Skip to main content

Harborside Psych

New Clients
Contact us
(508) 876-3448

Functional Psychiatry for Westwood, MA

A traditional psychiatric work-up asks what symptoms you have and which medication might address them. Functional psychiatry asks a wider question: what is happening in the whole person that might be driving those symptoms in the first place. Harborside uses targeted testing to look at underlying deficiencies and physiological factors, alongside a standard clinical evaluation, before deciding on a plan.

Westwood is a settled, practical town, the kind of place where people want to understand what they are paying for before they commit to it. Families here tend to research a decision fully, weigh it against work and school schedules, and then move. This page is meant to give you that kind of clear look at what functional psychiatry with Harborside actually involves, delivered by video to people across Westwood.

Find a Clinician

Functional Psychiatry for people in Westwood, MA

Harborside is based in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, and delivers care to patients across the state by video. For someone in Westwood, that means appointments happen wherever you have privacy and a stable internet connection: a home office, a parked car, a quiet room after the kids are asleep. You do not need special equipment, just a laptop, tablet, or smartphone with a camera and microphone.

An initial evaluation runs longer than a routine follow-up, since it includes a full history and a discussion of which functional testing might be useful for your situation. Follow-up appointments are shorter and scheduled at an interval that fits your treatment plan, often every few weeks at first, spacing out as things settle. If a prescription is part of your care, it is sent electronically to the pharmacy of your choice in Westwood or nearby, the same way it would be from an in-person visit.

Lab work, when it is part of your plan, is typically done through a local lab or an at-home collection kit, with results reviewed together at a follow-up appointment. Nothing about the video format changes how carefully your case is reviewed. It changes where you sit while it happens.

How telehealth care actually works

Functional psychiatry at Harborside is used for people dealing with depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue tied to mood, attention and focus difficulties, sleep disruption, and mood symptoms that have not responded the way someone hoped to a purely symptom-based approach. It is also relevant for people who suspect that something physiological, a nutrient deficiency, a thyroid or hormonal issue, an inflammatory process, might be contributing to how they feel, and who want that possibility evaluated rather than ignored.

This is not a replacement for a full psychiatric evaluation. It is an added layer of assessment that some patients want, and others do not need. Part of the first appointment is figuring out, together, whether this approach makes sense for you.

What we treat

The first appointment is a conversation. You will be asked about your mental health history, your physical health history, your sleep, diet, stress levels, and any current medications or supplements. From there, your clinician will discuss whether targeted lab testing makes sense given what you describe, and if so, which panels are relevant to you specifically rather than a standard battery run on everyone.

You will leave that first appointment with a plan: what testing, if any, comes next, what you can expect at your next visit, and what to watch for in the meantime. Nothing is decided before you understand why.

What the first appointment involves

Medication management and functional psychiatry at Harborside are performed by psychiatric nurse practitioners: Rachel Egan, RN PMHNP-BC, who is also Harborside’s clinical director, Emily Pardue, RN PMHNP-BC, and Kirstin Ritchie, RN PMHNP-BC. Each is qualified to evaluate, diagnose, and prescribe for mental health conditions, including reviewing functional lab work as part of a treatment plan. Full bios and credentials for each clinician are available on the team page.

Therapy and eating disorder care at Harborside are provided by the licensed therapy team: Hannah Legesse, LICSW, Tori Mahoney, LMHC, Jacquelyn Duford, LCMHC ATR, and Lexie Carchedi, LCSW. For patients whose care includes both medication management and therapy, these two parts of the team coordinate directly.

Who our clinicians are

Harborside is a private-pay practice and does not bill insurance directly for appointments. Current fees for an initial and a follow-up appointment are listed on the pricing page, and questions about cost can be answered before anything is booked.

What it costs

If you are in Westwood and considering functional psychiatry, the next step is scheduling an initial evaluation. That appointment is where you and your clinician decide together whether testing makes sense, and what a reasonable plan looks like from there. You can learn more about the approach on the functional psychiatry service page, see the full range of care Harborside offers across the state on the Massachusetts telehealth page, or check the South Metro Massachusetts page for towns near Westwood that Harborside also works with.

If anxiety is a significant part of what brought you here, the anxiety treatment page has more detail on how that is addressed separately from, or alongside, a functional approach.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, mental health conditions often involve a combination of biological, psychological, and environmental factors, which is part of why a broader evaluation can be useful for some patients. [CITATION: NIMH overview page on mental illness causes and evaluation, to support the functional/whole-person framing]

Getting started

This page is educational. It is not medical advice, and reading it does not create a provider-patient relationship with Harborside or any of its clinicians.

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For mental health crisis support, call or text 988. Harborside does not provide emergency or after-hours care.

Reviewed by Rachel Egan, RN PMHNP-BC, Clinical Director, Harborside Psychiatrics. Last reviewed: {LAST_REVIEWED}.

Contact Us

Frequently Asked Questions

Is functional psychiatry the same as functional medicine?

No. It’s psychiatric care from a licensed psychiatric nurse practitioner that also reviews lab work and lifestyle factors, not a separate functional medicine practice.

No. Whether labs make sense is decided together at the first visit, based on your history and symptoms.

Bring it to your first appointment. Existing results can often be used instead of repeating tests.

No. Labs are typically billed separately by the lab itself and may be partly covered by insurance depending on the plan.

Yes. It’s meant to work alongside an existing therapist or primary care provider, not replace them.

Functional psychiatry includes the same prescribing and monitoring, plus a review of physical health factors like sleep, nutrition, and lab markers.

If you need help right now

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For mental health crisis support, call or text 988. Harborside Psychiatrics does not provide emergency or after-hours care.

Contact Us