Meet Mandy Bracy, Pine Tree Recovery Center’s Director of Nursing! Mandy has been with Pine Tree Recovery Center since they opened their doors. As the DON she helps train the nursing staff, organizes staff meetings, and helps out on the floor in any way she can. Having come from a personal background of behavioral and mental health, Mandy is thrilled to provide PTRC clients with the individualized and effective care they deserve.

“I worked as a dietician for 12 years, and then I went back to nursing school,” Mandy says. “I worked at a behavioral psychiatric emergency department before transitioning to work at Pine Tree. That’s where my love for behavioral health and psychiatric health really started to develop. I couldn’t work nights anymore, and Pine Tree had a day shift available. I thought to myself, ‘You know, I really love the clientele that come into the psych emergency department with substance use issues, and those who were in need of detox services.’ I started as a floor nurse at Pine Tree.”

“In an emergency department it is extremely difficult to provide the care that people who are in need of detox services require,” she explains. “It was really heart-breaking, people would come in and we wouldn’t have any beds available, so they would have to undergo detox in the emergency room for three days. We would discharge them, and then we would see them again three months later. It was really important to me to be in a place where I could provide the care that people needed. Sometimes in the emergency department we would see upwards of 20 people a day who were in search of detox, and we just didn’t have the availability.”

Mandy explains that she wears a lot of different hats as the Director of Nursing. “But, the biggest hat I wear is being a nurse and being supportive on the floor,” she says. “That’s my biggest passion; helping the nurses as much as I can. Sometimes I’ll do admissions, count medication; I just do what I can to fill in wherever I’m needed. As Director of Nursing I’m also in charge of the schedule for the nurses and organizing all of the team meetings for the nurses. I provide any new training and help get new hires onboard.”

She notes that the nurses at Pine Tree Recovery Center are at the forefront of client care. “We see the clients first when they come in through the door,” she says. “We triage the clients to make sure that we can provide the most appropriate level of care. We give clients a tour and start medicating them based on our protocols.” When asked how she has seen the program evolve over the past four years, Mandy says, “We now offer a range of services. We have continued to expand, so we are able to offer medical detox, residential treatment, outpatient care, and we pay close attention to aftercare planning, too. We can help more now than we used to be able to, because our programs have continued to expand and evolve. Pine Tree Recovery Center also offers MAT for those who need it, but only when it’s deemed medically appropriate and necessary.”

Mandy is also part owner of an F45, a local fitness center, right around the corner from Pine Tree Recovery Center. “I work out, fold towels; you can usually find me at the fitness center when I’m not at work,” she says. “I’m hoping Mark Wahlberg comes to visit at some point.”

Mark, if you’re reading this — come pay Pine Tree Recovery Center a visit!

Contact us today to learn more about our team of experienced and compassionate professionals, or to begin your personal recovery journey.