Office Policies
Cancellations
If you must cancel or reschedule an appointment, we require 24 business hour notice (weekends not included). If your appointment is on a Monday, the cancellation must be made by the same hour on the preceding Friday.
Cancellations that occur with less than 24 business hours notice or failure to show for an appointment will be charged the full fee of $175 for a follow up and $350 for an initial intake.
If it is more than 24 hours before your appointment patients are able to cancel and reschedule their appointments via the patient portal and this is the preferred method to do so.
No-Shows
Arrival more than ten minutes after the start of the appointment will be considered a missed appointment and the cancellation fee will apply. Patients are responsible for remembering their own appointments and should not rely on reminders from Breakwater Psychiatry to do so. Parents of adolescents are responsible for ensuring they are on time for their appointments.
Medication Refills
Refill requests must come directly from clients via the patient portal (i.e. requests from pharmacies will not be answered). Medications will be refilled during normal business hours and only after a follow-up appointment is scheduled. Refill requests on weekends will be filled the following Monday or non-holiday business day.
Contact
We make every effort to return messages within 24 business hours. Because we are a solo provider practice and are often in session with other clients, direct messaging via the patient portal is always the preferred method to contact your provider. Messages received late in the day, on weekends, or holidays will not be returned until the next business day.
Emergencies and Crisis
If you are experiencing a medical or psychiatric emergency please call 911 or proceed to the nearest emergency room. Please note that we do NOT provide 24/7 care and that messages and calls after hours will be returned during normal business hours.
Benzodiazepines:
As an evidence based practice that cares about your future physical and mental health and aims always to do no harm: Breakwater Psychiatry does not provide or support the long-term use of daily Benzodiazepines for the treatment of mental health conditions.
Benzodiazepines are unfortunately associated with dependence, tolerance and addiction. Additionally, they are associated with permanent long-term memory impairments including dementia. Therefore, Benzodiazepines are best utilized in the short-term while a safe and effective treatment is identified.
If you are currently taking a Benzodiazepine daily (Lorazepam, Diazepam, Clonazepam) we are very happy to discuss with you alternative treatment options and a slow and safe taper. We recognize that patients are often very fearful of coming off of these medications, even if they desire to, and we provide a supportive environment to do so.
Adolescents:
Available evidence demonstrates that adolescents struggling with anxiety, panic and post-traumatic stress disorder are in most circumstances best served if they are being treated concurrently by a therapist.
Additionally, adolescents struggling with depression are at higher risk of engaging in self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and substance abuse. Particularly at this age, learning to identify triggers, manage impulses, practice healthy coping mechanisms and learn new ones can have a tremendous impact on future mental health.
Therefore, in most instances we ask that patients ages 12-21 be willing to engage in, or currently be engaged in, regular psychotherapy. We are happy to discuss our reasoning for this further in your initial consultation.
