Brea Washington

Brea Washington is a dual board-certified nurse practitioner in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care (AGPCNP) and Psychiatric-Mental Health (PMHNP). Brea graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with her Bachelor of Science in nursing and minors in psychology and public health. She decided to continue her education after working several years at the local hospital as a bedside nurse. She earned her Masters of Science in nursing from South University with a specialization as an Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner. After working as a nurse practitioner for a few years, Brea had a realization that throughout her nursing career she has always had a special place in her heart for mental health. Therefore, she decided to take a leap of faith to pursue her passion and obtain additional specialization certification as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Brea completed her Post-Masters of Science in nursing certification program with honors from Maryville University.

She has been passionate about helping the mental health community since she was a teenager because she recognized the need to reduce the stigma of seeking care for mental health issues in the African American community. Since then, she has continued to be an advocate for anyone who is struggling with mental health conditions, grief, and/or daily life stressors. She believes that seeking care for mental health conditions should be more normalized. People should never feel ashamed to seek mental health care in the same manner that people would not hesitate to seek care for a sore throat or an ankle sprain. Brea prides herself in being a down-to-earth, supportive, nurturing, trustworthy, nonjudgmental, and culturally competent mental health provider. She understands that people are multifaceted, and they

should not be expected to fit into a mold. Therefore, building a positive therapeutic relationship with every patient is essential to the way that she provides care. Brea enjoys getting to know her patients so she can collaborate with them in order to develop an individualized care plan for each patient. She also believes that when mental health care is individualized, she is able to treat every patient as a whole person not just their mental health symptoms. Brea’s combined knowledge of primary care and psychiatric-mental health care allows her to treat patients using a holistic approach. Therefore, she is able to help patients to identify daily life stressors along with other medical symptoms or nutritional deficiencies that may be contributing to their mental health symptoms. Brea’s integrative and individualized patient care plans include a combination of medication management, brief psychotherapy, as well as guidance with self-care practices, healthy nutrition, and staying physically active for overall wellness.

In addition, Brea is a wife and mother who enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, crafting, trying new food recipes, and binge-watching TV series in her free time.