Rivier's online PMHNP: 750 psychiatric hours with preceptors you secure
Rivier University requires Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner students to secure their own clinical placement with a psychiatrist or a nurse certified in psychiatric mental health. The track runs as an online cohort with three campus weekends, and each of its three practicums asks for 250 hours inside the semester. Here is how the program is built and where your planning should begin.
Plan your PMHNP practicums
Share your cohort start and home state. Your placement advisor lines up psychiatric preceptors for each semester.
The placement rule for PMHNP students
Securing the psychiatric placement falls to you. Rivier's graduate Practicum Placement Policy opens with the sentence "It is the student's responsibility to identify a qualified preceptor," and the PMHNP passage of the 2026-2027 Nursing Student Handbook, headed for the MSN and the post-master's certificate alike, adds that Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner students "are required to secure a clinical placement" (pp. 73, 76).
Rivier backs the search up rather than running it. The Clinical Practicum Coordinator and course faculty help you locate a willing psychiatric clinician and suggest options among the sites Rivier can contract with. Graduate faculty then judge whether the setting fits the course, and no hour counts until the coordinator has signed off on your paperwork and the agreement.
Start early. The Handbook recommends looking as much as a year ahead, cautions that NP clinical openings are scarce and asks you to put forward psychiatric clinicians you already know through work. Each name still has to clear the PMHNP rules and faculty review.
How the PMHNP cohort is built
| Item | What Rivier lists |
|---|---|
| Format | Online coursework in a cohort, low-residency model, plus three weekends on campus |
| Credits | 43 on the traditional path; 49 on the RN-MS and Bridge paths |
| Course length | 14 weeks, except NSG517 and NSG502, which run seven |
| Start terms | September, January or May on the 2026 sheet |
| Practicums | NURS 521, NURS 523 and NURS 525, 5 credits and 250 hours each |
| Certification | PMHNP-BC national exam |
Two items on Rivier's pages need a second look. The PMHNP MSN and certificate pages name January 19, 2026, now behind us, as the upcoming start, whereas the other graduate pages show January 19, 2027. And the campus weekends carry no dates on the 2026-27 academic calendar, which prints the FNP intensives alone, so request them from the Program Director; Rivier's campus intensives gathers what has been published.
NURS 521, 523 and 525 in order
The three practicums move from crisis work toward complex therapy, and each one has prerequisites tied to the one before. A semester lost in the first practicum therefore delays the other two.
| Course | Focus | Needs first |
|---|---|---|
NURS 521 Practicum/Seminar I | Triage, crisis intervention and individual therapy | NURS 507, NURS 502, NURS 516, NURS 517, NURS 518, NURS 602, NURS 606; with or after NURS 520 |
NURS 523 Practicum/Seminar II | Milieu, group, family and couples therapy | NURS 520 and NURS 521, with NURS 522 before or alongside |
NURS 525 Practicum/Seminar III | Complex assessment and therapy issues | NURS 522 and NURS 523 |
Rivier's catalog schedules NURS 521 in both fall and spring, and every practicum pairs clinical hours with a seminar. The long prerequisite list means the first practicum arrives only after the core APRN courses, which gives you time to search if you begin during those courses. Course-by-course notes are on Rivier's PMHNP practicums.
Choosing preceptors across three semesters
The PMHNP standard is short: a psychiatrist, or a nurse holding psychiatric mental health certification, with two or more years of practice behind them. Patients of any age count, on hospital units or in outpatient clinics, and Rivier strongly recommends seeing the whole lifespan over the track. The complete standard is on PMHNP preceptor requirements.
Those rules leave room to plan the three placements as a set. Matching each course's focus helps: a setting with triage and crisis work suits NURS 521, while a practice that runs group or family sessions fits NURS 523. Spreading the semesters across different age groups answers the lifespan recommendation without asking one preceptor to cover everything.
Remote care has a ceiling too: at most 300 of your 750 hours can come from a prescriber who sees patients by telehealth, so a telepsychiatry preceptor can carry part of the track but never all of it. Keeping a running count of those hours from the first semester keeps you clear of the cap in the last one.
Deadlines on a cohort calendar
A cohort moves as a group, so a late placement costs more than a few weeks. The Handbook wants the site secured four months before the term starts, treats August 1 (fall) and December 1 (spring) as hard cutoffs for all MSN practicum courses, and sets aside 30 days for Rivier's agreement with the site. Reach the cutoff with no confirmed preceptor, or with records missing, and you are asked to hold off a semester, which puts you out of step with the course order your cohort follows.
Your compliance file runs on the same clock. Clinical requirements belong in CastleBranch (myCB) four months before the practicum course, alongside your RN license for the state you will train in, a resume that is up to date and Rivier's Student Information Sheet for Clinical Experience. The Centralized Clinical Placement orientation is due every August, plus any orientation the facility itself requires.
An older 2018 Rivier form names May 1 and September 1 and allows 12 weeks or more for processing, so confirm the current dates with the Clinical Practicum Coordinator. The full timeline is on Rivier's placement deadlines.
Hours, grades and staying in the track
Each practicum's 250 hours must be finished inside that semester. Surplus hours can't be banked, the first hour can't come before the semester's opening day on Rivier's calendar, and no final course grade is issued while any required clinical hour is still outstanding.
The grade bar is high. A final practicum grade below 84% (B) means dismissal from the graduate track, and course grades below B lead to probation and, a second time, dismissal. On a day you can't make it to clinical, let your preceptor know right away and your faculty soon after, as the Handbook directs.
That is why a psychiatric preceptor's availability matters as much as their credentials. Someone who can host only a few hours a week may leave you short in the final weeks with no way to carry hours forward, so ask how the 250 hours will fit into the semester before the Preceptor Request Form goes in.
PMHNP students outside New Hampshire
Out-of-state PMHNP students can train close to home. Every 2026 graduate program sheet says practicums may be completed in your own area, and your RN license must be valid wherever the clinic operates. Some states may still restrict out-of-state clinical learners through their board of nursing or Department of Labor rules.
Rivier's State Guide groups the PMHNP MSN and certificate together. It marks eight states red for PMHNP applicants and three yellow, where you call the Program Director before applying; the state-by-state view is on Rivier's State Guide. Relocating once accepted calls for a written heads-up to the Dean 90 or more days out, as moving during your program explains, and a new state usually means restarting the preceptor search.
Why PMHNP students choose us
We are built for Rivier's PMHNP track. We search for psychiatrists and PMH-certified nurses with at least two years in practice who will precept you face to face near home, in a state where Rivier accepts PMHNP students, and we match each one to the course: crisis and individual work for NURS 521, group and family therapy for NURS 523, complex cases for NURS 525.
We plan the telehealth ceiling for you, holding remote hours at or under 300 of the 750, and we look for age-group variety across the three semesters. Your PMHNP packet comes together early: the preceptor's CV, credentials and license for the request form, the clinic information Rivier's agreement needs, all timed to the four-month lead and the fall and spring cutoffs.
If a psychiatrist's schedule changes or a clinic pulls out, we stay on call and line up a replacement. Approval belongs to Rivier's graduate faculty and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator, and the PMHNP file they receive from us is complete and matches Rivier's rules from the start. Begin with the form below.
Questions Rivier students ask
Can a psychiatric nurse practitioner precept me in Rivier's PMHNP program?
Yes, when that nurse practitioner holds psychiatric mental health certification and has at least two years in practice. The Handbook's PMHNP section accepts a psychiatrist or a PMH-certified nurse practitioner. Graduate faculty still review each preceptor and site, so send the license, certification details and CV with the Preceptor Request Form.
Does Rivier's PMHNP accept child and adolescent psychiatry placements?
Yes. The Handbook accepts any age group, in inpatient or outpatient settings, provided the preceptor is a psychiatrist or PMH-certified nurse with two years in practice. Because it strongly suggests lifespan experience, pairing a child and adolescent semester with adult or older-adult work in another semester builds the broadest record.
How long does Rivier's online PMHNP take?
Rivier's PMHNP page ties length to your entry path rather than quoting one figure: the traditional path is 43 credits and the RN-MS and Bridge paths are 49. The university catalog caps master's study at six years from matriculation. Ask your advisor or Success Coach to map your Program of Studies early so the practicum semesters are fixed.
Which certification do Rivier PMHNP graduates sit for?
The program page names the PMHNP-BC national certification exam. New Hampshire's licensing office, the OPLC, lists that certification among the items for an APRN application, together with a finished accredited program and a current New Hampshire or multistate RN license. ACEN accredits Rivier's MSN, with continuing accreditation as its most recent decision.
Is NURS 512 a PMHNP practicum at Rivier?
No. NURS 512 is FNP Theory II on Rivier's program sheet. Page 74 of the Handbook lists the PMHNP practicums as NURS 512, 523 and 525, a misprint; page 76, the 2026 sheet and the catalog all use NURS 521, NURS 523 and NURS 525. Use those numbers on your forms and in messages to faculty.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.