APNA, Iowa Chapter

10/28/2025

Your APNA Iowa Chapter is offering another scholarship! See details in comments!

10/10/2025

There is still time to RSVP and attend! Please join us tomorrow night! 💙

10/08/2025

⭐️ Our Iowa Chapter Board spotlight series continues... ⭐️

Today's spotlight is... 🥁🥁🥁
Our current Iowa Chapter President Elect, Esther Huston, DNP, PMHNP-BC!

Born and raised in the heart of Iowa, Dr. Esther Huston is a doctorally prepared, board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) committed to walking alongside patients from all backgrounds. With a holistic, trauma-informed approach, she honors each individual’s unique life experiences and “season of life,” ensuring mental health care that is personalized, compassionate, and clinically sound.

Her passion lies in supporting individuals and families through the emotional complexities of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Dr. Huston provides trauma-informed and
evidence-based care for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, birth trauma, grief, and the often-overlooked transition to parenthood. Her goal is to create a safe, nonjudgmental space where clients feel heard, empowered, and supported in their journey toward wellness—for themselves and their families.
With lived experience in the foster care system, Dr. Huston has seen firsthand how early adversity can shape development. This perspective fuels her unwavering commitment to trauma-
informed care and resilience-building. She brings this lens to every clinical encounter, helping patients identify their strengths and move toward healing and hope.

Dr. Huston is also a proud graduate of the University of Iowa’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program. This year-long, interdisciplinary
fellowship provided over 300 hours of training in areas such as disability policy, integrated systems design, and family-centered care. Through LEND, she deepened her advocacy skills for
individuals with disabilities and neurodevelopmental diagnoses, gained experience navigating complex healthcare systems, and learned to collaborate effectively across health, education, and
social service sectors.

When she’s not providing care, Dr. Huston cherishes time with her children, grandchildren, friends, and her spirited Aussiedoodle, Wrigley. She finds joy in nature hikes, outdoor concerts, gardening, traveling, and curling up with a good book.

09/21/2025

⭐️ Welcome to our Iowa Chapter Board spotlight series! ⭐️

Today's spotlight is... 🥁🥁🥁

Our current Iowa Chapter President, Kennedy LaVille Thoren, DNP, ARNP, PMHNP-BC!

Kennedy received her Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) at the University of Iowa and works full-time as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, providing services to children, adolescents, and adults with an outpatient clinic at a full-service critical access hospital and rural health clinic. She also has experience as nursing faculty in undergraduate and graduate programs, with a current role as contributing faculty in an MSN-PMHNP program. She is passionate about mental health nursing and legislative advocacy. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors, and working on DIY projects!

09/19/2025

Have you RSVP'd?
The APNA Iowa Chapter social is happening soon!
Join us on Friday, October 10th at 6 p.m.! Details in comments.

09/19/2025

This , Antonella Graña examines the intersection between smartphone use and suicide risk and previews her upcoming APNA Annual Conference session, Smartphone Use Among Adolescents: Implications for Mental Health and PMHNP Practice.

Discover the specific strategies she suggests to help teens reduce harmful digital use: https://www.apna.org/news/does-smartphone-use-increase-the-risk-for-suicide-in-adolescents

09/12/2025

Today is — a time to spread the word that help is always available. If you are struggling, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. 💜 988lifeline.org

09/05/2025

Join your APNA Iowa Chapter Zoom meeting Wednesday, October 1, at 7:00pm Central to get chapter updates and network with your colleagues!

Check your email associated with APNA for the Zoom link!

09/04/2025

Your APNA Iowa Chapter invites you to a Neurocrine Bioscience sponsored dinner discussion and social on Friday, October 10, at 6:00pm! ⭐️

TD Disease State
Splash Seafood
303 Locust Street
Des Moines, IA 50309

Please comment here or message to RSVP. You can also check your email associated with APNA for other RSVP options!

We hope to see you there!

Kennedy LaVille Thoren, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
APNA Iowa Chapter President

09/03/2025

Having a ruff day? 🐶

Be inspired by how Laura A. Curtis fundamentally reshaped her understanding of psychiatric-mental health nursing through the use of service dogs in her practice.

Dig into a preview of her APNA 39th Annual Conference session: https://www.apna.org/news/the-paw-fect-presentation-at-the-upcoming-annual-conference

07/31/2025

Time is ticking — don’t forget to apply for one of the Iowa Chapter’s scholarships!

06/24/2025