I'm Jessica Newby, a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner, author, and someone who knows what it's like to rebuild a life. Here, you're met with real understanding, not a clipboard and a stopwatch.
Wherever you are is okay.
Maybe you're the one holding everyone else together and quietly running on empty. Maybe you're juggling all the things and still feel alone in it. However you got here, you arrived exactly when you were supposed to, and you don't have to figure the next part out by yourself.
Take a breath. You're in a good place now.
I didn't arrive at this work from the outside looking in. I found it from the inside, climbing out.
Sixteen years ago, I started rebuilding a life. I know the exhaustion of starting over, the fear of being judged, and the quiet, stubborn hope that things really can get better. That's not a chapter I read about. It's one I lived.
I spent more than fifteen years in nursing before mental health became my calling. Now I bring both halves of that story into the room with you: the clinical training to treat what's actually going on, and the lived understanding of what it takes to heal. People tell me there's no one else quite like me, recovery and provider in one. I look at the whole picture, no blinders.
So when you sit down with me, you won't be a diagnosis on a chart. You'll be a person talking to someone who has been there, and who believes, without a doubt, that you can bloom too.
"Plant the seed. Do the thing. And let the damn thing grow." Healing isn't a harvest you rush. It's the quiet work in the middle, and it's worth trusting.
Thoughtful psychiatric treatment that pairs the right medical approach with someone who actually listens. We're here to help you find the best path to your mental wellness.
Personalized treatment plans built for your unique brain and life, adjusted carefully over time, never one-size-fits-all.
Schedule a visit →An FDA-approved option for treatment-resistant depression, offered in-office with close monitoring and genuine support.
Learn about Spravato →Medication-assisted treatment and steady, judgment-free support for substance use, from someone who understands recovery firsthand.
Schedule a visit →I collaborate with the therapists at Acorn Counseling & Mediation so your medication and your therapy actually work together.
Meet Acorn Behavioral Health →See me at the office in Central Illinois or from your own couch. Care should fit your life, not the other way around.
Schedule a visit →We check your benefits, including Molina, and walk you through your options in plain language before you ever sit down.
Schedule a visit →The throughline of everything I do: compassionate, non-judgmental care that takes you seriously and helps you take the lead in your own healing. That's the whole point.
Schedule a visit →Not sure if what you're feeling "counts"? It does. Reach out and we'll figure it out together.
If you've tried medication after medication and still feel stuck, you are not out of options, and you are not a lost cause.
Spravato® (esketamine) is an FDA-approved nasal-spray treatment for treatment-resistant depression. It works differently than traditional antidepressants, and for many people it offers relief when other approaches haven't. I'll walk you through whether it's a fit, what to expect, and what the research really says, honestly.
Jessica gets out into the community: book signings, coffee, and real conversation. Here's a look back at a recent gathering.
Coffee & Coping brought together so much of what matters to me: good coffee, real conversation, and the chance to sign your copies in person. Thank you to everyone who came out for Carlinville Gives Day, to Acorn Behavioral Health for hosting, and to the community that showed up and made it a day I'll remember.
Watch the full reel on Facebook
My "Let's Talk About It" series puts plain, kind words to the things we all carry, so you can pick one up at 2am and feel a little less alone. Every guide has a companion workbook, so you can put it into practice at your own pace.
One thread runs through every page: wherever you are is okay, you're not broken, and you're not doing this alone.
★★★★★ Readers' favorite
A Memoir of Addiction, Healing, Rebuilding & Second Chances
This is the story beneath everything else: sixteen years of starting over, told without polish or pretense. If you're rebuilding a life of your own, you won't be reading it alone.
In Finding My Way Home, Jessica shares her deeply personal journey through addiction, recovery, heartbreak, motherhood, rebuilding relationships, and learning how to create a life she once believed she had permanently ruined her chance at having.
With honesty, vulnerability, and hard-earned wisdom, she takes readers through the highs and lows of recovery, the challenges of rebuilding trust, the search for identity beyond survival, and the unexpected beauty found in second chances. Along the way, she discovers that healing is not about becoming perfect. It's about becoming honest, learning to forgive yourself, and finding the courage to keep moving forward.
For anyone who has ever felt lost, ashamed, broken, or convinced they were too far gone to start over, Finding My Way Home is a reminder that your hardest seasons do not have to become your final identity.
Sometimes home is not a place you find. Sometimes it is a life you build, one choice, one relationship, and one second chance at a time.
Understanding your brain with compassion instead of shame.
In It's Not Laziness: Your Brain Isn't Broken, psychiatric nurse practitioner Jessica Newby breaks down ADHD in a way that is compassionate, relatable, and easy to understand. This book explores what ADHD actually feels like behind the scenes: from task paralysis and overwhelm to emotional exhaustion, shame, burnout, relationships, parenting, and the invisible mental load so many people silently carry every day.
Through simple explanations and real-life experiences, this book helps readers understand that ADHD is not a character flaw or lack of effort. It's a difference in how the brain regulates attention, motivation, emotion, and energy.
This is not a book about "trying harder." It's a book about finally understanding yourself with compassion instead of criticism.
Because your brain was never broken. And you were never lazy to begin with.
Understanding anxiety, overthinking, and why your mind won't slow down.
In You're Not Crazy — Your Brain Is Trying to Protect You, psychiatric nurse practitioner Jessica Newby offers a compassionate, easy-to-understand look at anxiety and the ways it shows up in everyday life. Instead of viewing anxiety as a personal weakness, you'll learn why your brain responds the way it does, what anxiety is actually trying to accomplish, and how to begin responding with understanding rather than fear.
Inside, you'll explore:
Written in a warm, conversational style, this book combines professional expertise with real-world understanding to help you make sense of what you're experiencing.
Because you're not broken. You're not failing. And you're definitely not crazy. Your brain is trying to protect you. The good news is that you can learn a different way forward.
Why everything feels so heavy, and how to build a life that works for you.
Adulting Is Harder Than It Looks is a relatable, shame-free guide for people carrying invisible pressure, emotional overload, mental fatigue, comparison, burnout, guilt, and the weight of trying to hold everything together.
Inside this book, you'll explore:
This is not about becoming a perfect adult. It's about understanding why life may feel harder than expected, and learning how to build a life that feels honest, supportive, and sustainable.
If you're navigating overwhelm, mental load, burnout, life transitions, emotional exhaustion, or simply trying to function better without shame… You are not failing. You may just be carrying too much.
Understanding loss, change, and learning to carry what you can't fix.
In Let's Talk About It: Grief Doesn't Only Happen When Someone Dies, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner Jessica Newby explores the many forms grief can take, both the losses society recognizes and the ones that often go unseen.
Inside, you'll discover:
Written with warmth, compassion, and real-world insight, this book offers validation for anyone carrying a loss that others may not fully understand.
Because grief is not a sign that you're broken. It's a sign that something mattered. And healing isn't about forgetting what happened. It's about learning how to carry it with compassion.
If you've ever felt guilty for grieving something others couldn't see, this book is for you.
A guide to rebuilding yourself when everything feels off.
Let's Talk About It: You're Not Lost — You're Becoming is a mental health guide for anyone struggling with overwhelm, brain fog, anxiety, or feeling disconnected from who they used to be.
This book speaks to the "in-between" phase of life, the space where you are no longer who you were, but not yet who you're becoming.
Inside, you'll find short, powerful reflections to help you:
This is not a clinical textbook. It's not overwhelming advice. It's real, honest, and designed to meet you exactly where you are.
If you've been feeling lost, overwhelmed, or unsure of yourself, this book is for you.
Stop waiting for the perfect time and start living the life you're meant to build.
In If Not Now, Then When?, author and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner Jessica Newby explores the hidden cost of waiting and the stories fear tells us that keep us stuck.
Through personal stories, practical insights, and lessons learned from recovery, entrepreneurship, family life, and Sweet T Farm, Jessica challenges readers to stop postponing the life they want and start taking the next step, even when they don't feel ready.
This is not a book about productivity hacks or having everything figured out. It's a book about:
With warmth, honesty, and relatable storytelling, If Not Now, Then When? reminds readers that growth rarely happens overnight. Like an orchard, a business, a relationship, or a meaningful life, the best things are built one decision, one conversation, and one act of courage at a time.
Because the life you want isn't built someday. It's built one ordinary day at a time.
And the question remains: If not now, then when?
Finding freedom through forgiveness, perspective, and grace.
In More Than Our Worst Chapter, Jessica Newby explores forgiveness, perspective, boundaries, trauma, healing, and grace through honest reflection and personal experience. Drawing from her own life, recovery journey, family relationships, and years of working in mental health, she examines what happens when we stop defining people by a single chapter and begin seeing the rest of the story.
This is not a book about excusing harmful behavior. It is not a book about forgetting. And it is not a book about pretending pain doesn't matter.
It is a book about freedom. The freedom that comes from releasing resentment, adjusting expectations, letting go of shame, and recognizing that no person should be reduced to a single moment, mistake, or season of life.
If you've struggled with forgiveness, complicated family relationships, self-forgiveness, healing from past wounds, or learning how to move forward without carrying the weight of old hurts, this book offers a compassionate and honest perspective on what it means to heal.
Because the chapter matters. But it isn't the whole story.
Real stories. Hard lessons. Hope that lasts.
In What Nobody Told Me About Recovery, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and person in long-term recovery Jessica Newby shares an honest, compassionate look at the challenges that exist beyond addiction itself.
Through personal stories and hard-earned lessons, Jessica explores:
This is not a book about perfection. It's a book about second chances, rebuilding, and learning that recovery isn't the finish line. It is often the beginning.
The story isn't over yet.
Understanding trauma, healing, and the stories that shape us.
Many people spend years minimizing their pain. "It wasn't that bad." "Other people had it worse." "I should be over this by now." But healing doesn't begin when we decide our experiences were severe enough to matter. It begins when we become honest about the impact they've had on our lives.
In What Happened to You Matters, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner Jessica Newby combines clinical experience, personal insight, and compassionate storytelling to help readers understand how trauma quietly influences the way they think, feel, love, trust, and move through the world.
Inside you'll discover:
Written in a warm, conversational style, this book doesn't ask you to relive your past or stay stuck in it. Instead, it offers understanding, hope, and practical insight for anyone who has ever questioned whether their experiences mattered.
Whether your story includes childhood trauma, difficult relationships, grief, addiction, emotional neglect, or simply years of believing you had to carry everything alone, you'll find encouragement, validation, and a path forward.
Because what happened to you matters. But it doesn't have to write the rest of your story.
I share what I've learned, as a clinician and as someone in recovery, wherever it can reach the people who need it. Sometimes a few honest words on a hard night are exactly what helps someone hold on. Come find me, follow along, and reach out through any of these.
Real conversations about mental health on YouTube.
Watch on YouTube →Bite-sized honesty about mental health and recovery.
Follow along →Learn and grow alongside others in my Skool community.
Join the community →The full "Let's Talk About It" shelf on Amazon.
Visit author page →Digital guides, resources, and links. My storefront on Stan.
Browse the shop →
Taking the first step is the hardest part, and you've nearly done it. When you're ready, scheduling a visit takes just a couple of taps. No phone tag, no pressure.