How Shannon Tieman built a psychiatric practice around the patients who lift her up.
After nearly two decades of watching patients of every age struggle to find mental health care, Shannon opened her own practice in Severna Park. “I wanted to help my community,” she says. Patients found her fast: by her second month, she was seeing 100 patient visits a month on a four-day week.
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Shannon Tieman has wanted to be a nurse since she was two.
She started at the bedside as a hospital nurse, then became a nurse practitioner in a busy university internal medicine practice. From there she moved into psychiatry: crisis coverage for patients of every age, then years caring for people living with addiction and psychiatric illness.
That path gave her an uncommon combination. She is dual board-certified in psychiatry and adult-gerontology primary care, and her years in internal medicine mean she weighs physical health alongside mental health in every psychiatric treatment plan. She also designed her own evidence-based program to help patients taper safely off long-term benzodiazepines.
“Opening up my own practice has allowed me to provide a higher quality of care for my patients,” she says. “I have more time with them, I am able to listen to them about their care and control how patient care is delivered.”
- Top Nurses 2026Baltimore Magazine · Excellence in Nursing, Psychiatry
- Best Clinical Impact AwardJohns Hopkins School of Nursing
- Conway ScholarJohns Hopkins School of Nursing
- Doctor of Nursing PracticeJohns Hopkins University
The patients are the reason why I’m here. They’re the reason why I’ve done all I’ve done. On my worst days, they bring me up.
Shannon TiemanDNP, PMHNP-BC, AGNP, CRNP · Founder, Adult and Child Psychiatric Care of Severna ParkA gap in mental health care, at every age.
In hospitals, primary care, crisis coverage, and addiction psychiatry, Shannon kept seeing the same thing: people of every age in her community who needed mental health care and struggled to find it.
Hard to find when it matters
Individuals and families searching for compassionate, high-quality care right when they need it most.
Split up by age
Children, parents, and grandparents sent to different places, even when a family is going through it together.
Disconnected systems
Mental health and substance use treated in separate places that rarely talk to each other.
Mind and body kept apart
Psychiatric care that overlooks physical health, medical history, and the medications patients are already taking.
Rushed, one-size-fits-all plans
A quick symptom checklist where a real conversation about goals should be.
She opened a practice to close that gap in her own community.
Psychiatric care that sees the whole person.
A psychiatric practice based in Severna Park, Maryland, seeing children, adolescents, adults, and older adults by telehealth from anywhere in the state, with an in-person Severna Park office from December 2026. Evaluation, medication management, and therapy, with commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare plans accepted.
Psychiatry with a primary care lens
Years in internal medicine mean physical health, medical history, and other medications all shape her psychiatric treatment plans.
Care across the lifespan
Children, teens, adults, and seniors, all in one relationship-based practice. That matters for families with different needs at the same time.
Co-occurring care in one place
Mental health and substance use, including alcohol, opioids, stimulants, and cannabis, treated together rather than across disconnected systems.
Her own benzodiazepine taper program
An evidence-based program Shannon designed to help patients come off long-term benzodiazepines slowly and tolerably, while keeping their mental health stable.
From a June start to 100 visits a month by October.
Opening a practice takes setup time, and Shannon’s was the summer. She opened her doors in September, and patients of every age found her quickly.
- June 2026Started with KinsteadCredentialing, payer enrollment, and practice setup begin.
- Summer 2026Getting in networkCommercial, Medicaid, and Medicare enrollment, plus her website and online booking.
- September 2026Opened her doorsFirst patients arrive through local clinician referrals and Psychology Today.
- Month one60 visitsFrom zero to a full first month.
- October 2026100 visitsA busy, sustainable practice on a four-day week.
In network with Medicare, Medicaid, and the major commercial plans.
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
Aetna
UnitedHealthcare
Medicare
Maryland MedicaidShannon brought two decades of expertise. Kinstead handled the operational path.
Shannon owns Adult and Child Psychiatric Care of Severna Park. Kinstead handles the back office, so her time goes to her patients.
Credentialing & enrollment
Commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare enrollment across Maryland, handled and followed through.
Billing & back office
Claims and revenue cycle handled behind the scenes.
Launch planning
A clear path from signed agreement to first patient.
Website & setup
Practice presence and the tools to run it, ready to go.
Scheduling support
Online booking patients can use from anywhere in Maryland.
Marketing & growth support
Support growing the panel, from referrals within the Kinstead network to online directories.
Technology
The infrastructure to run a practice, maintained for her.
Weekly support
Ongoing problem-solving, week after week.
With Kinstead, you are not alone. You have a team of problem solvers that supports you every step of the way.
Shannon TiemanDNP, PMHNP-BC, AGNP, CRNP · Founder, Adult and Child Psychiatric Care of Severna ParkWhat care feels like with Shannon.
Patients describe what Shannon set out to give them: time to ask questions, a plan they understand, and follow-up that feels like support.
For the first time, I felt like my concerns were being considered as part of the whole picture. I was able to ask questions without feeling rushed, and I left with a plan I could understand.
Our family had been trying to make sense of several different concerns. The process felt calm, respectful, and organized, and we finally understood what the next steps could look like.
I appreciated that the conversation was honest and collaborative. My treatment plan was explained clearly, and follow-up felt like continued support rather than starting over each time.
What this means if you’re thinking about it.
“It is very achievable.”
Her advice to any NP considering the leap: “There are patients out there that need you and want your services.” Shannon opened in September and saw 100 visits in her second month.
The gap you keep seeing is your practice.
Years of watching people of every age struggle to find mental health care became the reason, and the shape, of the practice she built.
Your first referral network is nearby.
Many of Shannon’s first patients came through referrals from local clinicians, and more found her on Psychology Today. Let the clinicians around you know when you open.
Everything you’ve done so far counts.
Hospital nursing, internal medicine, crisis coverage, addiction psychiatry: each role became part of the practice Shannon built. Your career so far is the foundation of yours.
You can love this work without burning out.
A four-day week, more time with each patient, and care delivered her way. In her words: “I absolutely love what I do, and it doesn’t burn me out.”
You don’t have to do it alone.
Credentialing, billing, scheduling, and the rest of the back office sit with a team of problem solvers behind her, so her energy goes where it matters: her patients.
“What drives me is the patients. When I think about them and their struggles, that’s the thing that makes me work harder, that makes me want to help more.”
Ready to build the practice your community has been missing?
Kinstead helps nurse practitioners launch and grow insurance-based private practices.
Founder story shared with Shannon Tieman, DNP, PMHNP-BC, AGNP, CRNP. Adult and Child Psychiatric Care of Severna Park is independently owned and operated by Shannon Tieman. Kinstead provides operational support; it does not own or control the practice.