About The Center for Integrative Psychiatry (CFIP)
Learn • Connect • Grow
At the Center for Integrative Psychiatry (CFIP), we provide a space for the growth and development of the subspecialty practice of Integrative Psychiatry. This space includes course material and presentations (learn), networking through a private platform (connect), and practice development (grow) to nurture the personal and professional goals of individual mental healthcare providers in the context of Integrative Psychiatry practice.
We recognize that well-being is a holistic phenomenon that requires a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interrelationship between internal and external environments. We understand that treatment, which aims to change these interrelationships, should be personalized to the individual in appreciation of the complexity and uniqueness of each human being. We strive to develop and utilize leading-edge evidence in the evaluation of experiences and the determination of appropriate treatment.
Our vision is to nurture an approach to care that addresses the whole person while overcoming barriers to treatment across the world. Our strategy is to grow a community of like-minded professionals to collaborate on these methodologies, educate clinicians on the practice of Integrative Psychiatry, and build upon the evidence basis through scholarly activities.
About the Founder, Dr. Nicholas Hatcher
DNP, AGACNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, CCTP-II, CIPP
Traumatologist and Integrative Psychiatry Specialist
Dr. Hatcher is a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and dually board-certified acute care (AGACNP) and psychiatric mental health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). He completed his acute care and doctoral education and training at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He then completed a post-doctoral degree in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Throughout his more than 10-year career, Dr. Hatcher has been involved in the practice and academic setting with roles in internal medicine, inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, and faculty appointments.
In his appreciation for the transcendent nature of trauma and its impact on physical and psychological health, Dr. Hatcher remains an avid Traumatologist, exploring the dynamic link between psychological trauma and bodily disturbances. This has motivated him to participate in training as a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP Level 2) as well as various additional training opportunities including psychedelic-assisted and integration therapy, internal family systems (IFS) therapy, accelerated resolution therapy (ART), and trauma-informed acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
After appreciating the tremendous benefits of this model in his practice and recognizing the high cost and disorganization of currently available Integrative Psychiatry educational material, Dr. Hatcher became motivated to teach others how to practice Integrative Psychiatry. Through his extensive experience as an educator, as a dually board-certified provider, and as a caring and compassionate individual, Dr. Hatcher aims to refine the delivery of Integrative Psychiatry.
Fascinated by the relationship between the body and the mind and the discrepancies he recognized in the mental healthcare system, Dr. Hatcher continued his academic journey to include a specialized focus on Integrative Psychiatry and Traumatology. He has completed a Fellowship in Integrative Psychiatry and pursued several continuing education opportunities in functional medicine and psychiatry to refine the execution of an integrative model in psychiatry.
In his search for a unified and practical model for integrative psychiatry that captures the emergent behaviors of complex systems, Dr. Hatcher has performed a dialectical synthesis of reductionism and chaos/complexity theory to serve as the basis for an integrative model. In his model, he translates dynamic system interrelations into an organized approach that appreciates the diversity and uniqueness of each individual. Through the use of his model, Dr. Hatcher aims to achieve a holistic view of human experiences while personalizing care and considering the root causes of illness.
A New Way Forward
In A New Way Forward, Dr. Hatcher critically analyzes the problems among treatment, diagnosis, and formulation in conventional psychiatric practice. Following this analysis, Dr. Hatcher presents the Integrative Psychiatry Matrix (IPM) as a holistic model to organize care. This formulation model captures essential aspects of previously existing models while incorporating new elements from the subspecialty of Integrative Psychiatry. The IPM is a map to guide the clinician through the inclusion of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, psychotherapeutic, lifestyle, and spiritual interventions. Dr. Hatcher presents a new way forward for the field of psychiatry that considers the whole person in developing an effective and personalized plan of care that targets the root causes of illness.
