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where can i find a psychiatrist in Toronto?
January 28, 2016 - 7:25pm
Hi babblers: I still have issues related to my diagnose (gender identity disorder). I do not know what I should do next or who I should talk to because I feel stuck.
its so hard to find a psychiatrist , the only type of doctor who can diagnose a patient and is covered by OHIP, to do regular follow up with patients in Toronto. It costs 200 dollar a session to see a psychologist and over a 100 to see a psychotherapist, and psychiatrists can only be referred by your family doctor and I only got to see a psy...chiatrist for one time and they said they don't need to see me again.
does anyone know anything about seeing a psychiatrist, not just a therapist or a counsellor?
In B.C. a M.D. would refer you to a psychiatrist. If you've been told that you don't need one then you can most likely be referred to a clinical psycologist which may be more appropriate in your case. As for help in paying for such treatment, there could be help available but it would probably be different from B.C. Do you have a help hotline such as the 'Family life' agency that can direct you to financial assistance or at least tell you where to apply?
That sounds odd. Perhaps you could put in a complaint about this psychiatrist denying you treatment. I mean, you had a referral, and you have an issue to be dealt with, so you shouldn't be denied. Did he or she give a reason? Anyway, I think it would be with the College of Physicians and Surgeons if you wanted to make a complaint: http://www.cpso.on.ca/policies-publications/complaints/the-complaints-pr...
The other thing to do would be to ask your doctor for another referral.
Try Sherbourne Health Centre. They have LGBTQ+ doctors who can refer you to psychiatrists that specialize in trans issues. Warning, there are long waiting lists. Sherbourne also has free groups and other counselling resources. Lots of stuff for LGBTQ youth, but I don't think you're a youth.
As a second choice, the 519 may be able to give you referrals to therapists who work on a sliding scale.
Good luck!
What Maysie said. Also, I was looking to contact the gender clinic at CAMH on behalf of a patient, and on their website they said that there was an 18-24 month waiting list, so they were advising general practitioners who have transgender patients seeking care to familiarize themselves with the Sherbourne Health Centre Guidelines on Transgender Care. It's an excellent document containing lots of comprehensive advice like doses of hormones, side effects, which drugs they recommend, and so forth. I have downloaded it at work and put it on a public drive for all health care practitioners in my workplace to access when we receive a transgender patient
tl;dr: if you have a family doctor, they can read this document and educate themselves on transgender care.
http://tinyurl.com/Guidelines-for-transgender-car