Brooke Finley, PhD, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC, CARN-AP, APHN-BC
- Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing
Education
- Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) with a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Emphasis, 2022. The University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nursing with a focus on Informatics and Systems; Minor in Cognitive Science, 2022. The University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ
- Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Emphasis, 2018. The University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN); Minor in Psychology, 2015. The University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ
Bio
Brooke A. Finley, PhD, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC, CARN-AP, APHN-BC, is a clinician-educator-scholar-researcher, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, triple board-certified nurse practitioner, and associate professor of clinical nursing at the University of Rochester School of Nursing where she teaches psychiatric mental health nursing in the graduate and undergraduate programs. Finley focuses on helping all nursing students to grow in fostering therapeutic-alliance vis-a-vis the nurse-patient relationship and for those who are specializing in advanced practice mental health nursing, enhancing their psychotherapy practice, diagnostic and assessment formulation, and reflective practice.
Her scholarship explores how unconscious processes influence relationships between healthcare workers and patients, perpetuate workplace trauma, and organize group and institutional defenses within healthcare settings. Grounded in more than a decade of frontline nursing and advanced clinical practice, her work seeks transformative change that moves beyond surface reforms to address the deeper psychological and moral dimensions of care. Finley is often invited as a speaker at regional and national mental health conferences.
Finley holds numerous leadership roles within the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) where she founded and chairs the Advanced Practice in Nursing Committee and is also Membership Committee Co-Chair. Also, she founded and maintains the Western New York Psychoanalytic Library. Finley is on the Editorial Board for The Journal of Psychiatric Nursing Mental Health Nursing (JPMHN). She is currently in the process of co-authoring an academic textbook about psychoanalysis and nursing.
In addition to her university role, Finley maintains a vibrant clinical practice and has a part-time boutique private practice in Canandaigua, New York. She provides psychoanalytic psychotherapy to individuals, couples, families, and groups, with particular expertise in complex trauma, addiction, relational struggles, personality organization, anxiety, and mood disorders, as well as thoughtful psychotropic deprescribing when appropriate.
Collectively, she is committed to professional growth and educating the next generation of nurse clinicians to provide holistic care, including psychotherapy, improving the relational health of healthcare workplaces, enhancing nursing workforce resilience, and advancing scholarship rooted in lived clinical reality.
Awards
- Advanced Practice in Nursing Tuition Award
- The American Psychoanalytic Association, 2023
- Annual Award: Top Altmetrics Score
- European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 2021
- Beverly McCord Doctoral Scholarship, Mary F. Jefferies Award for Advanced Education, Arthur J. Zuber Scholarship, Nursing Graduate Grant, Anne Kirkwood Scholarship, Anne L. Furrow Scholarship
- The University of Arizona College of Nursing, 2020
- University Fellow Award
- University of Arizona Graduate College, 2015
- College of Nursing Recruitment Award
- The University of Arizona College of Nursing, 2015
Presentations
- Hot crisis, cool head: How to maintain a thinking mind when groups are under stress and regress
- American Psychiatric Nurses Association- New York Chapter biannual conference., 2026
- The patient who won’t get better: How patients and providers get in the way of wellness through sadomasochism, secondary gains, and treatment resistance.
- New York State Nurse Practitioner Association Region 2 Annual Conference, 2026
- Becoming a nurse psychoanalyst- Q&A panel.
- Quarterly Presentation by the Advanced Practice in Nursing Committee at the American Psychoanalytic Association, 2026
- From pill-slinging to soul healing- One nurse’s journey.
- Peplau's Ghost, 2025
- Unconscious reasons that prevent nurses from thriving- A deep look at the hidden maternal.
- New York State Nurse Practitioner Association Region 2 Annual Conference, 2025
- How angels fall: Collective maternal ego ideals harming the nursing profession.
- Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture, The University at Buffalo, 2025
- Psychoanalytic training barriers and facilitators for psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners: A national survey
- American Psychoanalytic Association's 2024 National Meeting, 2024
- Workplace trauma: Understanding the psychiatric nurse experience through network modeling.
- New York State Nurse Practitioner Association Annual Conference., 2023
Publications
- Fiskeaux, M., Finley, B.A., Goldstein, D., Sender, J. Rogers, M., Palitsky. (2025). What we talk about when we talk about psychiatric mental health nurses’ work-related distress: An umbrella review and concept mapping network analysis.. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 105211. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2025.105211
- Brooke A. Finley, Kimberly D. Shea, Shawn P. Gallagher, Ruth Taylor-Piliae (2024). Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners experiencing therapeutic alliance while using tele-mental health: A phenomenological study. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2024.01.016
- Brooke A. Finley, Kimberly D. Shea, Shawn P. Gallagher, Roman Palitsky, Jean Gauvin (2023). A Theoretical Framework for Conducting Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Virtual Care & Research. Issues in Mental Health Nursing. PMID: 37774364 DOI: 10.1080/01612840.2023.2258213
- Brooke A. Finley, (2022). Have We Neglected a Foundational Best-Practice? Facing the Deficiency of Psychotherapy Education and Training for Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners. Issues in Mental Health Nursing. PMID: 35793225 DOI: 10.1080/01612840.2022.2083738
- Brooke A. Finley, Roman Palitsky, Elaine Charteris, Christy Pacheco, Divya Kapoor (2021). Outpatient telecardiology perceptions among rural, suburban, and urban veterans utilizing in‐person cardiology versus telecardiology services: A mixed methods analysis. The Journal of Rural Health. DOI: 10.1111/jrh.12586
- Brooke A. Finley, Kimberly D. Shea, Roberta Maixner, Maribeth Slebodnik (2021). Advanced Practice Registered Nurses Using Synchronous Telepsychiatry: An Integrative Systematic Review. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. PMID: 32648509 DOI: 10.1177/1078390320939159
- (2020). Benefits of Tai Chi Exercise Among Adults With Chronic Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.. The Journal of cardiovascular nursing. PMID: 32544110 DOI: 10.1097/jcn.0000000000000703
- (2020). Tai Chi exercise for psychological well-being among adults with cardiovascular disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.. European journal of cardiovascular nursing : journal of the Working Group on Cardiovascular Nursing of the European Society of Cardiology. PMID: 32515204 DOI: 10.1177/1474515120926068
- Brooke A. Finley (2020). Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners Meeting Rural Mental Health Challenges. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. PMID: 31729273 DOI: 10.1177/1078390319886357
- (2019). Telehealth: Disrupting Time for Health Care Quantity and Quality.. Nursing administration quarterly. PMID: 31162344 DOI: 10.1097/naq.0000000000000357
- (2017). Compassion Fatigue: Exploring Early-Career Oncology Nurses' Experiences
.. Clinical journal of oncology nursing. PMID: 28524893 DOI: 10.1188/17.cjon.e61-e66
- (2017). Depression in Family Caregivers of Mexican Descent: Exacerbated by Stress and Mitigated by Mutuality.. Research in gerontological nursing. PMID: 28541586 DOI: 10.3928/19404921-20170412-01
- (2016). Validity and Reliability of a New Measure of Nursing Experience With Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records.. Computers, informatics, nursing : CIN. PMID: 27551947 DOI: 10.1097/cin.0000000000000285
- (2016). Nursing Informatics Research and Emerging Trends in 2015.. Computers, informatics, nursing : CIN. PMID: 27388612 DOI: 10.1097/cin.0000000000000278
- (2015). A Systematic Review of Nurses' Experiences With Unintended Consequences When Using the Electronic Health Record.. Nursing administration quarterly. PMID: 26340247 DOI: 10.1097/naq.0000000000000119
- (2015). Development of an Instrument to Measure the Unintended Consequences of EHRs.. Western journal of nursing research. PMID: 25802062 DOI: 10.1177/0193945915576083