The questions most people walk in with

Do I actually need to take medication? Can I just take a supplement instead? What is this going to do to my body and my mind? What are the alternatives?

These are the right questions. They deserve real answers, not reassurances. Answers that depend on mutual trust, collaboration and the best available scientific evidence (acknowledging its limitations). Medications, diagnoses, and supplements may or may not have a role in your care. My job is to work with you to figure out which ones do, which ones don't, and what an honest plan looks like.

How I think about medication

Medication is a tool. Like any tool, it works well for some jobs and not for others — and the wrong tool, used for the wrong job, can make things worse. I'm not interested in handing out prescriptions to make appointments shorter, and I'm not interested in withholding them to look cautious. I'm interested in getting the actual treatment right.

That means we look at the whole picture: your symptoms, your history, your lifestyle, what's going on in your life, what you've already tried, what side effects you can and can't tolerate, and what you're hoping to get out of treatment. Sometimes the answer is a medication. Sometimes it's a supplement. Sometimes it's a change to sleep, exercise, or nutrition. Together, we define what (if any) role medication plays as part of our work.

What I commonly treat

I work with people across a range of presentations, including:

• Depression

• Anxiety disorders — generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety

• ADHD — across children, adolescents and adults

• OCD and related conditions

• Bipolar disorder

• Sleep disorders — including insomnia, with or without medication

• Autism-related psychiatric symptoms in children, adolescents and adults

• Nutritional contributors to psychiatric symptoms (e.g., iron deficiency)

If you're not sure whether what you're experiencing fits — that's exactly what the consultation is for.

How supplements fit in

When the evidence supports it, I incorporate supplements into care — for example, addressing iron deficiency, omega-3 status, B-vitamin needs, or specific situations like leucovorin (folinic acid) for cerebral folate deficiency in autism. Where supplements are useful, they're useful. Where the evidence is thin or the hype is doing the work, I'll say so.

Through a professional dispensary, you can also access professional-grade supplements at a member discount when they're part of your plan.

What to expect

• An initial evaluation that is long enough to actually understand your situation — your symptoms, your goals, your history, and what you've already tried.

• A treatment plan built around your actual life. If medication is part of it, you'll know exactly what it is, what to expect, what the alternatives are, and how we'll know whether it's working.

• Structured follow-up to monitor benefit and side effects — and to adjust honestly rather than by inertia.

• Coordination with your other clinicians — therapist, primary care physician, pediatrician, specialists — so your care moves in the same direction.

If a medication isn't working, we'll change it. If you don't need it anymore, we'll stop it carefully. The goal is not to be on a medication. The goal is to be on whatever is actually helping.

Who this is for

This may be a good fit if:

• You want a psychiatrist who explains their reasoning and treats you as a partner, not a recipient.

• You've tried medications before and want a more thoughtful look at what worked, what didn't, and why.

• You're cautious about medication and want a clinician who will respect that — and won't push.

• You're open to medication and want a clinician who will prescribe carefully — and won't withhold.

• You're interested in integrative care that uses lifestyle, supplements, and medication thoughtfully together.

• You're managing a condition long-term and want someone who will actually pay attention over time.

Related services

• Personalized medication deprescribing — for safely tapering off psychiatric medications when that's your goal.

• Leucovorin for autism — for carefully selected patients with autism, especially those with folate receptor autoantibodies.

• Comprehensive autism evaluations — diagnostic evaluations using ADOS-2, MIGDAS-2 and ADI-R.

Common questions

Do you have to diagnose me before prescribing? A working diagnosis usually helps — it tells us what we're treating and what to monitor. But diagnoses are tools, not labels, and we revise them as we learn more. In other words, treatment will be individualized to you and will target your individual needs, using the best available medical evidence.

Will I be on medication forever? Not necessarily. Some conditions are time-limited, and so is the medication. For many people, medication plays a short-term role, and together we examine the meanings and roles that medications played in their recovery. Others are longer-term, but doses can change. We'll talk about expected duration up front and revisit it as treatment progresses.

What if I just want to try a supplement first? We can talk about it. For some situations that's reasonable; for others, the evidence doesn't support it. I'll be honest either way.

Do you treat children? Yes — I work with people ages 5 and up.

Do you take insurance? The practice is fee-for-service. Sessions are $400 per hour, billed in 15-minute increments. A superbill can be provided for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and HSA cards are accepted.

Ready to talk?

I offer a free 15-minute consultation call to talk through your situation and whether this is the right kind of care for you.