With three children, Michelle Sermons spends her share of time at the pediatrician's office. She's also invested hours with a child psychiatrist. She recently discovered how beneficial having both in one place can be, and not just because it's convenient.
"The thing that makes it really great for us is that I can speak to either doctor and I know that they will communicate back and forth," said Sermons
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Her experience is becoming more common. Most parents expect to be going to the pediatrician from the day their baby is born, but few may think their child might need a mental health specialist.
"It's estimated that as many as 20% of children have, at one time or another, mental health problems that will benefit from being addressed," explained Dr. Gregory Fritz, President-elect of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists.
The goal of an integrated care system is to diagnose and treat children at an earlier stage.
"Pediatricians and other primary care practitioners have the advantage of knowing patients as they develop right from birth often so they can identify behavior problems before they reach the level of being a formal psychiatric diagnosis," said Fritz.
Dr. Vincent Ho offers psychiatric care out of a doctor's office where his wife, who is a pediatrician, also works.
"Unfortunately, it usually takes a long time before parents think to bring their children to a child psychiatrist, normally, something really terrible is happening at home or at school," he said.
Both Dr. Vincent Ho and his wife Dr. Laurette Ho believe the partnership offers a comfort zone for parents.
"With having a mental health professional within your office, it totally de-stigmatizes it," said Dr. Laurette Ho. "They don't feel like oh my God, there's something horribly wrong with my child. It's more of a, 'Let's get your child feeling better.'"
The doctors note that emotional issues may show up as physical problems. When this happens, the pediatrician can direct the patient to the mental health specialist down the hall.
"Mood issues also masquerade as physical pain…stomach aches, headaches, chronic pain. A lot of those things are things that we can actually help with," said Dr. Vincent Ho.
Another benefit noted: If the psychiatrist switches up medications and the pediatrician notices side effects, they can talk.
Dr. Laurette Ho explained, "I can say, hey, you have this kid on this, that and the other and they're experiencing this. Do you commonly see this as a side effect or is there something else going on now?"
Another advantage to this system is better access to mental health professionals-especially those who help children-at a time when there's a shortage in this field.