Facility South Sacramento Medical Center Psychiatry Address South Valley Centre 8247 E. Stockton Blvd #4 Sacramento CA 95828 Map & Directions Telephone Appt/Advice: 916-525-6100 Cancellation: 916-525-6145 Fax: 916-525-6188 E-mail your doctor View your preventive services

My Office Hours

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		8:15 am 8:00 pm	8:15 am 6:30 pm	8:15 am 8:00 pm	8:15 am 4:30 pm
Closed during lunch, 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Click here to visit our South Sacramento Web site!

My Biography

I was born and raised in Oakland, California. From the age of about seven, I knew I would become a physician. It wasn’t until my third year of medical school did I realize that I should choose psychiatry as my area of specialty. I feel very fortunate with this choice because I have experienced great satisfaction in my practice.

I joined Kaiser Permanente at South Sacramento in 1991. From 1995 through 1999, I served as Chief of Psychiatry at the Stockton Kaiser Medical Center and helped the department deal with tremendous growth; we nearly tripled in staffing. I then returned to the South Sacramento Kaiser Medical Center where I now practice. I enjoy being free to just see patients.

Away from my professional life I enjoy simple things – food, music, spending time with my family.

My Practice Philosophy

As a physician, I mainly assist people with the medical component of their mental health treatment plan. Yet, I believe the best treatment plan is a comprehensive treatment plan that considers other options such as individual or group counseling, classes, books, and self-help approaches, such as journaling.

At the end of your visit with me, you might actually receive some homework in your personalized After Visit Summary instruction sheet. I believe a personal commitment to self-care and to healthy choices makes all of these options work better. I try to help people understand the various options available to them, so that they can confidently put together a plan for themselves. For instance did you know that Kaiser Permanente has an online module that can help you develop a personalized plan to live healthier? One of the advantages of seeking your mental health care through Kaiser Permanente is that you can put all the elements of your treatment plan together in one place with providers who all work on one team.

My Team

I have three excellent nurses that work with me, Heidi Wright, RN, Erlana Stark, RN, and Sherry Niemi, RN. We are very much a team. Heidi and Erlana can be reached at 916-525-6231. Sherry can be reached at 916-525-6228. Both can provide you with telephone advice and assistance when you are not sure how to access the system.

Thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit about me. I hope you have found the information and the links useful. Please feel free to e-mail me your comments about my home page.

My Credentials

Medical school	Texas A & M University College of Medicine, College Station, TX
Residency	UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
Board certification	Psychiatry, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

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