Abstract
This article provides a brief overview of the early development of geropsychiatric nursing (GPN) as background for examining its advancement subsequent to the 2010 Future of Nursing (FON) Report. The FON's education, practice and leadership recommendations form the three pillars that have supported geropsychiatric nursing's continuing evolution, framed within a practice and policy perspective. Lessons learned are relevant to developing the next phase of FON recommendations. The importance of overcoming challenges faced by the field of GPN is supported by the aging global population, the directions of nursing as a discipline, and the clear necessity of an intra- and inter-professional approach to mental health and aging.