Paula Wilt, MD

Dr. Laura Rosas is an adult psychiatrist at Talkiatry who practices compassionate, patient-centered care. As a multiracial psychiatrist, she serves diverse communities and focuses on treatment plans that respect each patient's background. She treats various diagnoses, including trauma, mood, personality, and eating disorders, with a particular interest in the student and LGBTQ+ communities. Using a range of skills and interventions from psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mentalization-based therapy (MBT), Dr. Rosas prioritizes a collaborative approach. She ensures patients are actively involved in shaping their treatment, including decisions about medication and supplements. This cooperation allows for personalized care plans that align with each patient's needs, values, and goals. Recognizing that cultural influences, substance use, financial constraints, and other societal factors impact mental health, Dr. Rosas examines these personal aspects to provide effective, holistic care in a non-judgmental space. She graduated from McGovern Medical School (UT Houston) and completed her residency in psychiatry at the University of Chicago. She aims to make healthcare more accessible and affordable, driving systemic changes in mental health care.

Mary Poupon is an experienced board certified psychiatric APRN/psychiatric nurse practitioner with over 30 years' experience in her field. She completed her graduate work at Columbia University and is published in her field. Her practice sites have included inpatient hospital treatment, partial hospital programs, in-home programs, outpatient clinics and alternative therapy including equine assisted therapy.  She was the program director and clinician with the Ryan White Mental Health Program in New York providing innovative mental health treatment for adolescents and adults living with HIV/AIDS in the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.  In 2013 she became certified as an equine assisted psychotherapist and served as the Director of Mental Health at Embrace Hope in Sandy Hook, CT. She was appointed as the Executive Director of Embrace Hope in 2017. Embrace Hope provided treatment to children, adolescents and adults who were victims of trauma related to the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. She presented a TED x talk in 2018 regarding her work with victims of trauma. She has provided treatment in the outpatient setting for children, teens, and adults. She has provided treatment to young adults at the Covenant House New York shelter program for homeless young adults.

Mary believes the human spirit is resilient. There are many challenges in the lifespan and self-care is paramount to success.

Mary provides psychiatric consultation and assessment and provides a pathway to change. Treatment may include medication management, therapy, and coping skills to assist with life challenges. Mary believes treatment is a partnership and believes in establishing mutually agreed upon goals.

Mary's process for working with patients begins with active listening. The assessment begins with the patient describing why they are seeking engagement in behavioral health treatment at this time. She will complete a psychiatric assessment and evaluation and establish mutually agreed upon goals for treatment. She offers medication management in conjunction with supportive therapy in 30-minute follow-up visits. Mary believes therapy and medication management if indicated together provides the best treatment outcomes.

Dr. Helms is a graduate of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He completed his General Psychiatry and Child/Adolescent fellowship training at the University of Texas, Health Science Center at San Antonio. He has over 25 years of experience as a psychiatrist treating patients of all ages (child, adolescent, and adult�including geriatric) while working in a multitude of treatment settings including outpatient clinics and psychiatric hospitals. He also has several years of experience working as a psychiatric consultant for medical-surgical hospitals, seeing an extensive variety of patients on all floors of the hospital from mother-baby to pediatrics, as well as adult patients on the medical and surgical floors. Dr. Helms takes with him into each patient encounter, his wide breadth of experience and his genuine care and concern for each and every individual patient. He provides both medication treatment and talk therapy. He understands that many patients greatly benefit from either short or long term medication treatment; however, he also understands that talk therapy can oftentimes lead to significant, long lasting positive change, personal growth, and improvements in occupational and relationship success. Moreover, patients will always find Dr. Helms encouraging and supportive as they search for greater meaning and purpose in their lives.

Dr. Emily Sykes is a board-certified adult psychiatrist. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree with Magna Cum Laude distinction from Carleton College, where she majored in biology. Dr. Sykes completed her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Toledo. She completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Cincinnati and was the outpatient chief resident physician. Dr. Sykes' specialty interests include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and holistic wellness. She is a certified Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) provider for PTSD. Dr. Sykes provides compassionate, evidence-based, individualized, holistic care for patients suffering from a variety of mental health diagnoses and concerns. She incorporates supportive therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and solutions-focused therapy into her sessions.

Dr. Syed Abbasi is an adult psychiatrist who completed his undergraduate education at Rutgers University and earned his medical degree at Ross University. He completed his psychiatry residency training at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center with training at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, additionally as Chief Resident at Columbia University's Outpatient Adult Psychiatry Eye-6 clinic. Dr. Abbasi is passionate about and experienced in providing holistic, thoughtful, evidence-based care for patients with depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, trauma-related disorders, relationship issues and struggles with self-image. He believes empathy and understanding are the most fundamental components of the doctor-patient relationship. He provides psychiatric medication management and integrates supportive psychotherapy, elements of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), stress management techniques and lifestyle interventions to meet patients where they are and collaborate toward improvement and optimization of their wellness. Occasionally, when appropriate, he may recommend adding a therapist to your care team for further benefit.

Dr. Bakhtier is certified in Adult Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology. Dr. Bakhtier has been practicing for over 15 years and has been working in the field of Telemedicine for over 10 years. Dr. Bakhtier has been working to make easy access to mental health treatment for everyone and believes that Telemedicine is a great option for more access to mental health treatment.  After completing residency training and a master’s in public health, Dr. Bakhtier started practicing as a staff Psychiatrist and later promoted to the medical director position. He had the privilege of working as the Chief Resident during his residency training and worked with a diverse population, treating many people with different types of mental illness at Lincoln medical and mental Health Center in affiliation with Downtown Bronx Medical Associates P.C. and Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Although he is focused on medication management, he is also very interested in therapies like Motivational interview, Supportive therapy to include in the treatment plan. He is very grounded in humanistic values. He likes to work very closely with his patients to build a treatment plan, and he believes in listening to patients and believing that the best outcomes are possible only by working together with patients. He will make decisions after consultation with you and with your approval first regarding adding or changing medication.

Dr. Bakhtier will spend at least 60 minutes on the initial visit and then 30mintues for follow-up appointments where he will develop a treatment plan with you and will be very open to listening to your preferences regarding medication management.

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