Services & Fees
Women-Centered Psychiatric Care
Time. Depth. Beyond the Quick Fix.
Reproductive & Hormonal Health
Your cultural identity isn't just a backdrop - it's a vital part of your healing journey. As someone who's walked the path from first-generation college student to Harvard-trained psychiatrist, I understand firsthand how success in spaces not designed for us can come with hidden costs. Together, we'll:
Honor your cultural strengths while healing from cultural wounds
Transform code-switching fatigue into authentic presence
Build strategies for thriving in predominantly white spaces while preserving your essence
Create pathways for success that don't require leaving your true self behind
Every week, I help women who've mastered the art of "making it work,"while carrying the weight of unspoken struggles. The kind of women who hold things together at work, at home, in their relationships, and who arrive at my practice with the quiet sense that something has been off for longer than they have let themselves notice.
That recognition deserves a clinical space designed around it.
Personal Growth & Mental Wellness
Your cultural identity isn't just a backdrop - it's a vital part of your healing journey. As someone who's walked the path from first-generation college student to Harvard-trained psychiatrist, I understand firsthand how success in spaces not designed for us can come with hidden costs. Together, we'll:
Honor your cultural strengths while healing from cultural wounds
Transform code-switching fatigue into authentic presence
Build strategies for thriving in predominantly white spaces while preserving your essence
Create pathways for success that don't require leaving your true self behind
Relationship Growth & Connection
Your cultural identity isn't just a backdrop - it's a vital part of your healing journey. As someone who's walked the path from first-generation college student to Harvard-trained psychiatrist, I understand firsthand how success in spaces not designed for us can come with hidden costs. Together, we'll:
Honor your cultural strengths while healing from cultural wounds
Transform code-switching fatigue into authentic presence
Build strategies for thriving in predominantly white spaces while preserving your essence
Create pathways for success that don't require leaving your true self behind
The Foundation
Bloom & Build Psychiatry was founded on the belief that good mental healthcare requires time and depth.
Initial evaluations are in-depth, and follow-up visits are structured around a cohesive treatment plan.
Most patients leave their first visit with a clearer understanding of what has been driving their symptoms and a plan that fits.
The Approach
My perspective is holistic, whether the work is a diagnostic evaluation, medication management, or psychotherapy. I believe in relational work and in decisions that account for the whole of your experience: your values, your beliefs, your feelings, and your thoughts. A decision made without all of that is usually missing something that matters.
For many women, this means no longer setting aside the sadness, anxiety, or anger they have carried for years, at work, in their romantic and erotic life, and with their family and friends.
I am a board-certified psychiatrist in Adult and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry with fellowship training in reproductive integrative psychiatry.
What I bring to the work is the rigor of academic medicine and compassionate engagement with what is actually happening for you in your life.
I recognize that the symptom on the surface is rarely the whole story, and the way you describe your experience matters as much as where it lands on a checklist. I work transdiagnostically, focusing on the patterns and processes driving your symptoms rather than treating a diagnosis in isolation.
I offer relationally focused therapy that strives to help you understand yourself more clearly so you can build healthier relationships in every part of your life. I take an active stance in the room, asking questions that invite curiosity about yourself and how you live.
Beyond residency and my Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry fellowship, I have continued formal training in additional therapeutic and clinical approaches, including:
- Family and Couples Systems Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for ADHD
- Lifestyle Medicine
- Flowers and Delaney Dream Interview Method (ongoing)
- Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (ongoing)
I continue to explore new therapeutic approaches, both to deepen my own clinical thinking and to recognize when a different type of therapist may be a better fit for your care.
Treatment plans are built collaboratively. When medication is appropriate, I am specific about what I am prescribing and why. When it is not, I say so.
New Patient Evaluations
Every new patient begins with an evaluation. Which length fits depends on how much is in the picture. After your evaluation, most patients have a fifty-minute results review and treatment planning visit, then move into ongoing care.
For women coming in with a clearer presenting concern, an established diagnosis they want re-evaluated, or a focused second opinion on existing treatment. I use the hour to understand your history, your current concerns, and what you are hoping to address, and to map out next steps.
Typical frequency: One-time evaluation. Most patients then move into ongoing care, or, if my practice is not the right fit, receive a referral to a clinician who may be a better match.
For women with overlapping or complex concerns, often involving some combination of mood, anxiety, hormonal transitions, trauma history, ADHD, or longstanding patterns that previous care has not fully addressed. The longer visit allows for a more complete biopsychosocial picture, validated screening where indicated, and a written summary and treatment roadmap to anchor our work together. For many patients, this is the first time the full picture has been mapped in one place, and that clarity alone often changes the trajectory of care.
When ADHD is part of the picture
An ADHD evaluation runs the full ninety minutes and adds structured adult ADHD rating scales, a continuous performance test for objective data on attention, impulsivity, and response consistency, and optional collateral input from someone who knows you well. It also includes careful screening for the conditions that most often overlap with or mimic ADHD in women, including anxiety, depression, PMDD, and perimenopausal mood changes. You receive a written diagnostic report to keep, share with other clinicians, or use to support workplace or academic accommodations requests. Many women come to this after years of being told their symptoms were just stress or personality, and the evaluation is built to look more carefully than that.
Typical frequency: One-time evaluation, and the default for new patients whose situation involves multiple intersecting factors. Usually followed by a fifty-minute results review and treatment planning visit, then ongoing care. For some patients it serves as a one-time second opinion.
Not sure which evaluation fits? Start with a brief screening call.
Book a Screening CallOngoing Care
After your evaluation, care continues in whatever form fits your treatment plan, whether that is medication management, therapy, or both. Visit length and frequency are matched to where you are, and they change as your needs do.
For patients whose medication has been established and who need ongoing check-ins to assess effectiveness, adjust dosing, or refine the plan. These visits include focused clinical assessment and prescription management.
Typical frequency: Monthly during active medication adjustments, every six to eight weeks once stable, with intervals up to three months for patients in stable maintenance.
For patients who need a longer medication-focused visit, often during a new medication trial, a more complex titration, or a period when multiple factors are shifting at once. The additional time allows for fuller discussion and more careful adjustment. This is also the visit used for a results review and treatment planning after a new patient evaluation.
Typical frequency: As needed. Some patients use this length for every visit; others use it situationally.
For patients who want both medication management and therapy within the same care relationship. The visit combines medication review and therapeutic work, drawing on modalities such as psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and systems-based approaches depending on what fits your situation.
Typical frequency: Weekly or biweekly during active treatment, with intervals lengthening as treatment goals are met.
For patients seeking psychotherapy without medication management. My therapy approach is active and collaborative, shaped by your specific concerns and adapted as the work evolves. Family and friends are included when clinically indicated, and dream work is available for patients who are open to it.
Typical frequency: Weekly or biweekly, depending on the work.
Insurance & Payment Information
Out-of-network provider for maximum care flexibility
Detailed superbills for insurance reimbursement
HSA/FSA payments accepted
Payment required at time of service
Frequently Asked Questions
Explore our evidence-based, culturally attuned approach to mental healthcare and what to expect when working with Bloom and Build Integrative Psychiatry.
A psychiatric diagnostic evaluation is a comprehensive 90-minute initial assessment that goes far beyond basic symptom checklists. It is a foundational session that creates the roadmap for your personalized mental health journey.
During this in-depth evaluation, we explore:
- Your complete mental health and medical history
- Current symptoms and their impact on your daily functioning
- Family patterns and relationships
- Cultural and identity factors that shape your experience
- Hormonal influences on your mental health (particularly important for women with ADHD, anxiety, or mood disorders)
- Lifestyle factors including sleep, nutrition, stress, and physical activity
- Previous treatments and their effectiveness
Research Perspective
Unlike standardized approaches that might miss cultural nuances, our evaluations are culturally attuned, recognizing how symptoms may present differently across diverse backgrounds. This is particularly important for minoritized groups of women, who are often misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed for conditions like ADHD and depression.
Following your evaluation, you'll receive a thorough assessment with diagnostic impressions and a collaborative treatment plan that aligns with your goals and values.
Many private practice clinicians don't accept insurance for several important reasons that directly impact the quality of care we can provide.
Insurance typically reimburses mental healthcare at significantly lower rates than private pay, while simultaneously requiring extensive documentation and administrative work. This creates an unsustainable business model for many providers, especially those offering culturally responsive care that requires additional expertise.
For practices like Bloom and Build Integrative Psychiatry that specialize in serving Black women and other underrepresented communities in the Bay Area:
- Insurance-dictated session times (often 15-20 minutes) are simply inadequate for meaningful therapeutic work, especially when addressing complex cultural factors and trauma.
- Insurance companies frequently limit the number of sessions and types of treatments covered, restricting our ability to provide truly personalized care.
- Diagnostic labels required for insurance reimbursement can sometimes be stigmatizing and may not capture the full complexity of your experience, particularly when cultural factors play a significant role.
Clinical Considerations
By operating outside the insurance system, we can offer longer sessions, more personalized treatment approaches, and greater privacy. While we understand this creates financial considerations, we believe the investment in comprehensive, culturally attuned care yields better outcomes. We do provide superbills that may allow for partial reimbursement through out-of-network benefits.
The timeline for improvement with therapy and/or psychiatric medications varies based on several factors, including the specific condition, severity of symptoms, individual physiology, and the treatment approach. After diagnostic evaluation you should be provided with clearer expectations.
Medication Timeline
For many women with mood disorders, some medication benefits may begin within 2-4 weeks, though full therapeutic effects often take 6-8 weeks. ADHD medications typically work more quickly, sometimes providing same-day symptom relief.
Therapeutic Progress
Therapy benefits often follow a different timeline. Some experience emotional relief after just 1-2 sessions of feeling truly heard and understood—particularly important for women who may have had previous experiences of being dismissed in healthcare settings. Measurable symptom improvement typically begins within 4-6 weeks of consistent therapy, with more substantial changes developing over 3-6 months.
During your treatment, we'll regularly assess your progress and adjust your personalized care plan as needed, ensuring you're on the optimal path to wellness.