Samantha Schafer

Samantha is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Rosecrance Therapies. Prior to becoming a PMHNP, she worked for five years as an inpatient behavioral health psychiatric nurse where she gained experience working with individuals experiencing mental health and substance use challenges. Drawing from both her personal experience with sobriety and her work in the mental health field, she has seen firsthand the significant gaps in education surrounding substance use both within schools and the medical system. She joined the GPF Foundation because she believes people in healthcare need a better understanding of substance use and how to talk about it with patients. Samantha hopes to help integrate substance use education into non-psychiatric medical settings and improve how healthcare professionals understand and respond to substance use. In her free time, she enjoys boxing, visiting national parks, reading, and going to the movies.