Selecting a child and adolescent psychiatrist can be a daunting undertaking. Knowing what to ask and look for when making a selection can make the process somewhat easier.
How Do We Choose a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist?
Believe it or not there are some rather basic and simple factors that can help in narrowing the selection process of finding a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Most people will want to utilize their health insurance plan to cover some portion of the expense for seeing a child and adolescent psychiatric provider. Accordingly, one of the first things to determine is whether a given provider is in your insurance network. This may eliminate some providers and narrow the search right away. In fact, you can actually contact your insurance plan and talk with a representative who can provide you with a list of child and adolescent psychiatrists, that are in your network, within a specified geographic area. Most people prefer convenience, so selecting providers in a 10–20-mile radius will also help narrow the selection pool. Given the scarcity of child and adolescent psychiatric providers in most communities, you may be surprised that these couple of narrowing processes may already have reduced your list to just a handful of providers. Thereafter, you might start making some inquiries into the child and adolescent psychiatrist’s office to see if they are accepting new patients and what days or times, they might have available. This too can further narrow the potential list.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specializations?
Child and adolescent psychiatric providers are already specialists who have extensive training and expertise in mental health issues, diagnosis, and treatments. Nonetheless, even these specialists often have specialties. For instance, if you are concerned and believe your child may have a specific mental health condition such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, ADHD, panic disorder, emerging bipolar disorder, or autism to name just a few; you might start looking at bios online for various providers who may be particularly skilled and well-studied on such conditions and treatments. Most clinics have website bios you can reference to garner knowledge about some of their training and experience. Hopefully by now you have narrowed your search to just a few providers. The next step will be getting an initial diagnostic consultation. Keep in mind, you can determine you and your child’s comfort level with the provider and their assessment and recommendations, based on how the session goes. You could certainly get a second opinion as well if you have any reservations or doubts. You want the best for your children so be sure you are being thoughtful and methodical about getting to the right provider to help them.
If you are interested in meeting with our child and adolescent psychiatric provider, feel free to contact IPC so you can schedule an appointment with Jackie Grinnell, CNP, PMHNP who can help you complete an assessment, obtain a diagnosis and discuss treatment options. Please call us now at 763-416-4167, or request an appointment on our website: WWW.IPC-MN.COM so we can sit down with you and complete a thorough assessment and help you develop a plan of action that will work for you. Life is too short to be unhappy. Find the peace of mind you deserve.
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