Elizabth Duncan, PMHNP, has always had a desire to help people. It’s no wonder that she’s put that desire to work for 46 years as a nurse. She’s spent 28 of those years as a family nurse practitioner and 14 years as a psychiatric nurse practitioner.
“I love helping people. It’s not a job, it’s something I enjoy. I can help them get well if they want to get well,” said Duncan.
Duncan moved to Batesville in 2005 where she worked with Region 4 Mental Health before moving to Itawamba County to help care for her mother-in-law who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Duncan worked for Right Track in 2020 before joining the Mantachie Rural Healthcare staff in 2021.
Much of Duncan’s psychiatric work consists of treating patients with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, sleep issues, and school and life issues. Duncan says patients often come in with challenges that have made them cautious about getting treatment. Those challenges include failure with other providers. Duncan encourages her patients to try one more time if they were unhappy with their first appointment.
“I’ve never seen anyone I couldn’t help, if they wanted to be helped,” she said.
Duncan says another big challenge for both patient and provider is trust. Patients often face difficulty trusting their provider with their private and personal problems. For Duncan and other professionals in her field, the challenge is getting the patient to open up and be real about the issues they are facing.
Duncan wants her current and future patients to know that she is available and here to help. She wants to help her patients have better functioning lives and to know that she truly cares about them and getting them the help they need.
When asked about her most memorable experience as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, Duncan said that moment happened on her last day working in Corinth. She had been caring for a patient who was going to be placed on disability. The patient had both physical and psychiatric health issues.
He told Duncan, “I might as well not have been alive. You were my last hope.”
That patient is now working as a manager a large plant.
When she’s not treating patients, Duncan, who grew up on a farm, enjoys gardening in her raised beds and when time allows, fishing.
As you can see, Elizabeth Duncan is a caring provider who will go the extra mile to help her patients get better and live a full life. To schedule an appointment with Duncan, dial 662-262-4226 or click here.
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