After spending three decades in the corporate world, Raj Patel is now on his way to becoming a nurse practitioner focused on mental health.
Patel is a first-year student in the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing at UMass Chan Medical School. Before this career change, Patel worked in tech startups in California’s Silicon Valley. He said working in a stressful environment took a toll on his mental health.
“Toward the end of my career in tech, I found myself becoming increasingly toxic and found myself using substances to amplify my work abilities,” Patel said. “I ended up going to a detox and recovery program where I was diagnosed with multiple disorders, including substance abuse, ADHD and PTSD.”
The nurses and doctors who guided him through his recovery inspired him to pursue a career in health care.
“Working with the care teams responsible for helping me heal and get back into a productive mindset really helped me understand and value the importance of mental health,” he said. “I was truly inspired by my care teams’ abilities and dedication, so much so that it made my decision to leave my former career and pursue this new direction an easy choice.”
Patel is a part of the Graduate Entry Pathway program, which is for individuals who have a bachelor’s degree in a field other than nursing, leading first to registered nurse licensure, then either a PhD in nursing, or, as in Patel’s case, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).
Patel has a bachelor’s in history from San Jose State University. Although he was born in Worcester, he’s lived most of his life in the San Francisco Bay area. He and his wife moved to Connecticut so he could attend UMass Chan.
Many of his friends and family members are nurses or have other occupations in health care, so he has had numerous role models influence him on his new path.
“I’ve really developed an understanding of how important the down-to-earth approach that nurses take is to delivering patient- and community-centered care,” he said. “I feel like nurses really get to facilitate good experiences and good outcomes.”
As he progresses through his DNP track, his focus will be psychiatric mental health.
“The pandemic has highlighted the importance of mental health care around the world and helped us all understand the importance of supporting and improving outcomes for anyone impacted by psychosocial stressors,” he said. “Moreso, psychiatric mental health has the potential to impact and influence most every health outcome to one degree or another.”
The Student Spotlight series features UMass Chan Medical School students in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and T.H. Chan School of Medicine. For more information about UMass Chan Medical School and how to apply, visit the Prospective Students page.
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