What is my approach?
My vision is for your optimal health and wellness.
I am a licensed and board-certified psychiatrist who combines evidence-based psychotherapy, mind/body practices, herbs, nutrients, and pharmaceuticals.
I teach evidence-based mind/body practices such as Coherent Breathing, yoga and meditation as an aid for anxiety, depression and trauma.
My psychotherapy approach is tailored to the individual's diagnosis and what they are interested in working on.
I employ evidence-based psychotherapy practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as well as employ insight-oriented therapies.
I am a Registered Yoga Teacher - 200 hour level - and a Breath-Body-Mind Teacher - Level 1. I have taught hundreds of people yoga practices tailored to their mental and physical condition.
Who are my patients?
The people I see are interested in integrating psychotherapy, mind/body practices, and/or evidence -based herbs or nutrients (and/or pharmaceuticals) in their mental health care. They are interested in healing and transformation and are age 18 and older.
I am not currently able to accept people under the age of 18, people who have been psychiatrically hospitalized, or people in need of emergent treatment including people with acute suicidality, homocidiality, mania, or psychosis.
WHAT CAN I HELP with?
I am a full-service mental healthcare provider. These therapies include (but are not limited to) integrating mind/body practices into your lifestyle to help with:
Anxiety
Depression
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Personal loss and grief
Relationship issues
Insomnia
Life transitions
do you accept insurance, medicaid or medicare?
I do not accept insurance, Medicaid or Medicare. Depending on your insurance benefits, my charges are most likely reimbursable to some degree. I will give you a superbill with your diagnosis code, the CPT code for our visit and the amount you paid, so that you may be reimbursed directly by your insurance.
do you work with other providers?
Yes, I do. I can collaborate with a psychotherapist you are already seeing, or if you
WHAT IS integrative medicine?
Integrative medicine acknowledges that there are many medical traditions throughout the world that can be useful and effective. In integrative medicine we use evidence-based "complementary and alternative" (yoga, breathing techniques, meditation, herbs, supplements) treatments, along side western, allopathic medicine (pharmaceuticals and psychotherapy).
WHAT IS HOLISTIC medicine?
Holistic medicine is about treating the entire person, instead of focusing on one ailment or one part of the mind or body. I prefer taking a holistic approach so that we can determine the root cause of your issues and work to build a complete therapy that treats you mind and body.
WHy SOULFUL Psychiatry?
Soulful means "full of or expressing feeling or emotion" according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Synonyms include emotional, deep, profound, heartfelt, sincere and passionate. My goal as your psychiatrist is to help you navigate and learn from your feelings and emotions. Soulfulness connects you to spirit, lifeforce, prana, shakti, chi, and the sacred. My intention is to help you step more fully into your life with love and joy.
WHAT IS the difference between A PSYCHIATRIST and A PRESCRIBING PSYCHOLOGIST?
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (MD or DO) who went to four years medical school and completed a four year residency in psychiatry. We are the physicians of mental health, routinely prescribing psychiatric medication while often offering psychotherapy as well.
Louisiana also has a system that allows for prescribing psychologists. These are psychologists who have completed a graduate school Ph.D. or Psy.D. program, a two year psychopharmacology course, and have been supervised by a licensed prescriber for one year.
what is a psychotherapist?
Psychotherapists come from a number of different educational backgrounds, but they all provide psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is traditionally thought of as "talk therapy", however you do not necessarily need to talk in therapy. Some examples of professionals that can provide psychotherapy are Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW), psychologists (PhD, PsyD) or physicians (MD, DO). Each therapist has there own approach and it may be eclectic, or informed by one specific modality.
can you tell me about different types of therapy a psychotherapist could employ?
There are many different types of therapy. Here I will give a brief overview of some different types of psychotherapy.
A few different types of therapy include: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (with subtypes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), InterPersonal Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, depth psychology, and psychodynamics.
Cognitive Behavioral therapies are more directive, meaning the psychotherapist teaches the client different aspects of the theory, gives homework, and sometimes guides the client along in a workbook.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has a mindfulness component as well as emphasizing acceptance of the present moment.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy builds distress tolerance skills and tries to aid the patient in making peace with opposites, such as accepting yourself and trying to change.
Interpersonal therapy uses role-playing to teach clients skills for relationship navigation.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing allows clients to re-experience trauma or anxiety producing memories, and use eye movements or tapping (instead of talk) to desensitize the client to the intensity of emotion experienced with recalling these events.
Depth psychology and psychodynamics both use "uncovering" techniques to look at the clients sub or unconscious thoughts and feelings and helps makes these conscious for the client so that they can make informed choices.
WHAT IS A LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR (LPC)? WHAT IS A LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER (LCSW)? What is a psychologist? And how do their trainings differ? what special things could each one do besides psychotherapy?
A Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) has a Master's degree in counseling as well as two to three years of supervised work experience. Their whole education is focused on counseling clients.
A Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) has a Master's degree in social work and two to three years of supervised work experience. They have been trained to help clients obtain needed services. For example a social worker would help with discharging patients from the hospital by setting them up with a nursing home, home healthcare, a follow-up doctor's clinic appointment, etc. They have additional education in learning how systems work to get patients what they need. Some social workers do only this and do not perform therapy.
A psychologist has a post graduate (PhD or PsyD) and has been trained in how to do diagnostic testing for different disorders. Some psychologist only do this testing and do not perform therapy.