Collaborative Care
There are times when other health care and allied health care professionals can enhance the work that Donna provides to her clients. One key mental health care specialist who can assist is a psychiatrist. There is no charge for psychiatry services. All psychiatry services are covered by O.H.I.P. (This service may not be available to some EAP program clients.)
Donna Gordon MSW RSW RYT is able to provide as part of her psychotherapy services access to timely psychiatric assessments. The psychiatric assessments are meant to enhance your treatment plan with your therapist and are not meant to be a stand alone service. The consultations are meant to support the ongoing work that you are doing with your therapist.
Access to a psychiatrist is done virtually, on a computer, using the Ontario Telehealth Network. All psychiatry visits will be setup as 3-way conferences and instructions and a link will be emailed to you so that you can connect to the session. This will be a 3-way virtual visit.
Accessible psychiatric support assists with providing a diagnosis when criteria is met, medication recommendations or monitoring, and most importantly consultation regarding your psychotherapy treatment plan. The goal is to provide you with ALL the tools you need on your journey to wellness.
If it is determined that you would benefit from a timely psychiatric consultation, and your referring physician supports the referral, our office will arrange for everything. You simply need to log in on the scheduled date. You do not need to wait for months for an appointment.
On consultation day, both the therapist and the client will virtually visit with the psychiatrist, where the psychiatrist will complete a psychiatric assessment and make treatment recommendations. Following the assessment we will discuss your consultation.
With your consent, the psychiatrist will send the treatment plan to your referring doctor and your therapist, so that everyone is aligned with the treatment plan. For the most part your family physician, or referring physician can then provide medication refills, if that is part of your treatment plan.
However, there are times when follow up or medical monitoring is required for a period of time in collaboration with your treatment team. All follow-up is arranged directly through our office and there is nothing for you to do.
Our office works very closely with the team of psychiatrists and to make this process as smooth as possible, we are your single point of access. This makes scheduling easy for you as you do not have to coordinate anything. Note this is a collaborative and consultative model that exists through your therapist, and always includes the therapist, the client, and the psychiatrist. There are other models to accessing psychiatry that Donna would be more than happy to discuss with you, as well as going directly through a physician.
Should you wish long term access to a psychiatrist beyond your time in therapy, or you no longer wish to use our office as your single point of access to services, please let us know so that we can assist you with other options. We also recommend that you discuss other options with your family physician. They can assist you by providing you with another referral to a psychiatrist or getting you on a waitlist for a community psychiatrist. There are also other telemedicine options. We are here to help you select the option that best fits your needs.
O.H.I.P. covers the cost of the virtual visit with the psychiatrist.
The benefit of this model is that a truly collaborative treatment plan is created and put into action.
Service provided by Psychotherapy Matters.