The initial appointment is an opportunity to meet, to discuss your concerns, collect information, and develop a plan. As you can imagine, this can be a large amount of information to cover in an hour. The first step will be to go over your medical and psychiatric history. It is important to bring in a list of your current medications. We will then go over the current symptoms you are experiencing. We will also go over any outside reports you provide including any school reports, neuropsychological testing reports, hospital records, or any other collateral as needed. Then we will discuss a plan that may include different treatment options, therapy, and lab work, etc. Medication is often not prescribed at this first visit for numerous reasons. A treatment relationship is a collaborative process and at the end of the evaluation process we will decide together if our practice and philosophy are a good fit for you. We will then set up a follow up session to fully plan your treatment together.

APPOINTMENT LENGTH: 60 MINUTES

We begin with an initial comprehensive assessment to develop as clear of an understanding of your concerns as possible. Depending on the age and comfort level of the young person we generally spend some time alone with the child/adolescent and some time alone with the parent(s) or guardians. The time alone will depend on the comfort level of the young person and will vary based on each individual and family. We review any outside records you provide including school reports, neuropsychological testing reports, hospital records or any other collateral information as needed. We will then write a detailed and comprehensive assessment and meet with you to discuss our diagnostic impressions and treatment recommendations. A treatment relationship is a collaborative process and at the end of the evaluation process we will decide together if our practice and philosophy are a good fit for you. We will then set up a follow up session to fully plan your treatment together.

APPOINTMENT LENGTH: 60 MINUTES

During follow up appointments we will discuss and update the ongoing treatment plan. We will be checking in with you to discuss progress toward your goals and make adjustments as needed.

Our role is to offer you recommendations based on the latest and most up to date medical evidence as well as our clinical experience. Appointment times will vary based on the complexity of needs. We strive to provide you with ongoing psychoeducation, support, guidance and collaboration.

The choice of taking a medication or giving a medication to your child can be complex and we will walk through this together to decide if you feel it would be the best choice for you or your loved one.

Often, lifestyle changes and psychoeducation will lead to improvement in symptoms. When symptoms are not improving with these changes or if symptoms are interfering with your functioning we may recommend a medication. The choice will always lie with you.

Our goal is to collaborate with you to give you information regarding the medication options, how each medication may affect the brain, risks, benefits, possible side effects and expected length of use of medications. We believe that ongoing therapy is an integral part of wellbeing and we very rarely recommend medications in the absence of therapy.

We collaborate with many skilled therapists and are happy to provide referrals if needed.

APPOINTMENT LENGTH: 20-30 minutes

Our preference is to develop an ongoing treatment relationship with you, but we are available as needed to provide second opinions, recommendations for school and collaboration or consultations for primary care physicians, neurologists, pediatricians and other mental health professionals. It can often be helpful to obtain a fresh perspective or clarification regarding clinical diagnosis and questions. A referral may be made by patients, primary care physicians, pediatricians, or other mental health providers. We are happy to collaborate with outside providers to help best serve you.

APPOINTMENT LENGTH: 60-120 minutes

We realize that access to family, adult and especially child and adolescent psychiatry can often be difficult. We believe that everyone has a right to compassionate, collaborative, evidence based psychiatric care and our goal is to make our services as convenient and accessible as possible. We are able to provide secure, HIPAA-compliant video conferencing from the convenience of your home or work. We provide psychotherapy in your own home and send prescriptions as needed electronically to your local pharmacy. We know that your life is busy, and we want to help accommodate you as much as we possibly can. Please let us know if you feel that telepsychiatry may be a good fit for you or your family.