to me,” she says.
Mercy knows the value of support and service. Throughout her career, both professionally and educationally, she has seen support from family, friends, colleagues, advisors, and professors, each of whom impacted her story and led her to become the compassionate caregiver she is today.
And in her practice, Mercy pays that support forward. As a family NP, psychiatric mental health NP, and — most recently — doctorate-prepared nurse, Mercy is a dedicated servant-leader who strives to destigmatize mental health care, encourage holistic well-being, and help her patients live their best lives.
“My main goal is to see people get back to being themselves, enjoying life again,” she says. “That's my greatest joy. That makes me happy.”
The world needs more Saints who are dedicated to understanding the whole patient and encouraging them to seek the care they need — like Mercy.
‘Keep working on you’: Battling the social stigma surrounding mental health treatment
As a psychiatric mental health NP, Mercy is familiar with how the stigma of mental health care affects patients and prevents them from getting the care, treatment, or interventions they need at the right time. That’s what inspired her doctoral project on mitigating negative feelings toward psychiatric care.
“In mental health, you see lots of stigma where patients just stay away because of what people will say or what even the provider will think about them,” she says. “I was wondering what I can do to help to improve this.”
Mercy studied the way stigma, adverse reactions, and social pressures affect people from different backgrounds both when seeking treatment and when discussing psychiatric issues with family and friends. She noted how factors like perceived lack of support, negative or tactless responses to psychiatric concerns, and cultural or societal norms can create barriers that prevent people from choosing to seek medical help or treatment for emotional and mental challenges.
“I'm not just there to push medication on people, but also to keep motivating them to keep working on themselves,” she says. “Don't allow what somebody says about you to become your reality. Keep working on you.”
A persistent issue in this area of care is how patients themselves differentiate mental health from physical health, despite both being critical to overall wellness. In addition to external or social factors, this perceived distinction can come from internal notions on what qualifies as a medical emergency or necessity, Mercy says.
She tries to illustrate this point to her patients by comparing emotional distress to non-stigmatized medical emergencies, such as heart attacks, high blood pressure, asthma, or diabetes.
“When you are having chest pain, do you tell your family?” she asks. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, oh yeah.’ Do you go to the hospital? ‘Oh yeah.’ I'm like, ‘OK, so why is it when you are having symptoms emotionally, you can't talk to anybody? You can't get help. Why?’ ‘Because I'm ashamed. I'm afraid of what somebody will think about me.’”
One of Mercy’s driving goals as a DNP-equipped psychiatric mental health NP is to help people see emotional and mental challenges as concerns as on the same level as physical ones.
“Why should you be ashamed or embarrassed or afraid to seek help?” she asks.
Mercy poses in front of the vintage Maryville College sign in front of the modern Maryville University “M” logo.
Family, friends, and faith
It’s not surprising that Mercy is such a caring and devoted nurse, given the upbringing she’s had and the support she receives from her family and friends. In fact, she attended her DNP graduation along with an entourage of supporters wearing custom-made shirts with phrases like “Congratulations Dr. Mercy” and “Congratulations on your DNP!” printed on the front.
Mercy says she owes her accomplishments and growth into the person she is now to God and to the faith and educational values her parents instilled in her.
“My parents — the best, because they gave me that foundation,” she says, referring to the building blocks she considers among the most valuable for parents to pass on to their children: A groundwork of faith and education. “That's the best gift anybody can give their children.”
Mercy was happy in her initial role as a family nurse practitioner, but she was inspired to consider psychiatric mental health. Most notably, a colleague in that concentration suggested she already had the skills and experience to pivot her practice toward mental health because of the work she did to fill in the gaps when he wasn’t available.
“I worked with this doctor who was a psychiatrist,” she says. “He was like, ‘Mercy, have you ever thought about going back to school and doing your psych NP?’ I’m like, ‘Go back to school again?’ He’s like, ‘You’re already doing that.’”
Her husband, Paul, had her back the whole time, and once she finished her psychiatric mental health education at Maryville, he expressed his support for Mercy’s decision to listen to her colleague’s advice, reassuring her that it was the right call for their family.
Mercy’s next step was to earn her DNP, but she faced a number of challenges and obligations that she worried might derail her plans. She was living with two family members sick with terminal illnesses, and she was working full time and participating in church activities.
But with the support and encouragement of her family, she chose to push forward and finish her nursing education for the good of herself, her patients, and those she loved.
“I feel that nothing could stop me when it comes to working on me,” she says. “And the population I serve — they need the best.”
Even more impressive, Mercy decided to study in her basement in her spare time without telling others she was pursuing a doctorate. Even the family members who were staying with her had no idea she was earning a terminal degree until she was nearly ready to graduate.
“The goal was that I didn't want to put the pressure on them to feel like, ‘oh, she's in school,’ when they were dealing with illnesses and stuff like that,” she says.
She allotted plenty of time to be with and support her family and friends, but she set aside Sundays to catch up on her studies. She kept that schedule throughout her program and surprised them with the news that she was about to become a doctor.
“So when I got my clearance that I was graduating, what I did, I took a picture of me and wrote ‘congratulations, Dr. Mercy,’ and I sent it to them,” she says. “So when they saw it, they were like, ‘What? What is this? When? How?’ So they didn’t know.”
Mercy poses with family and friends on Maryville’s campus while celebrating her graduation.
Saints supporting Saints
Mercy says she had a great experience as a Maryville Saint during her psychiatric mental health NP program, so when choosing to return to complete her DNP, the decision on which university to choose was easy.
“When I did my mental health nurse practitioner, I really liked the program,” she says. “And so I thought, you know, coming back to do the doctorate was going to be the best route for me, and I was happy that I did that. I'm happy.”
Part of what made her Maryville experience so exceptional, during both her PMHNP and DNP programs, was the support she received from faculty and advisors, who made her feel comfortable and encouraged her to ask questions. She says she had concerns initially about feeling intimidated, but one of her professors created a welcoming and supportive atmosphere that quickly made her feel at home.
“I felt that she was very compassionate about what she does, and her goal was to make sure her students succeed. I never felt embarrassed to ask her questions,” Mercy says. “She likes what she does, and she has passion for it.”
For everything outside of the classroom, Mercy says her advisor Laura was there for her, streamlining processes and making sure she was in the best position to focus on her studies and succeed.
“She was wonderful,” Mercy says. “I never hesitated to call her for questions and setting up meetings with her, talking about things regarding calls or school fees or whatever that I didn’t understand. She just walked me through. It was wonderful. She was so supportive and I’m so thankful to her.”
‘My goal is to serve more’: Building on a career of service
With her DNP secured, Mercy became the third doctor in her family.
The party cheering her on at graduation included a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies and a doctorate in business administration with an emphasis on strategic management — held by her husband, Paul.
“I'm so happy for her,” says Paul. “She has worked really hard to accomplish her DNP, and this has been a dream for a very long time. I'm thankful to God for her work, determination and perseverance, and I'm so excited today to be a part of this journey.”
She’s finished with her terminal nursing degree, but Mercy still has big things ahead of her, wherever her career takes her. It’s no surprise that her plans revolve around service.
“I hope to serve more, be it in the professional field, in the community, and across the sea, wherever God leads me,” she says. “But my goal is to serve more.”