Tag: mental health

Mental Health Education

Saving Your Mental Health: Where To Start?

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The Problem: Mental Health Care Can Be Expensive

One of the most daunting aspects people face when attempting to manage their mental health is managing the financial cost of the care. Between the bills associated with counseling, prescriptions, and time away from work, the mere thought of beginning a therapy plan is often enough to cause most people to want to hide their wallets.

In the interest of making the process a bit less expensive and terrifying for you (our reader), we’ve compiled a list of ways to approach starting a mental health treatment plan while also saving on costs.

Options For Solutions

1. Start Sooner Rather Than Later – It can be sooo tempting to think that you’ll save money by putting off looking into care, but if you condition is worsening while you’re avoiding seeking help, it will be all the harder to improve when you get around to beginning care. Save yourself time and money by acknowledging the reality of your situation.

This is not a matter of mind over matter, so don’t waste time blaming yourself for needing a bit of support. If you wouldn’t scold an asthmatic for not being able to force themselves to breath, you can afford to cut your brain a bit of emotional slack. Begin researching your options for getting the care you need, and then be smart about how you get the help. Which brings us to…

2. Pick The Right Kind Of Mental Health Professional – One of the best ways to save time your mental health expenses is to select the most appropriate kind of professional from the beginning of your care. It saves you the time and expense of paying to switch professionals after being screened and recommended to receive a different type of support.

In most cases, the decision will focus on choosing between starting with a professional who provides treatment by counseling versus medicines. Although it’s very common for people to receive support with both therapy and medications (frequently at the same time), more and more mental health professionals are tending to specialize in one or the other.

So if deep down in your heart of hearts, you know that you need a medicine to stop the slide and get your mental health back on track. Start with a professional who writes prescriptions, because doing anything else will probably cause you to spend more money without making much progress in the long run. The same goes for counseling. If you’re desperate for a safe space to vent and process internal struggles, start with psychotherapy. Even if you are eventually recommended to start a medication with another treatment professional, you’ll be more able to advocate for yourself and potentially need less medicine support because of your improved coping skills.

One last thing in this area, people often ask if they need to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist for provision of their respective medicine management or therapy. The truth of the matter is that there are now many professionals who are licensed to provide medicine prescriptions without being psychiatrists or provide therapy without being psychologists. Without getting into the politics associated with this area, patients are probably best served by going with two simple rules of thumb.

  1. Look for a professional who is well-versed in supporting people with your kind of concerns. You may be able to tell if this is case by reviewing the professional’s profile information. If nothing in their descriptions or reviews sounds like your situation, you may need to look elsewhere.
  2. If you have complicated care needs, seek a more advanced professional. As explained earlier, mental health professionals have different levels of experience. The level of skill required for management of inattention with mild depression is simply not the same as the skill set required for management of intense anxiety in the presence of a thyroid or seizure disorder. If you know your situation is more complex, pay for the support of a more skilled professional. Their abilities will allow you to achieve more rapid results – thereby saving you the frustration and expense of struggling for years only to find out that you could have received more effective treatment.

3. Use Your Resources – If you have health insurance that covers mental health appointments, you may use their website or customer support line to request the name of mental health professionals near you. At the same time, you’ll probably also use search engine reviews to identify a few options of your own. If you have supportive friends or family, they may be able to provide references to people they’ve found helpful. Finally, don’t forget to ask your primary doctor’s office if they have good mental health team members to recommend. It’s very common for generalists and pediatricians to refer to local mental health professionals, so you’re likely to receive a few glowing reviews.

Also, by using the network of people and resources at your disposal, you’ll save time and avoid the expense of having to transfer from a professional who turns out not to be the best fit for your needs.

To help our local readers with this process, we’ve included a list of some of the therapists that Walker Clarity Centre patients have positively reviewed. It isn’t all inclusive, but it gives an idea of the kind of quality professional you should be seeking.

4. Screen While You Make Contact – Once you have your list of names, do some digging. Thoroughly read the reviews for your favorite candidates and visit their websites. Once you think you’ve found a potential fit, contact the professional. If you plan to use your insurance, find out if they are in network. Do they see patients during days/times that you are able to make an appointment? Pay attention to the interaction between yourself and their staff. Is it a good fit? If so, congratulations! Schedule an appointment to finish screening with the professional in person. If not, congratulations on saving yourself time and money by avoiding a poor fit! Move to the next in your list of names, and start screening the next option.

If you take this approach to beginning your mental health journey, you are much more likely to save time, money, and frustration. You’ll seek care before your symptoms progress to the pont of being overwhelming. You’ll determine the best kind of mental health professional to see first. You’ll use your support network to identify the best candidates to provide your care, and you’ll properly screen through your list of names to find the professional and office team that best approach your preferences for mental health care support.

Mental Health Education

33 Ways To Stretch Your Mental Health Dollars

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Most of us know what it’s like to have more month than money.  It can be painfully frustrating to stare at the phone or computer screen while willing those dollars and cents to multiply in the account.

So what do you do when your mental health is on the line and the dollar just won’t stretch far enough?  More and more, this question is becoming part of the daily conversation in American households.  If you find yourself in this situation, consider downloading our resource describing 33 ways to stretch your mental health dollars and get more bang from your hard-earned buck.  Through it, you’ll learn how to stretch your medications, mental health appointments, mental health payments, health insurance, access to local resources, and relationships with medical providers to get the most progress toward your mental health goals.  Whether it’s by adjusting medication supplies, altering the frequency of medication appointments, or tapping that semi-forgotten flexible spending account, it’s important for everyone to know how to get the most from their local and national mental health resources.

To support individuals dealing with side effects and interactions from mental health medications, we also offer the PADRS-10, a 1-page checklist for screening psychiatric medication side effects.

Mental Health Education

Life After A Psychiatric Diagnosis – Finding Hope In Healing

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With 1 in 5 American adults currently diagnosed with a mental illness1 and 3/4 of chronic mental illness being diagnosed by 24 years of age2, it’s likely that either you or someone you care about has had to ask some tough questions about their mental health condition.  During their course of psychiatric treatment, many people find themselves wondering, “What does this diagnosis mean for the rest of my life?  Will I be stuck with these medications and their side effects forever?  Even if I can stop them, is it safe to try?”  It can be very confusing for a person when they first begin trying to manage their mental health and medications.  It can be frustrating or intimidating to have to talk to your prescriber about side effects.  Even so, there is hope, and you aren’t the only person to feel this way.  Here are a few things to keep in mind as you tackle this particular challenge in life.

  • In some ways, a psychiatric diagnosis is what you make of it. – If you say it’s the worst thing to ever happen to you, that might end up being the case.  However, many of the people who experience better outcomes after a psychiatric diagnosis realize that this is just one aspect of who they really are.  This discovery isn’t always immediate.  For some people it comes during the course of therapy, but it’s important to understand that you are more than a diagnosis listed in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).  Although your psychiatric diagnosis can provide useful information to mental health providers on how to support you, it in no way reflects the sum total of who your really are as a person.  This is a fact that is easily forgotten during the more difficult periods of mental health, but it is a truth that applies to every mental health patient – even if your diagnosis happens to be in the area that the DSM labels as “personality disorders”.
  • A psychiatric diagnosis could represent a hidden opportunity. – In some cases, our bodies can use our emotions and perceptions to bring out attention to issues that we may have been to busy/stressed/tired/afraid/traumatized/etc to deal in the past.  Having a description for the process that is happening in your life provides an opportunity for you to begin learning how to improve things.  The most important decision that you have to make at this point is whether or not you’re willing to change for the better.  If you are, embrace the opportunity to learn as much as you can about your proposed diagnosis.  Ask your provider to help you understand your symptoms and read descriptions of diagnoses at reputable sources like The Mayo Clinic, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and Mental Health America.  Even if it means that you eventually decide that the label doesn’t quite fit for your experience, you will most likely be a wiser and more capable person as a result the self-education.  In the case that you decide the diagnosis is appropriate, who could be better serve as an expert on the way your brain functions than you?  Learn all you can; your mental health team and future self will thank you!
  • The dose of medication indicated during a crisis may not be needed to keep you stable over time. – Depending on your response to treatment, there’s a very real chance that your medication dose could be reduced over time.  Although 1 i n 5 American adults have a mental illness, only 1 in 25 American adults are reported as living with a chronic psychiatric diagnosis2.  Not all diagnoses result in life-long medication management.  Even when there is a need for chronic medication management, it is possible for the need for medication support can decline over time – given the right circumstances.  That is because a patient who actively learns about their mental health condition is usually also the kind of person who gradually develops skills to manage their mental diagnosis.  This is usually done with skills that are not limited to medication intervention.  Individuals may learn to manage their concentration, level of work stress, periods of low mood, history of trauma, or mildly paranoid thoughts using psychotherapy.  They may improve their nutrition and/or tendencies for disordered eating with the help of a dietitian.  They may improve their sleep quality by receiving treatment for sleep apnea.  They may see a chiropractor for reduction of chronic back pain.  As a person’s brain and body heal as a result of healthier new skill sets, the need for medication intervention can decline.  Even if a medication can’t be stopped, it can be decreased to the lowest dose that continues to provide therapeutic treatment.  This approach further helps to limits the side effects experienced over time.
  • Before stopping your medication, please, PLEASE talk to your prescriber. – Even if you are cleared to stop your medication, you should be aware that some medications can cause serious problems when stopped abruptly.  By serious, we’re talking about excruciatingly painful muscle cramps/spasms, withdrawal, and seizures.  Doctor’s generally try to prescribe medications that will be forgiving and not cause life-threatening withdrawal symptoms if they are discontinued abruptly, but more potent medicines can’t always be avoided.  If you find yourself in a situation where you’re running low on medication before you’re able to afford your next refill, consider contacting your provider to learn if your remaining pills supply should be used to temporarily tapper off of the medication.  In some cases, the doctor may have sample medications to help cover your treatment until a full refill can be purchased.  Finally, for those in the difficult scenario where your doctor disagrees with your decision to stop a medication, keep in mind that your provider may still be able to provide useful information about how to gradually tapper off of the medicine to protect your safety.
  • Medication doses often grow with the children taking them. – It’s important to know this fact for 2 reasons.  The first is so you won’t be alarmed the first time your doctor recommends a dose advancement.  The second reason is to prevent a child from switching from a perfectly good medication because of the perception that it isn’t working.  If the dose hasn’t been advanced for 6 months and Junior has grown 2 inches and put on 10 lbs, his attention/mood might be off because he’s outgrown the old medication dose.  When your child starts to come approach their adult size and metabolic rate, you’ll likely find that their medication dose stabilizes and no longer needs advancement.
  • You’ll get further faster if you let others help. – On the journey to greater mental health, a person will be aided by any number of people.  Some will be professional providers; others will be social contacts.  Your psychotherapist will probably come to know you better than any other member of your mental healthcare team.  It’s a good thing because it allows this provider to be of greatest assistance to you, but it also means you need to choose this person well.  Feel free to keep searching until you find someone who is good fit for your personality style and mental health goals.  Similarly, a person’s psychiatrist will play a central role in making sure that their medications are working just as hard as they are toward improving their mental health.  If you don’t feel comfortable asking questions or can’t get clear responses to the questions you ask, the arrangement may be a poor fit.  You want a mental health doctor who will teach you how to use your medications to maximally improve your likelihood of remaining stable.  Mentally healthy friends and family are an amazing resource for those fortunate enough to have them.  Family and close friends can observe and help report symptoms that you may never have noticed.  They can also help provide close monitoring for safety, which may permit some individuals to avoid psychiatric hospitalization.  Trustworthy family and close friends can provide respite child care for exhausted parents, accountability for those recovering from a history of substance use, and distraction from frustrating days of work or less than cooperative mental health.  If you are fortunate enough to have safe and trustworthy people in your life who honestly want to assist you on your journey to greater mental health, get out of your own way… Let them help.
  • If at first you don’t succeed, therapy, therapy, therapy… – Has it been mentioned that psychotherapy really helps a persons ability to manage a mental health condition?  The reason is actually very logical.  You therapy skills and self-discoveries will be carried with you for the duration of your life – long after your medication has been switched, decreased, or maybe even stopped.  Most likely, your therapy experiences will assist the changes that gradually produce a new and healthier you.  While there are plenty of situations where therapy isn’t effective until a medication is started, the fact remains that psychotherapy is very often the tool that allows people to accomplish changes that they weren’t capable of earlier in life.

These are just a few of the ways in which a psychiatric diagnosis may actually represent the start of a better chapter in your life.  It’s unfortunate that the social stigma associated with psychiatric diagnoses often obscures the opportunity for wholeness provided through correct identification of a problematic process occurring in a person’s life.  In spite of this fact, you should know that there can be hope in the process of mental healing and healthcare.  You aren’t alone.  Keep seeking; keep learning… keep the faith.  Positive change will come.

References:
1 Mental Health America. (n.d.). 2017 State of mental health in America – report overview historical data. [Brochure]. Retrieved February 18, 2018 from http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/2017-state-mental-health-america-report-overview-historical-data
2 National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). Mental health facts in America. [Brochure]. Retrieved February 18, 2018 from https://www.nami.org/NAMI/media/NAMI-Media/Infographics/GeneralMHFacts.pdf

Thanks for visiting Walker Clarity Centre!

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Dear Patients, Colleagues, and Neighbors,

This is Dr. Walker writing. It’s with a heavy heart that I must inform you that the Walker Clarity Centre closed its doors on 1/31/2020. I have retired from practicing clinical medicine and am no longer engaged in providing patient care.

At the end of 2019, I received unfortunate news that combined with personal circumstances to require that I shift my attention to focusing on my family. I have already notified my patients and begun coordinating their transition to local psychiatrists as I complete their final medication and paperwork needs. To support this process, the contact form of this website remains active. The phone and fax lines have been disconnected as of 4/1/2020.

For those who were hoping to schedule intake appointments at Walker Clarity Centre for care, I regret to inform you that this is no longer possible. To help your search, I’m linking the psychiatrist referral list that was given to my patients (here) in hopes that it will assist your search for a local mental health professional.

Although this concludes my career in medicine, I’m honored to have had the opportunity to be of some small help. It’s been a privilege to conspire with all of you to better the emotional well-being of our community.

Thank you for allowing me to be of service.

– Dr. Walker –

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Thank you for visiting the website of the Walker Clarity Centre!

Founded by Adult and Child-Adolescent Psychiatrist, D’Loreyn Walker, MD, the Walker Clarity Centre provides educational information on how to use medication and therapy resources to overcome mental health obstacles and achieve success and forward momentum. To accomplish this process, the website houses educational articles and products, including the PADRS-10 psychotropic medication side effect assessment scale, for client and community access. 

For more information or additional resources, please use the contact page to communicate with our team!

What Do Others Say About Us?

“Dr. Walker is bright and well educated. What makes her an outstanding doctor are two qualities: her ability to diagnose; and her willingness to work with a patient until she finds the best way to treat a patient. In one word-hope. That is what Dr. Walker has given us, hope. When a patient is dealing with a complicated and hard to understand disease it is very reassuring to know that Dr. Walker is leading the team.”

“Dr. Walker is smart and extremely logical. Patient as can be.”

“Enjoyed speaking with Dr. Walker. [She’s] easy to talk to.”