Rhonda Rowan | MSN, ARNP, PMHNP-BC
Education:
Gonzaga University Spokane, WA | Master of Science in Nursing
Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT | BS - Nursing
Clark College Vancouver, WA | AAS – Nursing
Portland Community College Portland, OR | AAS – Business Administration
"Medications aren’t the fix—they help pave the way for healing. Our brains cannot form healthy new pathways while flooded with cortisol and other stress hormones. The right meds help ensure that our hard work isn’t hindered or stopped."
“Some people feel that the opposite of depression is happiness. I’m not sure that’s always realistic. I think it is about contentment. Being capable of feeling joy AND sadness - being able to experience, understand, and appreciate our life and what is happening around us.”
Rhonda Rowan is a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner with expertise in medication management for a wide range of mental health conditions, including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, OCD, schizophrenia, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorders. As the founder of Kaleidoscope Rx (formerly Spectrum Mental Health), her practice focuses on providing exceptional person-centered care, understanding that psychiatric medications are just one part of the puzzle for a patient’s well-being.
Rhonda’s journey into nursing and mental health care is deeply personal. Starting out as a 911 dispatcher, Rhonda was drawn to the direct, hands-on care of nursing after seeing the impact of stress and trauma on people’s lives. Her decision to enter the nursing field sparked other big decisions, as she began to recognize how her own mental health and wellbeing were impacted by unhealthy relationship dynamics throughout her life that could not continue.
Entering the nursing program at Clark College with a toddler and 5 month old, Rhonda embarked on what would become the most important season of growth and change in both her career and personal life. Rhonda met her wife, Debra, also a single mother in the nursing program, and in that moment, her world “tilted”. The two worked diligently over the next several years to complete their respective nursing programs and build their life together. While working through her nursing program, Rhonda continued to navigate her own mental health journey, which deepened her empathy and understanding of the importance of self-care and emotional healing. She discovered a strong aptitude and intuition for psychiatric care, and shifted her focus, to earn her PMHNP certification in 2018, launching her solo practice later that year.
Rhonda spent the next few years as a solo practitioner, serving people in outpatient, community mental health, inpatient, and partial hospitalization settings. She gained invaluable wisdom and faced disappointing realities as a developing leader, but that hard-won wisdom laid the groundwork in Rhonda’s mind for what would become a bold vision.
Those early experiences in community mental health and private practice groups illuminated the glaring disconnect of neglecting the wellbeing of staff and providers as they are tasked with providing physical and/or mental health care to vulnerable people. They also ignited her passion and steadfast commitment to building a workplace that made staff wellbeing and positive development non-negotiable.
Today, Kaleidoscope Rx is a thriving and trusted mental health med management practice serving more than 3000 patients. Rhonda’s unwavering commitment to her team and patients is evident whether she is supporting providers, guiding her own patients through their mental health journeys, or quietly celebrating the small moments of joy and contentment that come from seeing her dream have a tangible impact on other people.
Rhonda’s Kaleidoscope
“My kaleidoscope would have all the colors of the rainbow! It would have so many different and changing shapes inside because people are different and ever-changing, and it would be so beautiful to see that reflected back to me.”