Skip to main content

Harborside Psych

New Clients
Contact us
(508) 876-3448

Functional Psychiatry for Norwell, MA

Unlike a traditional psychiatric work-up, the functional medicine approach takes the whole person into account. Harborside uses targeted testing to assess for underlying deficiencies and physiological concerns, such as thyroid function, nutrient levels, or sleep and hormone patterns, that may be driving poor mental health rather than treating symptoms in isolation. For households in Norwell, where a lot of energy already goes into commuting into Boston, running a harbor village calendar, or getting kids from school to the field before dark, that matters because it means fewer dead-end appointments and a plan built around what is actually happening in your body, not just a symptom checklist.

Care built this way still has to fit into a real week. That is the practical starting point for how we work with people in Norwell.

Find a Clinician

Functional Psychiatry for people in Norwell, MA

Harborside is based in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, and delivers functional psychiatry care to people across the state by video. For Norwell, that means no half-day carved out of a workday and no drive up Route 3 for a twenty-minute check-in.

Here is what the process actually looks like. You need a private space, a phone or computer with a camera, and a stable internet connection. Sessions are held through a secure telehealth platform, and the link is sent ahead of your appointment. An initial evaluation runs longer than a typical follow-up, usually somewhere around an hour, because it covers your history, current symptoms, and whatever lab or functional testing may be relevant. Follow-up appointments are shorter and are scheduled at whatever interval makes sense for your situation, which might be every few weeks at the start and further apart once things are more settled.

If medication is part of your plan, prescriptions are sent electronically to the pharmacy of your choice, the same as they would be after an in-person visit. Lab or functional testing, when it is indicated, is typically ordered through a local lab or a mail-in kit, so you are not asked to travel for that either.

How telehealth care actually works

Functional psychiatry at Harborside is used with people dealing with depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue that has not responded to a standard approach, mood instability, attention and focus concerns, and other conditions where a physiological piece may be part of the picture. This is not a replacement for medication management or therapy when those are what is needed. It is an additional lens, used when it makes sense to look at nutrition, hormones, sleep architecture, or metabolic markers alongside the more familiar psychiatric picture.

Some people come to this work because a previous medication trial did not go the way they hoped. Others come because they have a strong sense that something physical is tangled up with how they feel, and they want that taken seriously as part of the evaluation.

What we treat

The first appointment is a full evaluation, not a quick screening. Expect to talk through your mental health history, current symptoms, sleep, diet, stress load, and any relevant medical history. Depending on what comes up, your clinician may recommend specific lab work or functional testing to look at things like thyroid function, vitamin and mineral levels, or other markers that can influence mood, energy, and focus. From there, you and your clinician build a plan together. That might include medication, changes to diet or supplementation, referral to therapy, or a combination. You leave the first appointment with a concrete next step, not just a diagnosis.

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, and each brings that training to the functional approach, reading lab results and physiological data alongside a full psychiatric history. Full bios and credentials for each of them are on the team page.

When therapy is part of your plan, that work is carried out by Harborside’s licensed therapy team: Hannah Legesse, LICSW, Tori Mahoney, LMHC, Jacquelyn Duford, LCMHC ATR, and Lexie Carchedi, LCSW. Eating disorder care also sits with this team.

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 our pricing page, and questions about cost can be answered before anything is booked.

What it costs

If you are in Norwell and thinking about functional psychiatry, the first step is scheduling an initial evaluation. From there, your clinician will let you know what testing, if any, makes sense before your next appointment. You can find more detail on the approach itself on our functional psychiatry page, and on how we work with patients across Massachusetts on our Massachusetts telehealth page. If you are looking for care elsewhere on the South Shore, our South Shore, MA page covers the surrounding towns we work with. If depression is the primary concern bringing you in, our depression treatment page has more specific detail.

Getting started

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.

This page is educational and is not medical advice. It does not create a provider-patient relationship. For guidance on nutritional and integrative approaches to mental health, see the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements [CITATION: NIH ODS fact sheets on nutrient-mood research, to support the functional psychiatry framing with a credible government source].

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