John DeOca
Dr. John De Oca is a board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner PMHNP and educator with extensive experience in both clinical practice and higher education. His formal teaching areas include advanced psychiatric nursing, child and adolescent mental health, psychotherapy, leadership in nursing, and professional development.
With over a decade of combined professional and teaching experience, Dr. De Oca has taught graduate and undergraduate nursing students in diverse settings, focusing on integrating clinical expertise with academic rigor. At Walden University, he serves as Contributing Faculty in the School of Nursing, where he mentors students in psychotherapeutic modalities and clinical competencies.
Dr. De Oca’s primary research and scholarly interests include academic entitlement in higher education, resilience and locus of control among nursing students, family therapy, and psychotherapeutic approaches to trauma. He is passionate about preparing future nurse practitioners to balance evidence-based care with compassionate, ethical practice.
Professionally, Dr. De Oca has held leadership and clinical roles in various settings, including outpatient mental health, private practice, pharmaceutical companies, and academic institutions.
He is the founder of a private practice specializing in psychiatric care and psychotherapy, and he is also recognized for his broader contributions as a relationship and lifestyle writer, speaker, and consultant. His professional affiliations and collaborations include contributions to national nursing education initiatives, public scholarship, and media-based mental health advocacy.
His major accomplishments include the development of graduate-level curricula in psychiatric nursing, contributions to nursing scholarship on resilience and academic entitlement, and recognition as a thought leader in bridging clinical practice, education, and public discourse on mental health. He has been featured as a commentator and expert across multiple platforms, combining academic insight with practical guidance to shape the next generation of nurse leaders.