With a shortage of pediatric psychiatrists, we need a new model to support pediatricians and patients.
After founding my pediatric mental health care company in 2021, one of our first patients was a child who’d been referred to us from the emergency room (ER) after a deeply troubling experience in the healthcare system. She was put on medication by her primary care provider (PCP) to help her cope with emotional struggles following a breakup, but when the initial dosage didn’t seem to work, her doctor kept increasing it. Over time, she developed severe side effects, including self-harm behaviors like hair-pulling. Desperate for help, her mother begged the PCP to take her off the medication, but the provider didn’t know how to safely taper the dosage.
