Graceland University's post-graduate PMHNP certificate
Graceland University's post-graduate PMHNP certificate serves nurses who have finished a master's in nursing (MSN or MN). The 2026-27 catalog lists 38 semester hours and the Graduate Student Handbook says 39, but the clinical side is settled: the same three PMHNP practicums and 750 hours as the MSN, precepted only by psychiatrists or certified PMHNPs, in a fixed order.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Who the certificate is for
Applicants need a master's in nursing from a program accredited by CCNE or NLNAC. You enroll without matriculating for a degree; what you earn is eligibility for the national certification and credentialing exams, with the ANCC PMHNP-BC the one Graceland's PMHNP article names. Six years is the catalog's completion limit.
That opens the certificate to two kinds of applicant: nurse practitioners certified in another population, such as family or acute care, who want to add psychiatric practice, and master's-prepared nurses in other roles moving into advanced psychiatric care. Both take the full PMHNP specialty, practicums included. The courses are online, and the clinical hours happen with preceptors in your own community.
Certificate students fall under the same RN license rule as every Graceland graduate student: an active license without encumbrance in your home state and in each approved state where your practicum hours take place. Holding an APRN license does not change that rule.
Credits: 38, 39 or 41, depending on the page
Graceland publishes three different credit totals for this certificate. The differences come from the core courses and from the credit values of NURS5430 and NURS6843, which changed in the 2026-27 catalog.
| Source | Core | PMHNP specialty | Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 catalog, certificate page | 10: NURS5010, NURS5100, NURS5143, NURS5440 | 28 | 38 | NURS5430 at 2 s.h., NURS6843 at 5 |
| 2026 Graduate Student Handbook | Not broken out | Not broken out | 39 | NURS5430 at 3 s.h., NURS6843 at 4-5 |
| PMHNP program page, certificate list | 13 | 28 | 41 | NURS5430 at 3 s.h. with 150 hours; each practicum 4 s.h. with 200 hours |
Your own number depends on what you bring. According to Graceland, your core can shrink or grow depending on which school granted your master's and on whether you already finished one of Graceland's NP programs. The handbook adds a floor for NP certificates: 33 graduate semester hours overall, 13 or more of them completed at Graceland. Program Advising (programadvising@graceland.edu) builds the individual plan, so send transcripts early and ask for your plan in writing.
The same practicums and 750 hours as the MSN
Nothing in the clinical sequence is shortened for certificate students. You complete NURS6841 PMHNP Practicum: I (225 hours), NURS6842 PMHNP Practicum: II (225 hours) and NURS6843 PMHNP Practicum: FINAL (300 hours), in that order, which the handbook says cannot be changed. NURS5430 Behavioral Therapy Concepts adds a clinical component in your own community, and its hour figure differs between sources; the NURS5430 page explains the conflict.
The patient targets carry over as well: roughly 300 encounters over the three practicums, a third with patients younger than 18, a third older than 65 and a third in between. Each trimester holds one practicum at most, the three must sit within a 12-month span, and a typical week means 16 to 24 clinic hours. The course pages for Practicum: I and the terms after it cover each step.
The only exception is timing. Students who matriculated before August 1, 2023 keep a 540-hour plan at 180 per practicum, and anyone returning or starting after the Fall 2026 term begins works to 750.
Precepting rules when you already work in health care
If you already work in health care, your network is a natural place to start, and Graceland's rules narrow which contacts qualify. Every PMHNP practicum preceptor must be a psychiatrist or hold PMHNP certification as a nurse practitioner. The handbook singles out FNPs and other NPs who see mental health patients: without PMHNP certification, they cannot precept you, however strong the working relationship.
Your workplace brings its own limits. The unit that employs you is off limits, and so are your supervisor, anyone you supervise, relatives and partners as preceptors. If your employer is a large health system, a separate clinical area can work; the workplace practicum page explains what the contract coordinators look at.
Two more rules shape the plan. Expect at least two different preceptors, since nobody may precept more than two of your three terms. For ANCC or AANP eligibility the handbook wants documented time with an APRN or NP and suggests 120 hours or more; in this certificate, that APRN has to be a certified PMHNP. Up to two terms or 450 hours may be telehealth, provided you and the preceptor are licensed wherever each patient is.
Focus session, timing and paperwork
The certificate includes NURS5196, the PMHNP competencies lab with its focus session, before Practicum: I. Per the certificate catalog pages, PMHNP and FNP sessions take place virtually over Zoom, and the handbook places the virtual session in week 6 or 7 for two to three full days. Yet the NURS5196 course description, printed on those same catalog pages, still describes an in-person session held at the Independence campus. Graceland emails session details in advance; go by that notice.
Paperwork deadlines match every other track: a Fall practicum needs its forms and Castle Branch uploads in by June 15, Spring by October 15 and Summer by February 15. For the license item, Castle Branch wants the board's own verification rather than a scan of your card. The handbook advises starting up to a year or more before the first practicum, which for a certificate student may be early in the program. See the practicum deadlines page for the rest.
Why certificate students choose us
If you are working while you study, the preceptor search competes with your own clinic schedule. Our placement desk takes the search off your calendar. We find psychiatrists and certified PMHNPs near home, outside your own unit and reporting line, and confirm each one's certification and license before the name reaches you.
We plan all three practicums together, so the preceptor changeover, your certification hours with a PMHNP and each age band are accounted for from the start, and we can steer a telehealth practice toward the terms where your licenses fit. Each proposed site comes with its contract contact, street address and the preceptor's credentials, assembled in time for Graceland's deadline. If a preceptor leaves, we start on a replacement straight away. The form below starts the search, and how it works shows every step.
Questions Graceland students ask
How many credits is Graceland's PMHNP certificate?
The 2026-27 catalog lists 38 semester hours: a 10-hour core and 28 hours of PMHNP courses. The Graduate Student Handbook says 39, and the course list on the PMHNP program page adds up to 41. Your total also depends on transferable core courses, so Program Advising sets the final number in your individual plan.
Do I retake core courses I completed in my MSN?
Not necessarily. Graceland says core requirements vary with the school where you earned your master's and with whether you are a graduate of another Graceland NP program. The handbook also requires at least 33 graduate semester hours for an NP certificate, 13 or more earned at Graceland. Send your transcripts to Program Advising and ask for your plan in writing.
I am already an FNP. Can an FNP colleague precept my PMHNP hours?
Not unless your colleague is also certified as a PMHNP. Graceland limits all three PMHNP practicums to psychiatrists and certified PMHNPs, and its handbook names FNPs who work with mental health patients as not qualifying. A dual-certified FNP-PMHNP does qualify, provided the Appendix B shows the PMHNP certification.
Are practicum hours reduced for certificate students?
No. The certificate uses the same three PMHNP practicums as the MSN, with 225, 225 and 300 hours in the 2026 handbook for 750 in total. If you matriculated before August 1, 2023, you are on 540. Prior NP clinical hours in another population do not substitute for PMHNP practicum hours in any Graceland source.
Does the PMHNP certificate require a trip to campus?
Probably not, but check your session notice. The certificate catalog text and the handbook describe the PMHNP focus session as virtual on Zoom, while the NURS5196 course description still mentions a face-to-face session in Independence, Missouri. The focus sessions page covers timing and what to expect.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.
Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.
Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
- Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
- Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule
Start your placement plan
Track, city and practicum start is all we need to begin.