Richard A. Pessagno, NP
Specialties
- Psychiatry
Richard Pessagno, DNP, is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner seeing patients at the Eisenhower Behavioral Health Clinic in Rancho Mirage. He has a masters from the University of Cincinnati and earned a post-masters certificate as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. He completed his doctoral studies at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and completed a fellowship focused on the psychiatric and psychosocial aspects of AIDS.
Rick became interested in nursing because of the value he saw in the nurse-patient relationship. He is a third generation nurse, following in the footsteps of this mother and maternal grandmother. He started his career in United States Army Nurse Corps. After leaving the service, he became interested in mental health nursing while providing HIV counseling during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, which was largely crisis-focused work at that time. He was drawn to learning more about crisis intervention and helping those facing life-threating and life-limiting illness.
While having a generalist psychiatric practice, his scholarship and practice interest focused on thanatology, group therapy, postpartum depression, LGBTQ+ mental health, and bereavement trauma. He is board certified as both a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and a Psychiatric-Mental Clinical Nurse Specialist. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.
His philosophy of care is holistic and collaborative. “I want to engage people as partners in their treatment. If an individual is engaged and participates in their treatment, they will experience better outcomes,” says Dr. Pessangno. He believes active listening, being respectful and having empathy are key to his role as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.
Dr. Pessagno provides both medication management and psychotherapy.
Rick became interested in nursing because of the value he saw in the nurse-patient relationship. He is a third generation nurse, following in the footsteps of this mother and maternal grandmother. He started his career in United States Army Nurse Corps. After leaving the service, he became interested in mental health nursing while providing HIV counseling during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, which was largely crisis-focused work at that time. He was drawn to learning more about crisis intervention and helping those facing life-threating and life-limiting illness.
While having a generalist psychiatric practice, his scholarship and practice interest focused on thanatology, group therapy, postpartum depression, LGBTQ+ mental health, and bereavement trauma. He is board certified as both a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and a Psychiatric-Mental Clinical Nurse Specialist. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.
His philosophy of care is holistic and collaborative. “I want to engage people as partners in their treatment. If an individual is engaged and participates in their treatment, they will experience better outcomes,” says Dr. Pessangno. He believes active listening, being respectful and having empathy are key to his role as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.
Dr. Pessagno provides both medication management and psychotherapy.
Professional Details
- English
- 4 years
