If you’ve ever tried to find Phoenix psych preceptors, you know it’s not always smooth sailing. As someone who personally handles placement calls, emails, and sometimes even walk-ins for Preceptor Tree, I’ve seen every side of the process—especially in Arizona.
Phoenix is an interesting city for psychiatric nurse practitioner students. There are incredible behavioral health clinics and experienced PMHNPs, but there’s also a lot of turnover, burned-out sites, and, occasionally, partnerships that just don’t work out. Let me tell you a story that taught me a big lesson—and led to better placements for our students.
The Mesa Telehealth Site That Took “Everyone”
About a year ago, I thought we’d struck gold. I found a telehealth psych clinic based in Mesa, a suburb just east of Phoenix. They were friendly, super responsive, and said, “Sure, we’ll take students!” The magic words.
Within weeks, I had placed multiple PMHNP students with them. They said yes to everyone—no matter what the student needed, what hours they could work, or how long they’d been in the program. At first, I was thrilled. I called it our “Mesa Telehealth Pipeline.”
But then, things started unraveling.
Students began emailing us about missed appointments, supervisors who were hard to reach, and Zoom sessions where the preceptor didn’t show up at all. It turned out this site was trying to do too much. They were taking students from every school under the sun—ours, plus three or four other matching services. It became clear they were overwhelmed.
That’s when I had to make the hard call: we banned the site.
I personally reached out to every student we’d placed there, moved them to better locations, and made a promise to our internal team: no more sites that treat students like a number. We want Phoenix psych preceptors who treat students like future colleagues.
What We’ve Found in Mesa Since
Here’s the good news. That experience taught me to dig deeper. Since then, I’ve added three fantastic psych sites in Mesa to our network. These are clinics run by PMHNPs who understand how crucial the clinical experience is—especially in psychiatry, where bedside manner, trust, and telehealth etiquette really matter.
I now ask more questions on my intake calls:
- How many students are you supervising right now?
- What kind of psych population do you focus on (adults, peds, dual diagnosis)?
- Are students involved in med management, therapy, or both?
And we keep it small. Most of our Mesa psych preceptors only take one or two students per semester. That’s intentional. It means better communication, stronger supervision, and a better overall experience for our NP students.
Why Phoenix Is Still a Great Market
Despite the hiccups, I actually love placing students with Phoenix psych preceptors. The mental health needs in Arizona are high, and there’s a strong presence of both in-person and telehealth clinics. From Scottsdale to Chandler to Glendale, we’ve built a network of trusted sites who are open to working with new graduates.
If you’re a student looking for Phoenix psych preceptors, here’s my advice:
- Be flexible with location. Mesa, Tempe, and even Gilbert have excellent providers—don’t limit yourself to central Phoenix.
- Ask good questions. During the interview with your preceptor, ask what kinds of cases you’ll see.
- Let us guide you. We’ve already vetted the sites for you and can steer you away from the ones that aren’t a fit.
At Preceptor Tree and Clerkship America, we don’t just want to place you—we want you to thrive. And when it comes to Phoenix psych preceptors, we’ve learned the hard way which sites are worth it. The good news? There are more great ones than bad.
