A child psychiatrist on the team.
When medication or psychiatric consultation is part of the plan, the prescriber is in the same weekly team meeting as the therapist, the OT, the SLP, and the family therapist. Coordinated, not by phone tag.
Psychiatry on the team.
Most pediatric programs treat psychiatry as a referral. We treat it as a core team role. The child psychiatrist is on staff, attends the weekly team meeting about every child receiving psychiatric care, and writes care plans with the rest of the team rather than in isolation from it.
That changes the basic question. It's no longer "should we trial a medication, given what the therapist reported?" It's "given what the whole team is seeing in your child, what's the next clinical move, and is medication part of it?"
What an appointment actually looks like.
Initial psychiatric evaluation is a longer appointment, often 60 to 90 minutes, with the child and the family. Follow-up visits are shorter and paced to clinical need: more frequent when medication is being titrated or when symptoms are shifting, less frequent when the plan is stable.
Conversations cover what the team is seeing across the week, what the family is seeing at home, what's working, what isn't, and what the next adjustment might look like. Mood charts, symptom tracking, and the family's observations all feed in.
When medication is part of the plan.
Medication is one tool among many. The default isn't to prescribe; the default is to make a clinical decision together with the family. Sometimes medication is the right next step. Sometimes the work is in regulation, in therapy, in the family system, in the school environment, and medication isn't indicated.
When medication is part of the plan, our psychiatrist coordinates with your child's pediatrician and any outside prescribers. Prior authorizations and refills are handled through our case management team. The goal is the lowest effective dose, regular review, and clear criteria for adjusting, holding, or stopping.
Is this part of what your child needs?
Psychiatry is available on the team for any child whose care plan calls for it. If you've been weighing whether psychiatric consultation makes sense, intake can talk you through what it would look like alongside the rest of the program.
The first call is a 15-minute conversation.
Tell us what's going on with your child.
A 15-minute call. We'll listen first, then help you figure out the right next step.