After more than 20 years of experience working across a variety of settings - outpatient, inpatient, residential, IOP, consultation, correctional, and school-based care, I’ve become disenchanted by the “chemical imbalance” narrative and disease model of psychiatry I was trained in. It started with paying attention to the “this doesn’t feel right” response I had when writing the occasional prescription. It continued with really listening to the many patients who hadn’t been helped by trial after trial of medications. I started asking more challenging questions of myself, about how I respond to patients asking for help, and how I might engage in deeper inquiry with my patients about what they actually need. A bright high schooler could probably do a decent job of “medication management”, but to prescribe thoughtfully and responsibly requires more, and I have found that those with a nursing background understand this better than many physicians. It may include discussing the meanings of having a mental illness and of taking of medications; having real conversations about what medications can and cannot provide; and approaching medications as a thoroughly considered, time-limited, intervention that is only one aspect of “getting better”. My practice is dedicated to reducing and repairing the harms caused by medical and mental health treatment, often focusing on medication tapering, especially with benzodiazepines and difficult-to-discontinue antidepressants. It begins with a thorough assessment, often reconsidering and reframing diagnosis from a depathologizing perspective. The role of trauma and chronic stress has often been medicalized and attributed as psychiatric illness. Lifestyle factors need to be truly taken into consideration. Then, I appreciate having actual conversations, not one or two rushed sentences, about risks and benefits of medication treatment. Respectfully and methodically working through existing polypharmacy is something I find patients appreciate and have been waiting for a prescriber to finally address. If medication reductions are considered, when needed I utilize tapering methods including compounded custom doses or liquid medication, hyperbolic dose reductions patterns and microtapering. My hope is to collaborate with NPs who are comfortable with resisting the pressure to medicalize and medicate justifiable emotions, and instead hope to help patients find sustainable, long-term well-being. If you’re looking for a collaborating physician who values thoughtful, individualized care over cookie cutter prescribing, I’d be happy to meet.

Board Certifications

(APPN): General Psychiatry; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Forensic Psychiatry; (ABPM, ABAM): Addiction Medicine