Catherine Shull is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) at the Vanderbilt Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic (CAPOC). Prior to her career at VUMC, she graduated from Vanderbilt with a Master of Education degree in 2006 and taught for 12 years for Metro Nashville Public Schools. She then returned to Vanderbilt and graduated with a Master of Science in Nursing degree in 2019. She joined the team at CAPOC in January of 2020.
Catherine’s primary role is providing outpatient psychiatric care to pediatric patients in CAPOC’s VMG Clinic and its Community Mental Healthcare Clinic, which serves patients with Tenncare insurance. She has particularly enjoyed combining her knowledge and love of the public education system with her patient care, emphasizing educational interventions and supports for her patients.
In 2021, she expanded her NP role to include one day a week at the Vanderbilt Center of Excellence (COE) consulting for DCS for children who are in state’s custody or at risk of going into state’s custody. Her COE role involves working with a multidisciplinary team of providers including psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, DCS team members, and trainees to provide consult around medication/therapy services, educational concerns, and other systems related barriers for youth in custody. Her role at the COE also includes medication consultation for DCS nurses and individual medication provider consultations.
Alongside her clinic responsibilities, Catherine is currently working to develop the first Behavior Health APRN Fellowship, which will focus on child & adolescent psychiatry in its first year. Fellows will gain experience in the outpatient, inpatient, and consult clinics working alongside psychiatrists, therapists, social workers, and other service providers to gain a well- rounded continued education experience, allowing them to work to the full extent of their scope. The first cohort will begin in January of 2023.
In her free time, you can find Catherine on one of the many trails at Warner Parks, enjoying time with friends and family, skiing out West in the winter, and spending most Saturdays and Sundays in the spring at Hawkins Field cheering on the Vandy Boys, as an avid Vandy baseball fan.