Bipolar teen and Kaiser
My teen is newly diagnosed bipolar. We may be switching to Kaiser in January. I know there is a strike right now going on with some mental health care workers - psychiatrists I believe. Does anyone have experience getting good help for their bipolar child thru Kaiser? Our current health care is not great but she does have a psychiatrist that is readily available and I can text him even on weekends. that's about it though. No other services.
Sep 27, 2022
Parent Replies
IMHO when a family signs up with Kaiser, they must accept from the outset that all mental health services and expenses will be added expenses and a world to navigate on their own. The Kaiser strike encompasses all professional therapists, MFCCs, LCSWs, PhDs, etc. Nancy Pelosi is starting to get involved with this strike.
The short story about Kaiser and their mental health department is that they are grossly understaffed and their mental health providers are overbooked which is why they cannot meet for frequent (i.e. weekly or even biweekly) appts. My son has mild ADHD and had very intermittent contact with their teen ADHD specialist who was very gifted with teens but ultimately left. This is why the mental health department periodically strikes because they do not feel they are able to treat their clients at the level that is needed to sufficiently support them given their extreme caseloads. We ended up supplementing my son's Kaiser with an outside therapist. Otherwise, we really like Kaiser.
It would be a mistake to switch to Kaiser. When my child was utilizing their mental health services he had numerous different psychiatrists and therapists within the space of a couple years. They have horrible turnover and no consistency in care. There is a reason their mental health workers are striking. And why Kaiser was sued for their poor mental health services. It would be a huge disservice to your teen