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- Weekend appointments are available
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Feeling anxious about seeing a mental health provider is a common feeling, but don’t let those fears interfere with you getting the help and treatment that you deserve and need. You deserve a provider who you feel comfortable with, who’s willing to answer your questions, and who will collaborate with you to achieve your treatment goals.
New patient evaluations last between 45 and 60 minutes. During this initial visit, we review and explore various aspects such as medical history, family history, social and environmental factors, situational variables such as work and school, and how this affects the patient’s thinking and feelings.
We prefer to present our patients with the various options for their treatment. This is a collaboration between the patient and practitioner and no single treatment is dictated over another. The practitioner considers that patient’s concerns and the two together decide on the best treatment plan.
If you are skeptical about psychiatric treatment, we challenge you to at least undergo a psychiatric evaluation with us. An evaluation is not a guarantee to initiate treatment, but rather to formulate a diagnosis and discuss treatment options. Ultimately the decision to start treatment is yours.
Follow-up visits usually last between 15 and 20 minutes. This is the time where we listen to our patents’ feedback regarding the treatment plan and its effectiveness. We review the pertinent symptoms, evaluate their progress, and make any updates to their histories as needed.
If a patient is experiencing any adverse side effects or feeling like the dose of the medication is too high or too low, follow-up visits are the time to discuss and decide whether any medication changes or adjustments need to be made.
When starting a new medication or after deciding on a new direction with treatment, it is usually recommended to follow-up within 1 or 2 weeks. Based on progress and medication tolerance, recommended follow-up visits may be extended out to a month or more and eventually to every 3 months once symptoms are stabilized. Follow-up visits are at a minimum of every 3 months as recommended by current practice guidelines. Ultimately, the frequency of follow-up visits is determined at each visit and is based on the complexity of the conditions being treated and the progress being made by the patient.
