Explain why they're coming, before the appointment. At the start of every first appointment, we talk with the whole family about what we're assessing for — it's much easier for your young person if this isn't the first time they're hearing it. Let them know in advance, in simple terms, what's prompting the visit.

How to frame it depends on age. For younger children (roughly 4–6), it's often fine to describe things as a "brain difference," since concepts like ADHD, autism, or anxiety can be hard to grasp at that age. For children older than that, we'd encourage using the actual name of the condition(s) you're concerned about — most kids do better with clarity than with vague language.

Keep the framing affirming, not judgmental. This is an assessment of how their brain works — not a "naughty child" assessment. Our job is to understand them and come up with ways to make things easier, not to find fault. Try to have this conversation the same way you'd talk about seeing an eye doctor or a physio — matter-of-fact and supportive.

Reassure them we're non-judgmental. Many young people are naturally nervous about opening up to someone new. It can help to tell them that psychiatrists have heard just about everything before, and nothing they say will shock or upset us.

What to expect during the appointment. So you can prepare your child, here's roughly how the visit will go:

• We start by talking through the concerns that brought you in, then screen more broadly for things like mood, anxiety, OCD, trauma, eating difficulties, and (for older teens) psychotic symptoms.

• We then cover developmental history, past psychiatric history, substance use, medical history, safety/suicidality, and family history.

• We usually speak with your young person alone for part of the visit, to check in on safety and revisit anything that might be awkward to discuss in front of parents.

• We then speak with parents alone while your child waits outside, so everyone has a chance to be fully open.

• Finally, we bring everyone back together to discuss our impressions and the plan going forward.

We strongly suggest that you do get your GP to send a referral to us, however, we do not insist on this.

The reasons why we strongly recommend you do have your GP refer to us are:

• Some insurers will only reimburse you if you have been referred by your GP

• It means we have as much information as possible about you so we can provide you with as good care as possible.

• It can help with smoothly transitioning your care back to your GP when things are going well (as they have been involved from the start).

1. Booking and Preparation

We suggest you have your GP send a referral, and then once they do (or if you are unable to get them to) then you can book an appointment via our psychiatrists’ booking page.

After booking, you’ll get a confirmation email and a few handy reminders closer to the day.

If you are coming in for a full ADHD or Autism assessment, there is a little bit of homework before we meet! We will send out some psychometric forms to help confirm the diagnosis. These vary depending on your age and what we are looking at, but here is what you need to know:

• For young people and families: We encourage you to complete your forms at least a week before your appointment. This gives your psychiatrist time to score and interpret them before your appointment.

• For ADHD/Autism in school-aged patients: We will need your teacher to fill out one or two forms. It really pays for you to send this to them as early as possible so they have time to complete it. Getting this back before your appointment gives your psychiatrist the best chance of making an accurate diagnosis on the day.

2. Your First Appointment

Whether we are meeting in person or via telehealth, the session will start with the patient and their support people together. (Note: we do need at least one parent or guardian present for patients under 16, though more support people are always welcome!)

Mind Horizons runs an interruption-friendly space. If anyone in the room disagrees with something that their psychiatrist says—or something someone else in the room says— you are fully encouraged to speak up. It is incredibly important that all perspectives are heard.

Our first visit usually follows this structure:

1. Together: We'll start by chatting as a group and your psychiatrist will ask lots of questions, first about the issue you have been referred for, then about your broader mental and physical health.

2. One-on-one: The patient will have a chance to chat with their psychiatrist on their own.

3. Support people: The parents/guardians will then get the same opportunity to speak with the psychiatrist privately.

4. Together again: We’ll bring everyone back into the room to talk through your psychiatrist’s thoughts and map out our next steps.

3. Follow-Up Appointments

Follow-ups are much simpler! We usually spend the bulk of our time together as a group checking in on how treatment is progressing, and we generally don't split up for one-on-one chats unless someone specifically requests it.

• Follow-up forms: For school-aged patients with ADHD, we will send out a form for your teacher to track how things are going in the classroom. Please ask them to do this about 1 week before your follow-up appointment so we capture an accurate picture of how things are going right now.

• For all other conditions, there usually aren't any forms for follow-ups (and if there are, your psychiatrist will make sure to let you know at your previous session).

• For patients under 16: The patient must be present, along with at least one parent or guardian. (You are always welcome to bring additional support people if you'd like!)

• For older patients (16 and up): You are welcome to attend your appointment on your own. However, our strong recommendation is that you bring someone who knew you well when you were young, such as a parent or older family member. A lot of psychiatric assessments rely on early developmental history, and having someone in the room who can share observations about what you were like as a child is incredibly helpful for making the most accurate diagnosis possible.

A note for split families: We completely recognise that for families who are separated, it isn't always possible or comfortable for both parents to be in the room together. However, getting both parents' perspectives is still incredibly helpful for a comprehensive assessment.

If one parent cannot attend the session or prefers not to be in the same room, we still strongly encourage you to share your insights! You can do this by:

• Completing the psychometric forms (if it's a full ADHD and/or Autism assessment).

• Writing down your perspectives and observations and emailing them to info@mindhorizons.nz at least a week before the appointment so your psychiatrist can review them before the appointment.

Generally yes, most psychiatric patients get prescriptions (if it is clinically appropriate) sent to their preferred pharmacy on the same day that they have their appointment.

Rarely - probably less than 1% of cases - we might need to wait before issuing the prescription so that other things can occur first to ensure it is safe. This might include if you need blood tests, an ECG, or an opinion from another specialist. If this is the case, your psychiatrist will discuss this with you, and will issue the script (if appropriate) once we have the relevant information to confirm it is safe to do so.

Copies of your assessment reports and follow-up letters are emailed directly to you (or your parents) and your GP.

Here is a breakdown of how we handle privacy and information sharing (for the more technical information, please see our privacy policy):

For patients 16 and older: You have the right to request that your parents do not receive copies of your reports. Even if we currently have your parent's email on file, just let your psychiatrist know, and we can update our system to your personal email address to ensure your medical information stays confidential within your family.

For patients under 16: Reports are generally sent to the parent or guardian email address we have on file unless we have good reason to believe that releasing the report (or parts of it) to your parents is not in your best interests.

A note for split families: Under the Privacy Act, if a parent requests their child's (under the age of 16) health information and is acting in their best interests, we generally have a legal obligation to release it. However, if the patient or the other parent feels that sharing this information with a specific parent is not in the child's best interests, please discuss this with your psychiatrist during our session. This allows us to understand the situation and determine if it is appropriate to decline the request.

Need a replacement copy? We have to be incredibly careful about who we release your health information to, to ensure no one is ever able to access your files by pretending to be you. If you lose a copy of a report or letter:

• Please request a new copy in person, or from the exact email address we already have on file for you.

• If it has been a really long time, or if you no longer have access to your original email account, we may occasionally ask you to pop in with a photo ID so we can verify your identity before sending the documents.

• Tip: Your GP also receives copies of all Mind Horizons letters, so reaching out to their clinic is another way to get a replacement if you’ve lost access to your email account.

Schools, workplaces, and other professionals: We generally don't send information directly to schools, workplaces, or psychologists. Instead, we give any letters or reports intended for them directly to you to pass along. We do this so you get a chance to read through the document first. If there is anything incorrect, or any private medical details you would prefer we redact before you hand it over to a third party, you have the opportunity to let us know so we can make those adjustments.

We are usually able to make a diagnosis (if appropriate) at your initial assessment.

How long we follow up with you after this depends on a few different factors, including the complexity of your situation, your age, and how well you respond to treatment.

Our general recommendation is that we continue working together until your psychiatric care feels completely stable. Once things are going well, we will schedule a final discharge follow up appointment. This gives us dedicated time to discuss the long-term plan for managing your condition in primary care and allows your psychiatrist to provide a clear, comprehensive handover to your GP.

For patients under 18: Reaching that point of stability before discharging is especially important for younger patients. Most GPs don’t frequently manage psychiatric medications for young people, and it simply wouldn't be professionally fair of Mind Horizons to do a single assessment and then expect your GP to take over the prescribing from there. We want to make sure your treatment is fully optimised first to ensure things go as well as possible for your mental health in the long run.

For patients 18 and older: For adult patients, many GPs are comfortable taking over prescribing a bit earlier in the process. This is absolutely something you can discuss with your GP. However, we still highly recommend sticking with specialist psychiatric care until you reach a point of stability, as we consistently see much better long-term outcomes when we take this approach.

Yes and no! While all of our psychiatrists are fully qualified to see patients up to the age of 65, their core expertise and primary focus lie in child, adolescent, and youth psychiatry (i.e. people up to the age of 25).

However, there are a few important exceptions where we absolutely see older adults:

• Current and former patients: We don't believe that turning 26 means you should suddenly have to find a new psychiatrist. Long-term care with a clinician who already knows your history is invaluable, so we will always continue to see our existing (or past) patients as needed.

• Parents of our patients: We are very happy to see the parents (or older siblings) of the young people that Mind Horizons has treated. Being able to support the well-being of the whole family unit often leads to better outcomes for everyone.

• Expectant or recent parents who are either pregnant, or have children that are less than 1 year old.

For all other adult patients: Beyond those exceptions, we only take on new patients over the age of 25 when our schedule allows. Our priority is always to ensure that opening our books to older adults doesn't disadvantage the young people in Christchurch and across New Zealand who urgently need specialised child, adolescent and youth psychiatric care.

• Current Status: At present, we do have the capacity to see new patients above the age of 25. We will keep this page updated when that changes in the future.

Our psychiatrists are happy to see patients under the care of another psychiatrist to give a second opinion, but won't usually prescribe unless they’re the only psychiatrist providing care. This avoids the risk of things going wrong if 2 specialists are prescribing simultaneously, and reduces the risk of miscommunication.

What that usually involves practically is that after our appointment, the patient and their family choose either:

• We give a written opinion and advice regarding medications and they take it back to their other psychiatrist for review and discussion. If the other psychiatrist agrees, they then manage the prescribing.

• We take over psychiatric care and prescribing and the patient and their family go back to their other psychiatrist to ask that the doctor stops prescribing until we've finished working together.

In short, we are medical doctors who specialise in the mental health, emotional development, and behavioral well-being of young people—from early childhood right through to young adulthood (up to age 25).

Because children, teenagers, and young adults are at entirely different life stages than older adults, their mental health needs are incredibly unique. The brain actually continues going through massive developmental changes until around the age of 25. On top of that, young people are navigating huge life transitions—whether that is moving through school, heading off to university, entering the workforce, or stepping into independence.

Here is what sets a child, adolescent, and youth psychiatrist apart:

• Extensive Medical Training: To become a specialist in this area, we first complete full medical school (just like your GP), followed by years of specialised training in general adult psychiatry. From there, we do further advanced training specifically focused on the unique developmental stages of children, teenagers, and young adults.

• The Big Picture: We don't just look at a list of symptoms. We look at the "whole person" by evaluating biological factors, psychological well-being, genetics, and how things are going in their wider world—whether that is at home, in the classroom, at university, or at work.

• Medical Management: Because we are medical doctors, we can prescribe and manage psychiatric medications, order medical tests, and make sure there aren't any underlying physical health issues contributing to a mental health struggle.

• A Team Approach: While we handle the medical and diagnostic side of things, we work closely with psychologists, therapists, teachers, families and GPs to make sure young people have a complete, well-rounded support system.

Ultimately, our job is to help young people navigate their mental health challenges so they can focus on growing, learning, and building a strong, stable foundation for the rest of their adult lives.