Services
Psychiatric Prescribing
There is a long list of things we can do, or others can help us with to help improve our mental health or keep in stable. This can include developing skills to be more equipped to handle everyday stress, participating in hobbies, eating well, maintaining healthy sleep habits, or regular exercise. However, when mental illness interferes with your daily activity a professional intervention may drastically improve your quality of life.
In most cases psychotherapy has been shown to be the most effective treatment, but many individual require intervention with through medication to successfully work within therapy.
Psychiatric Assessments and Diagnosis
My goal is to have every patient within my practice understand they are not a diagnosis, but a person and not focus on a label but on mental well-being
Diagnosis are ruled out/in during a full assessment for all mental health conditions as well as any medical conditions that may be mimicking psychiatric conditions.
Assessments are performed by gathering information though both my observations and what you tell me about your history, symptoms, and how these symptoms have been effecting you.
It is not uncommon for those close to us to notice more about changes in our symptoms and/or behavior than we do, therefore more information maybe obtained by bringing a support person to your first appointment. Please be aware that it would be impossible to know everything that is important to say in an initial psychiatric assessment,. This is why diagnosis and treatment plans may change as more information is learned.
Referals and collaboration
Knowing where to look for specialized providers can prove challenging, and mental illness can deplete they energy that would normally allow us to meet anything beyond what we consider basic needs. I make every attempt to guide my patients in the direction of essential care, including: Registered Dieticians and Higher levels of care such as Intensive outpatient programs
Psychotherapy
In most cases negative symptoms of mental health disorder are treated more successfully with therapy than with medication alone.
Therapy services are offered for thirty or sixty minute sessions for both individuals or family therapy for parents(guardian) and child(ren)
ADHD Assessments
The assessment for ADHD requires ruling out physical and other mental health disorders that could be mistaken for ADHD or cause symptoms of ADHD to be worse. The evaluation is performed in two sessions lasting approximately 60 minutes each.
Click here to see the assessment and evaluation process for ADHD:
PLEASE NOTE: Although I accept UnitedHealthcare they are currently refusing to pay Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners for Neurobehavioral exams, only psychologist. Although these a many competent psychologist they do not posses the training to out rule other neurological conditions (where giving a stimulant could be dangerous), and since they cannot prescribe medication most psychiatric prescribers require a patient to be reassessed by them before prescribing, as it would be unsafe and unethical to prescribe for a condition you didn't assess or diagnose yourself.
Treatment for Special Populations and Conditions
Psychiatry is a unique field in the way that a great number of variables can not only play a role of developing a mental illness but the severity and outcome. To me treating someone as a whole person means addressing and physical conditions, socioeconomical concerns, and safety risk outside of my office, as the all effect mental health. Please view the section on this website entitled special populations for more information.