I pride myself on conducting a thorough, comprehensive initial evaluation and interview with you. I see this as an investment from each of us to start your care with the most accurate diagnosis possible as this will guide us in our next steps. We will schedule 90 minutes for this evaluation, during which we will talk about the following:

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• What brings you to seek psychiatric care, with plenty of time to talk about what is important to you;

• Some guided questions about related history that help with making a diagnosis;

• Discussion of your family and personal history;

• Review of your past psychiatric and mental health care;

• Review of your medical history, including any medications or supplements you take, any health conditions you may have, and other physical health issues that might relate to your psychiatric concerns;

• Initial impressions of a likely diagnosis, with discussion of other possibilities we may need to look into further over time;

• Suggestions for treatment including medications, psychotherapy, supplements, and others; and

• When to follow up and other next steps.

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We will then have regular follow-up visits to monitor your medications and see how you are doing. I will not just ask “how are your meds” – that is ridiculous and impersonal. It is important to talk about what else is going on in your life that might influence our treatment decisions, so each follow-up will be personal with time for you to share what you feel important. These visits will be scheduled for 25 minutes and end with a review of your options and our plan of care going forward.