Child & Pediatric Psychiatry | Denver & Golden
Your Child's Journey Towards a Better Day
As parents, our children’s health and happiness is paramount. When mental health difficulties arise, parents often feel overwhelmed and uncertain about how to respond. Seeking psychiatric care for your child is a proactive step toward improving their mental well-being. Our practitioners are trained child and adolescent psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners. They will competently and compassionately guide you and your child through navigating mental health challenges.
At A Better Day Psychiatry, we believe in family-centered pediatric care as research shows family involvement is a key factor in a child’s healing process. We offer pediatric psychiatric evaluations, pediatric medication management, and therapy. We provide evidence-based mental health care for youth patients from early childhood through the pre-teen and teen years. Initiate your child’s journey towards a better day with pediatric psychiatry.
How Does Pediatric Psychiatry Work?
Facts and Symptoms in Adults and Children
Pediatric psychiatry will always begin with a comprehensive mental health evaluation that is typically 1 hour in length. Even if your child is coming to us already on a medication, we will still want to do a full work up to make sure we understand everything that is going on and to give time for your provider to answer questions. Before the appointment, you will be given intake forms to fill out and return to help our providers understand the reason for the visit prior to seeing you for your appointment.
We offer pediatric psychiatry in person or via telehealth appointment. Patients appreciate that mental health teletherapy is:
- Convenient: no need for you and your child to travel to and from an office or clinic.
- Accessible: no matter where you live, a doctor can connect with you.
- Comforting: your child may be more comfortable talking to a provider about sensitive topics from a familiar and comforting place.
During the Evaluation
Facts and Symptoms in Adults and Children
During the initial part of the evaluation, your provider will aim to build rapport with your child to build a sense of comfort and trust. Typically, the provider will meet with the patient and parents or guardians together. Thereafter, the provider will typically branch off and ask to talk to the patient and parent’s/guardians individually. This helps to get a comprehensive understanding from multiple perspectives.
The main focus of the session will be to delve into the purpose of your appointment. This may entail discussing the onset and severity of symptoms, any prior treatment, or effective strategies. Additionally, your provider will inquire about your family’s psychiatric history, medical, substance use, social, and/or developmental factors that may contribute to your child’s difficulties. A comprehensive understanding of your child’s history and current experiences is critical for an accurate diagnosis.
Towards the end of the appointment, your provider will review diagnoses, consider if further evaluations or information from family members would be helpful, and discuss the treatment plan. If a medication is suggested, your provider will educate you about the options to foster a collaborative approach. When starting a medication, the philosophy at A Better Day Psychiatry is to find the lowest effective dose that the patient can be on. Ultimately, the decision to start a medication is always up to you and your child. If you decide a medication is appropriate, your child would continue care through our pediatric psychiatric medication management program.
Follow-up Care:
Pediatric Medication Management and Therapy
After the evaluation, you may opt not to proceed with medication management or therapy. However, if medication is prescribed, consistent monitoring and follow-up are essential components of pediatric medication management. During these follow-up sessions, your healthcare provider will evaluate the medication’s effectiveness, inquire about any side effects, make necessary dosage adjustments, and address any concerns or questions you may have. Appointments may range from 15-30 minutes depending on the complexity of the issue.
Therapy
Typically, most children benefit from a multi-faceted mental health approach, including therapy. We offer individual therapy, teen therapy, and family therapy. Our approach emphasizes family-centered care, and we teach parents how to help their child cope.
At A Better Day Psychiatry, our goal in pediatric psychiatry is to provide you and your child with an evidence-based, compassionate approach to mental health care. Whether you’re seeking pediatric psychiatry in the Denver area or elsewhere in Colorado, our team is dedicated to your care.
Pediatric Psychiatry Conditions We Treat
At a Better Day Psychiatry our psychiatrists and nurse practitioners are trained and competent at treating the following mental health conditions and challenges. We see and treat ADHD most commonly in our practice.
- Adjustment disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism spectrum disorders (mild)
- Bipolar Disorder
- Conduct Disorder
- Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD)
- Insomnia
- Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED)
- Major depression
- Mood Dysregulation Disorder (MDD)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD)
- Psychosis
- Substance use disorders
Reasons You Might Consider Consulting with A Pediatric Psychiatrist and Therapist
Consulting with a pediatric psychiatrist means you are an involved parent who cares about your child’s wellbeing. Your child is not broken or has an issue that needs to be “fixed”. In fact, nearly 20% of children and young people ages 3-17 in the United States have a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder. You may consider reaching out to a mental health expert if you see any of the following:
- Withdrawing from friends, family, and activities that used to provide enjoyment.
- Frequent and/or intense temper tantrums and mood swings.
- Sudden and unexplained changes in sleeping or eating patterns.
- Difficulty with friendships.
- Irritability or undue anxiety and fear.
- A significant decline in school performance.
- Problems focusing or sitting still.
- Threats of suicide or thoughts of self harm.
- Substance use.
- Poor self-esteem.
- Difficulty with life transitions and grief.
The team at A Better Day Psychiatry uses evidence based approaches to help children and teens live happier, healthier, more fulfilling lives.
How Could Pediatric Psychiatry Benefit Your Child?
Increase confidence in dealing with challenging situations.Mental health challenges during childhood are unfortunately common. Children diagnosed and treated are more likely to succeed at home, school, and in the community. Some benefits of pediatric psychiatry may include:
- Increase in quality of life, happiness, and decrease of mental health symptoms.
- Academic improvement, particularly with treated ADHD.
- Develop new and healthy ways to communicate.
- Overcome anxiety, undue fear, and insecurities
- Learn skills and strategies for coping and emotion management.
- Process prior traumatic experiences in a safe and supportive space.
- Learn how to set and maintain boundaries.
- Increase confidence in dealing with challenging situations.
Begin your Journey towards a better day.
At A Better Day Psychiatry, we specialize in assisting you or your loved ones in enhancing quality of life despite the challenges. Our experienced providers are dedicated to accurately diagnosing providing comprehensive care tailored to manage symptoms and enhance overall well-being.
Pediatric Psychiatry FAQs
At A Better Day Psychiatry, we want you to be informed and empowered in understanding the clinical process of pediatric psychiatry. Below are answers to frequently asked questions about child & pediatric psychiatry.
Is medication always required for children?
At A Better Day Psychiatry we like to explore therapy and holistic approaches if possible. In some cases, a medication may be an important tool towards improving your child’s mental health, and in those cases our providers would provide in-depth education and information around the medication options.
Will my child have to take medication forever?
The standard at A Better Day Psychiatry is to have a discreet time frame in mind for any medications that are started with follow up appointments designed to continually reassess the benefits of the medication and plans to reduce the dose or come off of a medication when appropriate. The time frame for being on a medication can vary widely depending on the medication and what is being treated but there are no medications that a child would be prescribed that could be considered lifelong at that age.
What is the age of consent for mental health treatment in Colorado?
The age of consent in Colorado for therapy is 12 years old and medications is 15 years old. That being said, we believe a family-centered approach is very important towards optimal care, and our providers at A Better Day Psychiatry prefer to have consent from parents for treatment of minors as well.
Are psychiatric medications harmful towards children since their brains are still developing?
- We take this question very seriously at A Better Day Psychiatry and always consider and discuss the pros and cons of treating a child or adolescent with medication. One of the things to consider are how much of an impact the mental health issue is having on the individuals functioning, development, and the long term consequences of not addressing those issues. For instance, we consider how much of an impact severe anxiety has on a developing brain compared to the research on the impacts of medications that can treat that anxiety. Ultimately our providers will educate the family on the choices available,, the benefits and risks of treating as well as not treating, and come to a decision together collaboratively.
How do you decide what treatment is best for my child?
We follow the practice guidelines set forth through the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, utilize evidence based research, and follow FDA guidelines for medication safety.
What do I do if my child is having a side effects to a medication?
If the side effect appears serious, please call 911. For more common or less serious side effects, please contact your provider (link contact page)
Read Our Blog to Learn More
For more information about pediatric psychiatry in Denver & Golden explore the following links:
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