About
We are the pediatricians of mental health. In medicine, doctors often refer to the “gold standard” which is the optimal treatment modality for a specific symptom. At the Gold Center, we aspire to provide a comprehensive plan to support you and your family. We don’t believe in “throwing the kitchen sink” at a problem. Our consultations seek to understand the nature of your child’s difficulties and craft a treatment plan that is not redundant and does not over diagnose your child or adolescent. You will have a team leader who takes a bird’s eye view of all the services that your child currently utilizes from tutors to coaches to therapists to doctors. We seek to coordinate and curate these services for your child and family.
It truly takes a “village” to raise a whole person. At the Gold Center, we strive get to know your village. We take a multi faceted approach where we assess both the mind and the brain. We evaluate the genetics, the medical and the psychological. We assess a patient’s life and relationships. For children and teenagers, we will speak to teachers, coaches, and tutors to obtain an understanding of a child’s challenges in the classroom, on the sports field and online. We also make home visits and provide in home behavioral plans and therapy when appropriate.
The Gold Method
We put the pieces together
If your child has a sore throat then you rush to the pediatrician to check it out. If you have a social or emotional concern then let us do the detective work. We develop a picture of both the brain and the mind. We will review the genetics, the medical, and the psychological. We assess the patient’s social life and relationships. For children and teenagers, we will speak to teachers, coaches, tutors, doctors, and sitters in order to develop an understanding of a child’s challenges at home, in school, on the playing field or the performance stage and even online. We also get to know the family. We want to understand the family culture, style, expectations and daily routines. We use all of this data to offer thoughtful and practical recommendations.
Less is more
Our goal is to thoughtfully curate the services that your family needs. We work to neither over diagnose nor over medicate your child. We don’t believe throwing the kitchen sink at a problem. We look for creative strategies. The goal is not to maximize services but make interventions effective.
It takes a village
Teamwork is a key part of our treatment plans. We meet regularly and our team weighs in on every patient. You may be paying for one clinician, but actually receiving a multi-disciplinary group of experts and consultants. A board certified child psychiatrist will be involved in the team even if medication is not on the table. Our biggest successes are when our team can provide multiple services to a family and remain in constant communication.
If it takes a village, then we need to get to know your village. We want understand and work with your medical providers, tutors, specialists, babysitters and coaches. Our treatment plans often recommend modifying (or maximizing) the roles of your team members.
Medication as a last resort
We believe that medication should be used when there are no other options. If medication is needed, low dose and conservative approach with the need to build skills and strengths beyond pharmacology.
Tweets, Snaps, and IRL Friends
We believe that one of the jobs of adolescence is to develop good social skills and learn to cultivate meaningful relationships. Our approach is to understand the unique dynamics of your child’s social life. We offer a multitude of social skills groups, facilitated play, home and school based interventions. We also help kids to find a balance between their online connections and their real life friendships.
Playing to Your Strengths
A huge life skill is being able to honestly recognize your strengths and weaknesses. We help families to identify and understand their temperaments. We also work with families to understand a child’s learning styles and strengths. We help parents to strategize on how to best support a child’s strengths. Even the smallest accomplishment can be a building block for improving a child’s self-confidence and ultimately his true passion.
Blessing of a Skinned Knee
There is a great deal of research about the importance of developing resilience and grit. Our mission is to help children and families to overcome obstacles and develop the skills to manage adversity. We use a range of strategies from mindfulness to cognitive behavioral therapy to improving studying skills.
College Prep is Life Prep
Of course, SAT and college placement are important but that is not the what we mean by “college prep”. We try to help teenagers to develop the life skills needed for success such as time management, self regulation and initiative.
Connect with us
For more information about our therapy services or to schedule an initial appointment, please contact us.