Nurse practitioner passionate in promoting mental health

BY LAURIE GORDON
NEWTON — Deborah Drumm is a mover and shaker. If she gets an idea, she runs with it and in both her business and personal life, she embraces one of her favorite quotes: “Don't just sit there or you'll get run over.”
This nurse practitioner, who has a private practice in Newton and works at Bridgeway Rehabilitation Services, also in Newton, said, “I have always been passionate about advocating for the mentally ill and have dedicated my career to offer new, integrative models of care for optimal wellness.”
Drumm grew up in Red Hook, N.Y. and has been a mental health professional/advocate since 1973 when she graduated from nursing school with an AAS degree from Queensborough Community College in Bayside. Her first job was at a Creedmore State Hospital (now called Psychiatric Center) in Queens. In 1998, she graduated from NYU as a gerontological nurse practitioner and continued her studies at SUNY Stony Brook with a post-masters in psychiatric mental health. Drumm went on to have a two-decade career with Morristown Medical Center working on Franklin 5 in their in-patient psychiatric unit. After becoming a nurse practitioner, she was recruited to be the behavioral therapist at their the medical center's Pain Management Center. In 2004, Drumm left Morristown Medical Center and started her own private practice.
“At that time, I met Dr. Sandra Squires (my collaborative physician) who recruited me to work at Newton Hospital Behavioral Health,” she said. “Once at Newton, I was working in the outpatient department including Sussex House which was a psychiatric rehabilitation facility that provided services to individuals with chronic mental illness for over 30 years.” Drumm said, “Insurance reimbursement started shifting and to have a facility like Sussex House on the grounds of a hospital made it cost prohibitive.”
In 2010, the Board of Mental Health awarded the grant to provide the same services to Bridgeway Rehabilitation Services and many of the hospital staff, including Drumm, left and continued the work through Bridgeway.
Drumm's philosophy with her patients includes integrating aromatherapy and herbal medicine into treatments. To this end, she has certifications in both, which includes having taken intensive herbal courses from renowned herbalist, author and ethnobotanist David Winston.
Drumm said her impetus to learn about these areas of study was because, “I wanted to have a good understanding of other options for treating my patients. An understanding of what our society has moved away from, because we want every thing faster, quicker, an instant relief. We are all looking for the magic pill.
“Herbal medicine, also called botanical medicine or phytomedicine, refers to using a plant's seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark, or flowers for medicinal purposes. Our cures are right here, we are living in paradise, and we don't know it,” she said.
Aromatherapy is another form of herbal medicine, using essential oils obtained from roots, leaves, bark and flowers.
“By understanding other treatment options, I have a better grip on cultural treatments many families have passed on from one generation to the next,” Drumm said. “When patients are telling me they are using St. John's Wort for their depression, and they are taking an anti-depressant and not feeling well, I know the dangers of mixing certain herbs with pharmaceuticals.”
A few years ago Drumm integrated "genotyping" into her practice. She works with several personalized medicine companies that specialize in pharmacogenomics. By gathering genetic information about a patient, the genetically appropriate medication(s) for individual patients suffering from neuropsychiatric and other medical conditions can be determined.
Breaking the stigma
“Working for Bridgeway has really helped me feel we are making an effort to deal and accept mental illness as any other kind of illness,” Drumm said. “Understanding cultural attitudes, and truly believing that everyone who struggles with mental health problems winds up suffering as a result in many ways. If we want to truly progress as a society, we need to recognize that laughing at mental illness is as deplorable as mocking someone with cancer or HIV or Parkinson’s Disease or any other physical ailment. Just because someone has a mental illness, does not mean their life stops. The importance of rehabilitation is to make our lives meaningful again.“
Outside of work
When she's not helping others as a nurse, Drumm can be found in her garden with her husband, Paul, at their home in Stillwater or come late spring, busily planning for the annual Stillwater Fall Fest, of which she is co-chair. She and neighbors resurrected the old tradition of having a Fall Fest in 2005 and this October will see its 11th year.
“The Historical Society of Stillwater Township is so lucky to have Deborah Drumm as member,” said member and Fall Fest co-director, Roy Knutsen. “She has a wonderful sense of community spirit and concern regarding our historical past.Her wonderful sense of dedication and energy has “spearheaded’ this community affair annually.”
In 2010, Drumm's life changed when her first grandchild, Ashlan, was born. Her daughter, Kate, and son-in-law blessed her with Sloane a few years later. They live in Newton, but unfortunately for Drumm, it's Newton, Massachusetts not Newton, New Jersey.
“I think becoming a grandparent is God's gift for growing older,” she said. “I am so thrilled to have two sweet little girls that I love to indulge. So many of my spare moments are spent travelling to Boston.”
Drumm's private practice, Advance Behavioral Counseling of NNJ, LLC, is located at 55 Newton-Sparta Road and she can be reached at 973.579.9394.