Primary Care Psychiatry is a program that allows children who are experiencing emotional or behavioral health concerns to receive basic psychiatric care within their medical home. You may be referred by one of our providers if you are a patient at Potomac Pediatrics. Dr. Lauren Zohler, a board-certified pediatric psychiatrist, will evaluate your child and initiate a treatment plan. Evaluations may include multiple visits and/or testing using standardized tools. Treatment plans may include medications, referrals for therapy or even referrals to a specialist psychiatrist. Ideally, once your child is stabilized, ongoing care will be provided by your doctor at Potomac Pediatrics.
Candidates for this service include:
How does it work?
To be considered for our program your Potomac Pediatrics primary care provider (PCP) must directly refer you to see Dr. Zohler. This program is exclusive to existing patients that have an established medical history with Potomac Pediatrics. Non-patients looking to switch to Potomac Pediatrics to gain access to this service will not be accepted nor referred to Dr. Zohler.
Once referred, Dr. Lauren Zohler, our psychiatrist, will evaluate your child, confirm the diagnosis, if one exists, and develop a treatment plan. The next steps will either be follow up visits with her or transfer back to your pediatrician with treatment plan recommendations. Patients referred to the psychiatrist who has significant ongoing diagnostic or therapeutic challenges will be ineligible for our services and will be referred to an outside psychiatrist or other mental health providers. Our goal is to stabilize your child on the new treatment regimen and transfer them back to their pediatrician who will oversee their continued treatment.
Private patient discussions are confidential and protected under the law, they will not be shared with the parent unless Dr. Zohler is concerned for the patient’s safety.
The following medications are not appropriate for our Primary Care Psychiatry program:
Financial Information
INITIAL FORMS
INTAKE PHQ-9 GAD SCARED-CHILD SCARED-PARENT
OTHER FORMS