Charlotte Szabo, DNP, PMHFNP-BC, APRN
charlotte@affinitypsych.com
Hello! I’m Charlotte, a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. When medication is a part of your overall plan to manage and improve your mental health, I’m your person.
Throughout my life I have lived in different countries, and these unique people-experiences have allowed me to incorporate a more comprehensive, accepting, empathetic, and holistic approach to my practice. I speak 4 languages (Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, and English) fluently and enjoy so much connecting on a linguistic level – other than English – when possible.
I enjoy working with a wide variety of patients, from those who have trouble dealing with stress to the most serious and challenging combinations of psychiatric disorders. My extensive work experience ranges from the hospital setting to the Psychiatry Lead at the University of Minnesota’s Community Health Care Center (CUHCC), to varying outpatient clinical practices with a wide scope of patients from different age, ethnic, sexual, and socio-economic backgrounds. As a registered health care practitioner in the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Registry, I also register patients who might benefit from medical marijuana after having had unsuccessful trials with traditional psychotropic medications.
How I Work
“The glue that holds all relationships together….is trust, and trust is based on integrity.” This maxim by Brian Tracy is at my core, and because of that I work best with patients who genuinely want to get better. I invest a lot of effort, thought, and knowledge into each one of my patients and get the best results when there is an investment from you as well. A comment that I get often from my patients is that they feel that I sincerely care about them. And they’re right – because I treat each person, who comes to me looking for help in feeling better about their lives, as if they were one of my family members. (Just fyi, I’m from a Hungarian family and I’m the oldest of 9 – so being treated like family is kind of BIG!). A comment I get from my colleagues is that I will bend over backwards for my patients and go out of my way for them. Yes! I do! Because if you’re willing to make the courageous step to reach out for mental health help, then I will be there on the other end reaching for you to help break the cycle of mental illness.
What Sets Me Apart As a Psychiatric Provider?
How many times have you felt a divide between them (the medical professionals) and you (the patient)? I don’t have a problem with the cold temps in Minnesota, but the frigid gap I do have a problem with. When we work together you will find yourself in an environment in which things are warm, authentic, and open. If you’re looking for a formal, superficial “white coat doctor” approach to manage your medications – that’s not me. I believe that knowledge, expertise, and excellence in how one treats their patients is not based in a sense of superiority. I will answer the most “I feel embarrassed to ask this” questions to the most intricate questions related to your medication plan. I don’t stop at figuring out the best medication regimen for you – I dig DEEP to figure out what solution(s) might be best for you. My passion lies in system level changes to better my patients’ lives, therefore I will always offer you my $0.02. And, I will always add, it is up to you which way you choose to proceed. Because ultimately it is your life, your body, your decision.
