FAQs

Mental health services refer broadly to all services that treat mental health (i.e. symptoms related to the mind) and include but are not limited to psychotherapy, medication management, peer support, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, residential care, and inpatient care.

Psychiatry services are offered by medical providers who have training in and are licensed to practice psychiatric medicine. These services primarily consist of medication management (prescribing psychiatric medications) and brief supportive psychotherapy. Brief supportive psychotherapy is included in the medication management appointments and includes rapport-building, empathy, counseling, and working on coping skills.

Therapy services offered by non-medical providers known as therapists only include therapy services and do not include any medication management as therapists are not trained in medicine and are not licensed to prescribe psychiatric medications.

Although some psychiatric providers have extensive training in psychotherapy, most psychiatric providers these days do not provide psychotherapy as it is typically offered by therapists (i.e. a minimum of 50-60 minute sessions for each appointment) because insurance stopped reimbursing for medical providers to administer therapy in the 1990s. The trend since then has been for longer therapy sessions to be offered by therapists.

This clinic provides psychiatric services which include medication management and brief supportive psychotherapy. Services are both in person and virtual.

This practice treats ages 5 and up.

This clinic takes a flexible approach with these evaluations. Generally though, younger children have a more difficult time attending an extended intake session – and it can be considered helpful to have a separate parent session to gather a large part of the history while then observing the child and interacting with the child separately, perhaps at another session. This can be discussed in detail when booking the initial appointment.

ADHD is a clinical diagnosis, meaning that diagnosis can be based off of a comprehensive clinical history alone and does not necessarily require additional testing. That being said, there are cases where specific kinds of testing are recommended. At a minimum, this clinic practices gathering reports from standardized screenings/questionnaires from the patient and collateral sources; conducts a comprehensive clinical assessment of the patient; acquires collateral information from others that know the patient well. This practice also can offer computerized testing assessments to aid in the evaluation of ADHD as this practice recognizes that some schools/colleges/institutions require this kind of testing to be included in an ADHD assessment. There may be cases where extensive testing even beyond computerized testing is recommended, and this can be discussed with your provider.

Autism and ADHD evaluations are included as part of the comprehensive initial psychiatric evaluation, and so the fee will be the same as for the whole initial visit. For adult and pediatric patients intakes are $295 or whatever insurance policy reimburses for. Oasis Mental Wellness always screens for ADHD at initial evaluations, but Autism is only by request. Please note that it may take more than one session to complete the full evaluation, but any appointments after the initial visit will be at the appropriate follow up rate. Please note that this practice is willing to accept insurance for Autism evaluations, but due to the extensive and time-consuming nature of these evaluations combined with the fact that some payers reimburse at low rates, this practice will not accept every insurance it takes for Autism evaluations. If you have specific questions about your insurance plan and Autism evaluations, please reach out and ask.

There is currently in the United States a national certification for Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C) for psychiatric providers that requires before the certification process having years’ experience treating perinatal populations. Perinatal populations includes treating women who are pregnant and who are postpartum. The certification process requires attending multiple training seminars and then taking a national certification exam. This certification has to be maintained with ongoing Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits that are specific to Perinatal Mental Health.

There are 3 different types of psychiatric providers – Psychiatrists (Psychiatrists are Physicians and have either an M.D. or D.O. license), Physician Assistants (PA), and Nurse Practitioners (NP). Physicians who are licensed to practice psychiatric medicine attended medical school and completed a residency in psychiatry. PAs complete a graduate medical program for PAs and are licensed to practice in any field of medicine they choose under a supervising physician of the same field. For a PA to practice in psychiatry, they must practice under a supervising physician who is a psychiatrist. It is similar for NPs – they, too, complete a graduate medical program specifically for NPs and must practice under a supervising physician who is a psychiatrist. Though some states allow NPs or PAs to practice autonomously without supervision after a certain number of years of experience, North Carolina is not yet one of those states.

A new patient appointment is a minimum of 75 minutes long for adults and pediatrics. At Oasis Mental Wellness we find that about 30% of patients need more than an hour for their initial evaluation and we will give you the extra time as the schedule allows. Sometimes completing the initial psychiatric evaluation may require multiple sessions if there are complex histories and many symptoms reported. Follow-up appointments are typically 30 minutes but can be longer as needed. This practice does not offer any follow-up appointments under 30 minutes to make sure we are giving every patient enough time which allows us to provide high-quality care.

This practice does take insurance. Currently Oasis Mental Wellness is in network with Medicare, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) including UNC Health Alliance, Aetna including the State Health Plan,  United Healthcare, MedCost and Ambetter. This practice is also in network with Tricare and Cigna but accepts new clients on a limited basis.

There is a $75 no show/late cancellation (within 24 hours or less) for new patient appointments. There is a $50 no show/late cancellation fee for follow up appointments.

For the process of helping assist with Prior Authorization forms that insurance sometimes requires to approve certain psychiatric medications, we are happy to keep on file your Pharmacy Benefits information to help us more smoothly complete Prior Authorization forms when they are needed. Otherwise, if we do not have your Pharmacy Benefits information, your pharmacy will need to initiate the Prior Authorizations.

Having a virtual appointment can be a similar experience to an in-person visit. Telehealth appointments are convenient as they can be done anywhere, though the patient must be located in the state where the provider has a medical license. This means you can have an appointment in the comfort of your own home or in between your busy work schedule.

You can ask your psychiatric provider for recommended therapists or a referral. Your health insurance company can also provide a list of in-network therapists. In addition, researching online will allow a broader range of therapists to look into.

This question requires a nuanced discussion between you and your psychiatric provider as the answer to this question varies depending on the condition being treated. Your provider adheres to evidence-based treatment guidelines and will openly review your options.

Each person responds differently to medication. If a medication does not seem to be helpful, be honest with your provider and let them know. A medication adjustment can be made if needed.

Oasis Mental Wellness is intentional about looking at the whole person – mind, body, spirit. The mind can be targeted with medications to influence biological processes and with psychotherapy to target psychological processes. Things like nutrition, exercise, and sleep impact health, including mental health, and are important to consider as well. Other things like quality social contacts, engagement with the community, having a sense of purpose in work or recreation, spiritual practices, etc. are all things that contribute to our well-being. Since biological treatments are just one aspect of care and are limited in scope, it is fundamental for good psychiatric care to encompass the entire person.

The concept of integrative care is evidence-based and looks beyond psychiatric medications to treat mental illness. Integrative care considers evidence surrounding things like nutrition (including supplements) and gives more consideration to ruling out medical causes of conditions via lab work. Many providers in psychiatry may not be thorough in ruling out medical causes of depression when treating depression and may forego lab work that could look deeper, for example. As another example, there are certain nutrients that if someone is deficient in, it can make it harder for certain psychiatric medications to work. The idea is that these treatments work together to contribute to the best outcome for the person.