Clarksville, TN – Novus Behavioral Health is a Veteran-owned and operated clinic in Clarksville that offers a staff of experienced psychiatric providers who are “honored to join our patients on their journey from mental illness to mental wellness …”
Earlier this year, Novus BH was selected as the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce Veteran Business of the Month. Scarlett Mulligan had been a Physicians Assistant (PA) for twenty years. She runs the general psychiatry practice located in Sango.
“I went into the Air Force when I was 24, I was a medic,” Mulligan said. “My first duty station was Las Vegas, NV, and that’s where I met my first PA. They said, hey, you could do this. That’s how it all started.”
She returned to Clarksville in 2008, and over the next ten years came to the conclusion that there was a “significant lack of good quality psychiatry services for the people of this community.” She started Novus BH in April 2018.
“We do psychiatry here, working strictly with mental health and behavioral health conditions, and we treat those conditions with supportive psychotherapy and medication,” Mulligan said. “There were a couple of players in town, but it was hard for people to get in. There was always such a long wait list. So, there was a real lack of resources in psychiatry here in Clarksville. I’ve always been drawn to psychiatry in my own personal journey, just the way that patients interact with me, and I with them. It’s just a good fit for me.”
Mulligan and her team moved to their current location, 556 Fire Station Road, Suite A, in 2023.
“We have 21 people working at this location; not all are clinicians, but everyone is delivering in some aspect of healthcare,” Mulligan said. “We have front desk personnel, others in administration roles, and six clinicians on staff. We also have another location in Killeen, Texas. That city is similar in size and has a large military population, very much like Clarksville.”
Mulligan says she loves working with Veterans. “I love serving them. They comprise about 30% of our patients. We accept commercial insurance, Medicare, Tri-Care, and more, but a lot of people getting psychiatry services choose to pay out of pocket. So, that is an option.
“Our most common diagnosis is generalized anxiety disorder, second is insomnia, and third is some sort of attention disorder, which is different than it used to be – ADHD, and a lot of what feels like, or is perceived as ADHD.”
Novus BH sees patients from the age of 13 all through the lifespan. “A large majority of the patients we have are between the ages of 15 and 25,” Mulligan said. “We are currently open Monday – Friday, but we are looking for the right clinician that would allow us to open on Saturdays and weeknights.
“We don’t do any crisis stabilization, we leave that to people who specialize in that. We are working with people who are higher-functioning on the day-to-day. If there is some sort of crisis we send them to where they need to be, maybe the ER for outpatient care, or to be admitted when inpatient care is needed.”
Mulligan says her love for this vocation has changed over time. “My love has changed from direct patient care to creating an occupational home where providers can thrive. I’m all about culture. That is my passion: creating a functional and sustainable work culture. To that end, we work on creating connections. We do a lot of team functions. We have regular staff events. It’s important to me that people work in an environment where they are nourished. We spend a lot of our life in our work environment, and what we experience at work, we take home.
The way to heal a community is to nourish our employees, When they go home they nourish their home, and when that happens the whole community benefits. This is a place where you are not a number. We work hard to show up in a way that meets your needs. One of our distinguishing factors is that we offer something called interventional psychiatry. This is something other than just medication management. We have a transcranial magnetic stimulation machine, which is FDA-approved for OCD and major depressive disorder. We also offer ketamine infusions and treatments called Esketamine or Spravato, which requires additional certification.”
Novus BH is taking new patients, but they are currently on about a 3-week wait. “We’re working hard to reduce the wait time,” Mulligan said.
Find more information at www.Novusbh.com
