Contact us for other questions
Emergency
A crisis or emergency demands an immediate response. Please call 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline which is available 24/7. If you need more support, please call 911 or go to the closest Emergency Room.
Services
A psychiatrist is a medical school graduate who also completed a residency program specifically focused on mental health care. Receiving over 17,000 hours of specialized training, psychiatrists are equipped to manage all facets of mental health care.
There are many different types of skilled professionals in this space. Among medication prescribers, there are psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Among therapists, there are psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors or life coaches among others. Among these talented professionals, only psychiatrists are medical doctors who can both prescribe medications and provide psychotherapy. Many states today still require nurse practitioners and physician assistants to practice under the supervision of a psychiatrist.
Most patients today see a therapist who is separate from their prescriber. If you have a trusted therapist, I can complement and support their work during our visits with a therapy-informed approach while mainly focusing on medication management. If you are specifically looking for integrated mental health care from one source, we can have that discussion.
Psychotherapy is a treatment that helps people who are chronically struggling with mental illness, trauma, emotional pain, poor interpersonal relationships, or personal dysfunction. First developed by psychiatrist Sigmund Freud in 1890, psychoanalysis has led to the creation and adaptation of different types of psychotherapy to target many specific problems.
Psychotherapy is distinct from counseling, coaching, or talk therapy. While these other modalities can also be very helpful and often sufficient for many patients today, psychotherapy can be very helpful in treating some of the most complex and vexing challenges seen in the mental health landscape today. It is a structured and collaborative process to explore why patients are struggling, and once this is discovered, to see what type of change is possible and tolerable. Factors that lead to success include the patient’s motivation for change, the psychotherapist’s training and skills, and the quality of the relationship between the patient and psychotherapist.
Some patients suffer from conditions in which medications are partially effective or not effective at all. Other patients find that medications provide only temporary relief from a long-standing struggle or an especially painful, life-altering experience. Finally, there are patients who want to fully optimize treatment to obtain the best possible result or to reduce their medication burden over the long run. I practice psychotherapy because it works. It is truly rewarding to witness people improve their quality of life through this process.
From the outset of my career in psychiatry, I sought to develop expertise in both medication management and psychotherapy. During my residency, I pursued advanced training in a specialized Psychotherapy Track, which provided a more in-depth experience beyond the standard psychiatric curriculum. Under formal supervision and mentorship of a highly respected psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, I treated a sizable but select panel of long-term therapy patients with numerous positive outcomes. This experience reinforced for me how truly powerful psychotherapy is as a healing medium.
In clinical practice, I have used psychodynamic therapy, supportive therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for trauma, mentalization-based therapy (MBT), transference-focused therapy (TFT), motivational interviewing (MI), and culturally sensitive therapy. My aim is to leverage any and all of these tools at various points in therapy to help patients get better.
All appointments are virtual at this time. In my clinical experience, I believe that telepsychiatry visits offer the same level of care as in-person visits. More importantly, my current patients strongly prefer and even insist on virtual appointments due to the added convenience. In the future, I may reconsider in-person appointments if enough patients express a strong demand.
- Disability evaluations for new patients.
- Paperwork for emotional support or service animals.
- Paperwork for handgun licenses.
- Forensic evaluations involving child custody, social security disability, or court proceedings.
- Group therapy.
- Case management services.
- Prescriptions for opiates.
- Long-term prescriptions for benzodiazepines.
Financial
Please contact us here to inquire about fees, which are regularly discussed with new patients during the initial phone consultation. Please be assured that fees are in line with those charged by other private practice psychiatrists in the Austin area.
No. If you have insurance, I would be considered an out of network psychiatrist. I provide my patients with a superbill statement that enables them to seek reimbursement from their insurance company.
I accept debit card, credit card, or ACH payment. All payment is due at the time of service.
Existing Patients
Our patients can click here or on the Patient Portal button above in the header to:
- Securely message us with any requests or concerns.
- View all prior and upcoming appointments.
- Manage upcoming appointments, such as cancellations and appointment paperwork.
- Send and receive sensitive documents.
- View all signed consent forms.
- Download superbills.
- Manage preferred payment methods.
Please directly click on the form you would like to access:
New Patients
Yes. I operate a small, select private practice where I treat adults (18 years and older) for a broad variety of mental health conditions. All new patients request an initial, free phone consultation to determine if I can meet your goals and needs.
To get started, please contact us here or click on the Get Started button below.
A 15-minute phone call will be arranged to discuss your concerns and goals and to see if there is a good fit between us. The next step would be to schedule an initial evaluation, and it is this visit which establishes the patient-doctor relationship and starts treatment planning. From here, we would then have regular follow-up visits to monitor your progress, to address any new problems, and to further optimize the treatment plan as needed. Depending on your goals, you may also opt for more immersive psychotherapy.
On the other hand, a second opinion is a one-time consult visit to clarify your diagnosis and to discuss treatment options and recommendations. This service does not establish a patient-doctor relationship and there is no expectation for future visits. With your permission, care would be coordinated with your existing psychiatrist or mental health provider.
hello@lifepathpsychiatry.com
Austin, Texas
M – Th: 2 PM – 6 PM