Before Your Visit

Here is some helpful information to know before your first visit to the South Providence Psychiatry clinic.

  • New visits with all providers are one hour. Follow-up visits with a psychiatrist are 30 minutes. Follow-up visits with a therapist are one hour.
    • Please fill out this new patient form before your new visit with a psychiatrist.
    • Each therapist has a different form of evaluation for your initial visit that will be geared towards the kind of therapy or treatment you are seeking.
  • Please bring to your first visit any records from prior treatment you have received. If you would like, you can fill out a Release of Information form and we will request these records for you. Please complete this form and return it at least two weeks before your visit to allow time to acquire the records.
  • As part of an academic medical center, also known as a "teaching hospital", our health care team includes resident physicians who are completing their training in psychiatry. All resident physicians in our clinic are in their final years of training and have a significant amount of experience treating patients with psychiatric problems. Resident physicians spend one year in our clinic and are supervised directly by an attending physician. The attending physician will always come in at the end of your visit to review the work of the resident physician. While we understand it can be difficult for our patients to have frequent transitions in their provider, we genuinely believe that the level of care provided by our resident physicians is of high quality. Not only are they each aware of the most current methods of treatment, but they also are able to use the clinical experience of their attending physician. Many times, this collaboration results in thoughtful, innovative treatment for our patients.
  • As stimulant medications for ADHD treatment have become an increasing problem in the United States, physicians are working to improve the quality of evaluations to make every effort possible to use these medications appropriately and avoid fostering misuse. Before being prescribed stimulant medications, you will be asked to:
    • Provide documentation of prior assessment and treatment of ADHD.
    • Complete a full psychological assessment with one of the area providers. Depending on insurance coverage, a full psychological assessment may be expensive. The assessment is a full battery of psychological tests, in conjunction with an initial psychological evaluation, and takes about four hours. A full psychological evaluation helps delineate all psychiatric diagnoses, distinguish between ADHD and other diagnoses with similar symptoms and clarify the specific deficits associated with diagnosed ADHD.
      • Nearby testing services for completing a full psychological evaluation include:
    • Have a basic workup with a primary care physician to rule out any organic illnesses that could be affecting focus and concentration.
    • Patients who are prescribed stimulant medications may be required to complete random urine drug screens at the discretion of their provider.