Interview With Water Gap Wellness Center

Transcription found below.

In this interview, we will engage in a thoughtful discussion about our practice, rooted in compassion, empathy, and a commitment to mental health care. We will share our approach to patient-centered treatment, emphasizing the importance of building trust and rapport with individuals seeking support. Our conversation will explore the diverse range of mental health conditions we encounter, highlighting the complexities of diagnosis, treatment planning, and ongoing care.

Transcription Of Interview

In association with: https://www.watergapwellness.com/

[00:00:00.080] - Aynisa

Long island. And one of them is called evolve psychiatry. Evolve psychiatry. And our guest this week is from that practice. She's going to tell you a little bit about what they do, where they're located, how to find them, and kind of their approach to treatment. So Despina Kaloudis is from evolved psychiatry. She is the assistant practice manager. She also does some outreach, business development and work in the community. That's how I met her. Despina, we are very grateful to have you as our guest this week.

[00:00:32.320] - Despina

Thank you, Nisa. Such a pleasure to be with you.

[00:00:36.340] - Aynisa

Yeah, it's awesome. We love working with you. So can you tell us a little bit about evolved psychiatry? Just broad strokes about the practice before we get into more of the details.

[00:00:45.560] - Despina

Sure. We are an outpatient psychiatric practice. We started off in Massapequa on Merrick Road, and now we have branched out to three additional locations. We are in Albany, Thiasset, and Garden city.

[00:01:05.600] - Aynisa

That's great. And those are, you know, from our point of view, we get a lot of clients that are, you know, you're very, like, centrally located to different areas where there's need and people can get to you from, you know, within like, a 20 miles radius. So it's really convenient and also, you know, practical, but also meet, meeting a need in a unique way psychiatrically. And I think that's a missing part with a lot of people that maybe go to a program and then go home, and they don't buffer that with anything. So can you talk about how you guys serve in that capacity, clinically, psychiatrically, like what it looks like? Let's say, if somebody were to call.

[00:01:44.200] - Despina

Sure. Let me just start off by saying we're one of the few practices on Long island that is currently taking new patients and taking insurance as well, which is a big consideration because we know out of pocket costs, you know, are very. Are prohibitive for a lot of people. So if we get a referral from, let's say, your organization, somebody who is being discharged or from a hospital or another rehab, we are able to get that patient in to see one of our providers, either the psychiatrist or a psychiatric PA or psychiatric nurse practitioner, very quickly. So there is no gap in treatment from the time they're discharged to the time they see us. So we do provide that support for the community and for people in need who need to be seen as soon as possible. So there's no chance of relapse.

[00:02:50.640] - Aynisa

Yeah. And the efficiency and competency with you all is really what stands out to me. So you do great work, have a lot of really advanced psychiatrists, clinicians. But also you can get people in some of these practices you call, and it's like, oh, we can at you in eight weeks. And that really doesn't help the person that's calling that day.

[00:03:09.420] - Despina

Right, right, exactly. Many times there's certain number of days that we have to see the person in. Correct. Like, from the time they're discharged, the hospital especially wants us to see that person within a number of days, like three days, I think, of discharge. So we are able to accommodate people who are being discharged from hospitals, rehab centers, or anybody who is in crisis. We do our best. We bend over backwards to help those people to be seen as soon as possible, because we know time is of the essence in these kind of situations.

[00:03:46.640] - Aynisa

Yeah. And what about the approach? Like, are there different styles of therapy that you offer as well?

[00:03:53.200] - Despina

Yes, we have. Right now we have ten therapists on staff who are a combination of social workers, licensed social workers, and mental health counselors who have all, you know, different populations that they are special, that they specialize in, and different approaches they have. So we try to match up the client with the therapist as best we can, and because we have some leeway, because we have ten therapists, we can try them with one person, and if that's not a good fit, we could try to find them a different placement. Same thing goes for the people, our providers, who do the medication management, like our PSYC, nps, our psychiatrists, our pas. We have 14 providers that can prescribe medication. So if there is not a good fit with a patient's uncomfortable with a certain provider, we have the ability to say, okay, if it didn't work with this person, let's try to put you with someone else that might be a better fit for you. So I think the patients are very happy with that. And, you know, sometimes they're with a male and they want to switch to a female or vice versa. So we are able to accommodate patients because we really do want the best for them and to feel comfortable coming to us.

[00:05:21.510] - Aynisa

So what if somebody is home and they're not in a hospital or a program like ours? Can they come to you as well?

[00:05:28.870] - Despina

Of course. Of course. So our intake appointment, when we first meet, the patient is always in office. Anybody who chooses to come, whether they're in a hospital or home and struggling with anxiety, depression, OCD, there's, of course, a whole gamut of issues people are facing today. Bipolar disorder, ADHD. They can give us a call, or they can go directly on our website, evolvepsychiatry.com. Comma, put in all their demographic information and someone from our new patient coordinator team will call them to schedule an appointment at that time. The first appointment, the intake is a in person, but after that, if they are more comfortable doing a telehealth appointment for their follow up appointments, that is also available. So there is a lot of flexibility between, you know, coming in in person and also doing telehealth. Yeah, that's wonderful variety.

[00:06:38.640] - Aynisa

So depending on the need, you can kind of go back and forth between the two.

[00:06:44.000] - Despina

Exactly.

[00:06:45.960] - Aynisa

Tell me about. Yeah, go ahead.

[00:06:47.860] - Despina

Yes, go ahead.

[00:06:48.680] - Aynisa

That I was just saying, tell me about the Albany practice. I think it's great that you have a practice upstate as well.

[00:06:53.790] - Despina

Oh, Albany. Yes. We have a PA up in Albany who's wonderful. Jonathan Melius. The office is on Washington Avenue directly across from SUNY Albany. So it's a wonderful location and it's very difficult to find psychiatric practices in the Albany area. So we've been very happy to serve the community for about two years now and we're looking to expand up there. We're looking for new providers to hire because there's such a need. And many times if there is somebody who is being discharged from a hospital or needs to see somebody, and Jonathan is busy there, if his day is full, because he's only one provider up there, we will have them, the Albany patient go to the Albany office. We'll set them up with a computer and they can see one of our providers in on Long island that is available. So this way they are at least seen, you know, in a timely fashion. So they are accommodated.

[00:08:01.940] - Aynisa

Yeah, that's great. So in the next segment, I want to ask more details about, you know, a few different areas of the practice specifically, maybe some things that you've seen as far as clinical trends that are coming up. If there's like a lot of anxiety or why people call really just for listeners to have an understanding about that. So we're going to take a quick break and then we'll be right back and dive into that a little bit deeper. Despina, thank you for being our guest this week. And we will be back in just a moment. Welcome back. You're listening to looking ahead, sponsored by water gap Wellness. My name is Anissa and our guest this week is Despina Klutz from evolve psychiatry. And we're talking a little bit about the work that they do, how they meet needs in the community, and a few different, you know, details regarding the practice and how it's set up. So evolve offers psychiatry and outpatient therapy. They have several locations on Long island, one in Albany. And despina, I was just wondering over the past couple years, I mean we, you know, a lot of the calls we get up front are people that are so uncomfortable that they finally end up calling and the discomfort comes from either a crisis regarding addiction, I would say, or a crisis regarding unmanageable mental health, specifically depression or anxiety.

[00:09:22.030] - Aynisa

Those are like the big hits that we get. And I'm just wondering what you all see because it's a little bit different level of care and whatnot. What are some things that you've noticed.

[00:09:33.570] - Despina

A lot, as you said, a lot of addiction issues, anxiety and treatment resistant depression. We have people who come to us who have tried a myriad of different prescriptions either that they've gotten through their primary care physician or other psychiatry practices and they are still unable to get out of this constant feeling of dread, anxiety, depression.

[00:10:46.200] - Aynisa

Wow, that's amazing. What is that called again?

[00:10:48.930] - Despina

It's called gene cite.

[00:10:50.600] - Aynisa

Okay.

[00:10:51.240] - Despina

Okay.

[00:10:51.790] - Aynisa

Yeah.

[00:10:52.930] - Despina

And it's a very easy report for the patient to read. We give them a copy as well. And it's like there's a column of green, a column of yellow, and a column of red. Anything in the red is medication that that patient should avoid based on their genetic makeup. The yellow is this might be okay, might not. And the green is. Go ahead. This is a good medication for that. The patients are very happy with that. We are very happy with that. And it's something that's a very helpful tool for us. Another avenue that we use for treatment resistant depression is spravato, which is as ketamine. It's a ketamine treatment that's through a nasal spray. We do that in the office. It's a two hour treatment in which we monitor the patient after they take the ketamine nasal spray. And people have, it's done wonders for people with treatment resistant depression, really, really help them. And that's, like I said, it's a federal regulated drug. So we have to monitor the patient very carefully in the chair. And then something which we love, and so helpful is the transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS program that we have, which is 36 sessions.

[00:12:15.650] - Despina

They're about 2025 minutes each for also treatment resistant depression. One of our technicians described it as waking up the part of the brain that is responsible for the depression in the person. And it's magnetic stimulation in that part of the brain. It's not ECT, so it's not invasive at all, and it doesn't have side effects. So somebody could come in for 36 straight sessions, 20 minutes out of their day, sit in the chair, wear a helmet, get the magnetic stimulation to the brain, get up and leave and go to work or go home. And really, there's no side effects. So we've been successful with that, too. And we have the machines in all our locations, there's such a.

[00:13:07.290] - Aynisa

Like, people want TMS. Can you say what it's called again? Transmagnetic stimulation. Is that right?

[00:13:13.220] - Despina

Yeah. Transcranial magnetic stimulation. Yeah.

[00:13:16.480] - Aynisa

And it's referred to a lot as TMS by the acronym. There's tons of requests for that that we get, even through admissions. People call, and they're always asking, like, you know, where they can go to get that. So. Yeah. That's incredible.

[00:13:26.820] - Despina

Yeah. Yeah, it's a wonderful. I've seen it, you know, firsthand. We had a gentleman in Massapequa that was suffering terribly for years from PTSD. He was in Vietnam. Nothing helped him. The only thing that really helped him was the TMS treatment. And then once you do it, you can come in. After you do the 36 sessions, you could come in again after a year or after six months and get, like, a little refresher, a little booster, as you say. Let's say you start feeling a little depressed again. You can come in and get another week or two of it, a little boost, so to speak. And people have been very happy with that as well. So we do. Doctor Bajpayee is very. He's our CEO and psychiatrist, owner of the practice. He is very, you know, cutting edge, always looking for different ways to help people. Well, if this doesn't work, if the medication doesn't work, let's try spravato treatment. If that doesn't work, let's try TMS. And also, of course, looking at the whole person, he believes that every person who gets medication should be in therapy, whether it's with one of our therapists or an outside therapist.

[00:14:44.570] - Despina

Very important. Very important. And when you give a medication, it's not a magic pill. Right, right. We have to practice healthy living. Good habits, good eating habits. These medications that are given are prescribed, are not. Don't mix well with if you're drinking alcohol or taking any illicit drugs.

[00:15:06.920] - Aynisa

Right.

[00:15:07.710] - Despina

So really, we are the proponents of healthy living. Clean living, exercise. You know, get out of your room, get out of your house, take a walk. All these. All these things. All these things are very important. It's a whole. It's a whole holistic approach. Right.

[00:15:25.630] - Aynisa

Yeah, it's incredible.

[00:15:27.520] - Despina

Yeah. So we're trying, and like I said, we're one of the few practices that are taking new patients and taking insurance. So, you know, it's been a very exciting time for evolve. I've been here for over two years, and, like, I always tell people, when I started, we were in one location in Massapequa, and the day I was hired, my first day working was the day that Doctor Bajpayee bought the building in Massapequa, because he just. His practice just kept growing. He kept on renting, you know, rooms in the building. And then he's like, okay, this is crazy. I got to buy the whole building because I'm in most of it.

[00:16:06.400] - Aynisa

And.

[00:16:06.740] - Despina

Now we're in four locations, so there is definitely a need, and we just love helping people and fulfilling that need for the community.

[00:16:15.890] - Aynisa

And I visited mass piqua recently, and everything that you're saying, I mean, it's true. I walked in, I immediately felt, like, calm, and it was clean and holistic atmosphere overlooking the water. I was like, is this real? This is, like, a beautiful place to go for therapy and mental health. So usually people think of mental health, they think of, like, white walls, and it's scary and, you know, like, it's not nice, but the esthetic, you know, I didn't want to leave. I was like, this is a great place to hang out. It had beautiful lighting. Just walking in the building made me feel good. Which is what you want, right? So.

[00:16:48.360] - Despina

Exactly. And all the locations are like that, all very esthetically pleasing, very calming. Not institutional looking at all, you know, just like you're walking into, you know, just a very nice, relaxing place. So, yeah, it's been good.

[00:17:05.780] - Aynisa

Yeah. How do people find you? So, do you have, like, a website, phone number you could talk about if someone's listening and they're interested?

[00:17:12.300] - Despina

Sure. Sure. So our website is evolvepsychiatry.com. On the top of our page, there's a tab that says, become a new patient, and you could just fill out your demographic information, just some basic information about you. And then one of our new patient coordinators will call. We have a team of new patient coordinators who all they do all day is monitor these types of messages and things that, you know, people's information, and they will call and set up the appointment. Another way to do it is through calling us, which is 631-673-3233 and just ask for the new patient coordinator department.

[00:18:02.940] - Aynisa

Wonderful. Thank you so much. Despina. Huge fan of your practice. I think that you're going to probably keep growing and expanding because you're doing it right. And, you know, we're just very grateful for the partnership and being able to send our patients to a trusted resource after they're done with us. So thanks for all you do. Thanks for being our guest this week and to our listeners.

[00:18:22.250] - Despina

Thank you.

[00:18:22.720] - Aynisa

Yeah, it's great to have you and to our listeners. If you're struggling or you're not sure where to start, please feel free to give a call to a practice like evolve or to us at Watergap Wellness. And there's no wrong way to make that first phone call. There's resources out there, and if you need the help, we're here to help you. We hope you have a wonderful week and that you tune in again. Bye.