MH751, MH752 and MH753: FNU's PMHNP practicum

The PMHNP courses as FNU lists them

The PMHNP clinical block follows FNU's standard pattern. The full-time PGC sheet shortens the practicum titles to "MH Clinical I", "II" and "III".

The didactic courses that come first are MH705, MH707, MH701, MH708, MH709 and MH720. MSN students add PC701, PC705, PC707 and PC716; unlike the other tracks, the PMHNP sequence leaves out PC719. Clinical Bound comes in term 6 (full-time) or term 10 (part-time) of the MSN, and term 4 or term 7 of the PGC. FNU's PMHNP page notes that its Clinical Bound includes simulated patient encounters.

Hours, week by week

From 2025 onward, PMHNP students starting clinical courses owe 750 clinical hours across 19 weeks of clinical, in the MSN or the PGC. FNU does not publish how those hours divide between MH751, MH752 and MH753.

The catalog's weekly minimums apply to the PMHNP track as to the others: 20 hours a week in MH751, 28 in MH752 and 24 in MH753. FNU's website caps clinic time at 10 hours a day and 40 a week. Ask a prospective preceptor how many hours a week you could realistically be in clinic before you commit, because the MH752 floor is the highest of the three.

Specialty-site observation is excluded from PMHNP hours. The clinical hours page sets out the rest of what counts.

The PMHNP visit list

PMHNP counts are grouped by age and by type of care, and they apply across the whole practicum rather than to one course. Medication management is the largest line at 300 visits. FNU does not say which of MH751, MH752 or MH753 each count should come from, so aim to feed every line from your first weeks.

Visits you only observe do not count toward required experiences, with one exception the catalog names: PMHNP therapy visits. Child, adolescent and geriatric visits can run short in an adult outpatient practice, so ask about the age mix before a CSAF goes in, and look at crisis and substance use volume too.

Prescribers, therapists and the 135-hour limit

FNU accepts four kinds of PMHNP preceptor, and all of them must be at least master's prepared.

• A PMHNP.
• A psychiatric-mental health clinical nurse specialist (PMHCNS) with prescriptive authority.
• A psychiatrist, with no limit on the time you spend with them.
• A master's-prepared therapist licensed in the state of practice, for no more than 135 hours of your practicum.

The accepted CSAF that lets your RCF assign a Clinical Bound date must include a preceptor with psychiatric prescribing authority. A therapist can add psychotherapy experience, but with the 135-hour limit a therapist cannot carry your practicum alone.

The general rules still apply: an unencumbered US license, a year's relevant experience in an advanced practice or medical role, no family members as preceptors and no family-owned sites. Each preceptor completes a weekly DDAT, and PMHNP students send the end-of-course EDAT without a mid-course MDAT. More on who can precept.

Telehealth, sites and states

If your clinical courses began in 2025 or later, the telehealth ceiling is 450 hours in both the MSN and the PGC; before that it was 405 (MSN) and 500 (PGC). Telehealth still means meeting Board of Nursing licensure in the state where each patient resides. The telehealth page covers how the cap and licensing interact.

The PMHNP limit is four clinical sites, all in the continental US or Hawaii, and your RN license, or compact eligibility, has to cover each state involved. New York is closed to PMHNP clinicals apart from federal government facilities in the state.

FNU's PMHNP page describes the split of work plainly: students identify their own local preceptors, and FNU manages the legal and administrative requirements for the site.

What must be approved before MH751

1. A prescriber commitsYour plan needs a preceptor with psychiatric prescribing authority. Once one agrees, speak with your RCF before submitting anything.
2. A CSAF for each siteEach Clinical Site Approval Form goes through the Community Map, and the rotation appears in My Clinical Plan for your RCF to accept.
3. Compliance clearedBLS, the clinical background check, the health verification form, HIPAA items, health insurance and RN license verification go into CastleBranch by Week 5 of the term before Clinical Bound.
4. Credentialing finishedCredentialing is done when the affiliation agreement is signed, the site's liability insurance is verified and the preceptor is fully credentialed, with any required Pre-Clinical Site Visit set. This can take several months.
5. Interview, Clinical Bound, releaseAfter the RCF interview and a sit-down orientation with each preceptor, you attend MH750. The RCF then releases your site and preceptor, and only then do hours begin.

Anchoring your PMHNP courses with a prescriber

For PMHNP students, the first thing we look for is a psychiatric prescriber, whether a PMHNP, a psychiatrist or a prescribing PMHCNS, who can anchor your plan. Where you need child, geriatric or substance use visits your main site does not see, we look for a second setting inside the four-site limit. We can also look for telehealth time within the 450-hour cap, and we ask where those patients live so you can check licensing.

We help you prepare what the CSAF and Clinical Credentialing need about each preceptor and site, and if a prescriber withdraws partway through, we can search again with you. Your RCF and FNU's credentialing team make every approval decision, and the prescriber we find is chosen with FNU's PMHNP rule in mind from the first call. Start a request with your degree and projected Clinical Bound term.