Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 280: From Cardiac Care to Mind Matters: Keri Kendall's Journey With Green Peacock Psychiatry

• Sophia Yvette

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What Makes Keri Kendall with Green Peacock Psychiatry a Good Neighbor?

What if we treated our brains with the same care and attention we give to our hearts, lungs, or any other vital organ? Keri Kendall, founder of Green Peacock Psychiatry, brings this compassionate perspective to mental healthcare, challenging the stigma often surrounding psychiatric treatment.

Keri is a Board Certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner whose company, Green Peacock Psychiatry, provides patients with assessments, diagnoses, medication management, and a little bit of therapy. Her powerful personal journey—from navigating a difficult divorce with a one-year-old child to discovering her true passion through caring for a special needs child—led her to psychiatric nursing. After completing Baylor University’s nursing program and beginning her career in cardiac care, she followed her heart to mental health, where her clinical rotations resonated most deeply.

Her approach is rooted in collaboration. “It’s about you,” she reminds listeners considering psychiatric care. “You know you best.” This guiding philosophy shapes every step of her practice, from hour-long initial evaluations to ongoing care for patients aged five through 64 across Texas. Instead of prescribing rigid treatment plans, Keri partners with each person to discover what optimal living looks like uniquely for them.

The conversation also explores practical aspects of psychiatric care, including appointment schedules, while thoughtfully addressing how faith-based approaches can complement psychiatric treatment. Keri honors the role of church communities in mental wellness through connection, meditation, and prayer, while recognizing when additional clinical support is beneficial.

Whether you’re curious about psychiatric care for yourself or a loved one, seeking clarity amid mental health misconceptions, or interested in diverse healthcare journeys, this episode offers authentic insights from a practitioner dedicated to meeting patients exactly where they are.

Ready to rethink brain health? Listen now and discover a perspective that might just transform your approach to mental wellbeing.

To learn more about Green Peacock Psychiatry, go to: https://greenpeacockpsychiatry.com/

 Green Peacock Psychiatry

  469-669-3585

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing Keri Kendall, your good neighbor, with her company Green Peacock Psychiatry. Keri, how are you today? I'm well. How are you? I'm also doing well Now. We are so excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling our listeners a little bit about your company?

Speaker 3:

Sure, green Peacock. Psychiatry was started by me. I do in-person visits, mostly in Oak Cliff, but I do also do virtual visits all over Texas. I can you know we get on the phone and we do a kind of a telehealth visit and those are.

Speaker 2:

I have patients all across Texas that we do that with Wow.

Speaker 3:

You must stay very busy.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I do actually.

Speaker 3:

Now, carrie, how did you originally get into this business? So I started about 10 years ago. I went through a divorce and I started trying to figure out what I was going to do going forward. I had a one-year-old, so I started taking care of a special needs child and then that took me to become more interested and I was like well, I kind of like this and I think I can do this. So I took some classes at, you know, community college and then I joined. I applied to the Baylor University nursing program shout out to Baylor. I went through their fastback program in a year and a year later I was a nurse and then. So I became a cardiac nurse first, but I ultimately knew I would go into psychiatry or psychiatric practice mental health it interested me the most. When I did my clinical rotation in mental health, it was my favorite by far, my favorite by far.

Speaker 2:

Now, what is the biggest myth or misconception you come across in your industry?

Speaker 3:

I know there is quite a few I was about to say there are so many but one of the things that I think I would like to address most is the brain is an organ just like your heart, just like your kidneys, just like your lungs, and if you had a problem with one of those, you would be sitting in the doctor's office trying to address it.

Speaker 3:

In fact, if you couldn't breathe, you would probably be begging for the medication, and I kind of always describe this to my patients, you know, who are kind of hesitant about medication, describe this to my patients, you know, who are kind of hesitant about medication, and I obviously don't push it, but I just when I know they're struggling and this could be an option that could give them some relief. They've been in therapy for a while. It's not. It's not fully working. It's working, but not completely. And so you know the brain goes through different stages. We all go through different things in our life that we may have to, you know, address it with medication. And so it's the brain. Like I said, the brain is a lot like any of the other organs that might struggle or have a moment where it needs medication to recover, or maybe it's lifelong, but maybe it's not.

Speaker 2:

Most definitely Now, keri. Who are your target customers and how do you currently attract them?

Speaker 3:

So my target population is mostly it's children through adults, so it's starting at age five through 64. And I really want people that are serious about addressing their mental health. I'm, you know, from day one, on board, working with you, trying to get you in the living optimally, or living your life how you want to live it, and so I want you to come to me serious and ready to work, because that's what I'm, that's what I'm doing too.

Speaker 2:

Now, neurologically speaking, why is five the age where you start taking patients?

Speaker 3:

Well, sometimes there might be a little bit of anger issues or even, you know, some hyperactivity that we can't even get them to participate in class, or even if they're like, in a pre-K class or if they're in a kindergarten class or whatever, and they can't even. You know the teacher's spending so much time trying to get this one child to focus and learn, and everybody's, you know, got a goal in school they need to participate and learn, and so that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get. That's when we start at. Five is pretty much when they're not at home. They need to be sitting still in a classroom. They have expectations, and mom and dad isn't getting a phone call all the time about come get your child, or. You know that's pretty much why we started dressing it at five. Are there some people that start as early as three and four? Yes, I think. My comfort level, though, is about five to 64.

Speaker 2:

Understood. Now we know marketing is the heart of every business. Have you ever thought about doing your very own podcast?

Speaker 3:

Yes, um, but it would require taking time away from patients right now. So I think I'm just very focused on patient care and that tends to be my main focus, but it is something that I've considered in the future.

Speaker 2:

Yes, Now outside of work, when you're not helping patients, what do you like to do?

Speaker 3:

Well, I'm working on my mental health. So I go work out, I hang out with my daughter. I have a small circle of friends that I go and do things with. I also my family's fairly local, or, you know, within a couple hours away. So I see them, I talk to them often, and so I'd like to get more involved in my community in Oak Cliff, and that's my plan. I haven't lived there very long but I do enjoy it, but that's kind of how I spend my free time.

Speaker 2:

Now please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about green peacock psychiatry.

Speaker 3:

I always say it's about you. Um, I'm coming in, we're gonna focus on you. Do I have suggestions? Sure, do I have my own thoughts about it? Yes, but I also need you to help me. You know you best, and so we're going to work together as a team and to figure out where you're comfortable, what you know. We're going to work through all the questions, all all the things that you're just not sure about, and we're going to walk, you know, work through that as a team. I think that's what they should think of when they come in to see me is this is kind of a team effort and it's about how to get them living optimally and the life that they really want to have.

Speaker 2:

Wow. Now follow up question for you, for our listeners who may be considering psychiatry but not sure what that time commitment is going to look like, can you give them a rough estimate of a timeline?

Speaker 3:

you know, if you decide medication is for you, we typically will have like the first initial evaluation, which takes about an hour, and then after that I will kind of say to the person, hey, when would you like to see me again? What is your? And sometimes they'll say in a couple of weeks, sometimes they'll say in a month, sometimes it's like you know I've already been on this medication a while We'll just three months. But the average, you know, the average visit is the initial is an hour and then after that it's 30 minutes to 45 minutes and then it's every one, two, three months. Sometimes, you know, if they're pretty stable on it, it's. Then it's every three months. So it's four times a year.

Speaker 2:

And what would you say for the people who believe more in a faith route? Would you still recommend them to go to psychiatry if they really need it, but they just don't take the medication.

Speaker 3:

So if they want to, if they don't want to take medication, then I obviously stay with therapy, go. Obviously if they're taking a faith route, they would probably find counseling inside their church. But I do think you know, even if that they find that that's not enough or that they feel like they need a little bit more like a boost in their mood, maybe church isn't as fun anymore, maybe they're not getting so much from it, or whatever part of their life they feel like is just not working, then definitely come see me. But church fits into the picture. I mean, church provides community and it definitely fosters a very you know, meditation, prayer, all of that. It fosters a lot of great mental health, a pathway for good mental health.

Speaker 2:

And where can our listeners go to learn more about Green Peacock Psychiatry?

Speaker 3:

I have a website, greenpeacockpsychiatrycom, and my phone number is 469-669-3585, and I also have an Instagram page.

Speaker 2:

Well, Keri, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for having me. It was good to speak with you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPFriscocom. That's GNPFriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.