05/10/2024
Jessa Hollingsworth (BSN, 2012; DNP, 2017) is a psychiatric nurse practitioner with Aiken Psychiatric and Psychotherapy Associates who started her health care career at USC Salkehatchie, a career she says she stumbled across because of the local availability of the program.
“After finishing my BSN, I worked in an inpatient psychiatric acute stabilization hospital for several years and eventually wound up managing the ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) program at Aiken Regional Medical Centers. There are really no words to describe the lifesaving experiences that I witnessed through our ECT program, and I really thrived in taking on a more independent role through this job. I went back to complete a graduate degree through University of South Carolina and have a career that I am truly proud of. I serve as one of very few psychiatric clinicians in the Aiken/Barnwell area and at this point have served thousands of patients with their mental health concerns in inpatient, intensive facility outpatient, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and outpatient private practice. I have had the opportunity to pay my awesome USC experience forward by serving as a clinical preceptor for numerous graduate nursing students. Teaching about psychiatry has become my passion and something I see myself doing for the rest of my professional life. I love knowing that I played a role in reducing the massive shortage of mental health professionals in our state. I would have never guessed that taking a spontaneous chance at Salkehatchie would have such a huge payoff or would change my life in so many important ways. I could not be more thankful,” Jessa says.
