HOW IT WORKS

Doctor explaining medical chart to patient in consultation.

Before your appointment

If you would like your child to see one of our doctors, please send us a self-referral via our website. You can also get a referral from your family doctor if you have one (although this is NOT required to see our doctors)
Your information, plus any doctor referrals we receive, are triaged according to urgency. Patients recently discharged from hospital will be triaged more urgently. We will triage all other referrals in chronologic order and according to urgency based on the information given to us.
One of our doctors will call you to set up an appointment with your child, and will send two introductory emails:
- 1) the link to your appointment (via Zoom or via Medeo)
- 2) pre-appointment paperwork: including an intake form, a consent form, and questionnaires about your mental health.

Note: All paperwork is done electronically via our secure online portal. You must submit your paperwork at least 24 hours before your first appointment so your doctor can prepare for your appointment in advance.

We want you to gain the most help out of our time together. The more information you can share with us, the more effectively we can help you.

A boy attends an online class with a female teacher on a desktop computer.

During your appointment

All Psychiatrist assessment appointments are 90 minutes. All GP mental health appointments are 30 minutes, including intake and follow up appointments. If your doctor feels that you need more time for your intake, we will schedule a follow up to complete it.
Please be online 5 minutes prior to your appointment start time.
During our time together, your doctor will:
- Seek to get to know your child and your family better using both the forms you submitted and in our visit;
- Spend time talking with your child and your family member(s) together;
- Spend time talking alone with your child;
- Offer a diagnosis of what mental health conditions you may be struggling with, and offer options for treatment - both medication and non-medication treatments.

Person flipping through printed calendar pages on a wooden table.

After your appointment

After your appointment, your doctor will:
- Book follow-up appointments as needed to monitor treatment efficacy, progress, and to engage in counselling services as appropriate.
- Send a letter to your family doctor regarding your diagnosis and treatment plan to keep your healthcare team informed of your healthcare situation.
- If you saw a GP mental health specialist, your doctor will consult on of our psychiatrists to discuss your case and ensure we are providing the highest level of care for you.

Service limitations

Please note the following limitations to our services:

We are not a primary care service. We are a specialist consult service and focus strictly on mental health issues.

We are not a crisis or emergency service. If you have any questions outside of your appointment time, please book a followup appointment, or if the appointment is too far out, please contact your family doctor/walk in clinic, or go to an emergency room.

We will not be able to deal with medical issues outside of your appointment time.

We are not a forensic psychiatry service: we are a purely clinical service and do not get involved in legal/court matters.

It is the parent's responsibility to follow legal custody agreements.

We provide care via virtual platforms. This is meant to provide faster and better access to people throughout Alberta and the NWT. However, there are tradeoffs: providing care virtually means not being able to do blood pressure, heart rate, weight measurements, or bloodwork. If you are prescribed any medications that require regular vital sign measurements (i.e. blood pressure, heart rate, weight), such as most ADHD medications, it is your responsibility to take your child to get regular vital sign measurements done at your family doctor or primary care provider's office, or do them regularly at home (i.e. using your own blood pressure cuff). Ensure your child's vital signs are within the age-appropriate limits: https://www.pedscases.com/pediatric-vital-signs-reference-chart

Our staff and physicians work long and hard to reduce wait times and provide excellent care for you and your family. Please be patient and kind to our staff over the phone or on videoconferences. We have a zero-tolerance policy regarding verbal abuse of our staff. If abuse arises, we will no longer be able to provide ongoing care for you.