Keith Carter, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Relief Mental Health in Orland Park, Ill., with expertise in helping individuals who suffer from depression, anxiety, behavioral issues as well as other mental health challenges.

Keith realizes that everyone experiences some form of mental distress throughout their lives, and one must not underestimate the importance of having someone to go to for support. While it may seem uncomfortable talking about stressors, this is often the first step towards healing. Keith specializes in collaborating with his patients to overcome their difficulties through a strength-based culturally-sensitive approach.

As a doctorly prepared psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, Keith is well equipped to provide client-centered services for those struggling with mental health related symptoms. Keith has extensive experience providing care to clients across the lifespan in various settings including therapeutic day schools, adult and child inpatient behavioral health units, nursing homes, and community health environments.

Keith graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2017, becoming the first Black male recipient of the Caroline F. Rupert Nursing Award, which honors outstanding work during the four years of undergraduate study in nursing and is awarded to one student as determined by university faculty.

Keith later earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree with a focus on psychiatric mental health at Rush University College of Nursing in Chicago, where he received the Commitment to Excellence Award. Keith also is an alumni of SAMHSA’s Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), whose aim is to improve behavioral health care outcomes for racial and ethnic populations. The program better prepared Keith to more effectively treat and serve people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. During his time with the MFP, he served as a guest on the “Mental Health Trailblazers Podcast” to discuss strategies to increase the percentage of men in nursing, what’s driving more young people from ethnic minority backgrounds into conditions of having mental health or behavioral health problems, and how to instill the importance of mental health and psychiatric services into at-risk communities.

Keith’s passion for addressing mental illness, specifically within the Black community is profound. He works actively to further understand the Black experience with mental illness and to help guide future clinical implications to increase culturally-sensitive care. This has led to his long-term goal to eradicate health disparities and stigma associated with mental illness in the Black community.

Keith’s professional affiliations include the American Nurses Association (ANA) and American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA). He joined Relief Mental Health in January 2023 and resides in the south suburbs of Chicago. In his spare time, he enjoys playing sports (football, basketball, softball, tennis), cooking, and video games.

Keith’s desire is to help patients set and achieve their wellbeing goals. By blending different treatment options, he offers an empathic, creative approach, whether that is through Relief’s psychiatry services, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) evaluations, or psychedelic therapy.