Psychiatric Services

Psychiatric Services provides care to UWF students in order to help them stay focused on pursuing their educational goals. We are staffed by a part-time psychiatrist and a full-time nurse practitioner during normal business hours. If you need to speak with someone when our office is closed, please call us at 850.474.2420 and follow the prompts to leave us a voice message.  We will return your call the next business day. 

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Psychiatric Services Disclaimer

Due to the nature of college health, not all mental illnesses will be appropriate for treatment at UWF Psychiatric Services. In some cases, the complexity of certain illnesses requires the availability of services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This will be discussed between each individual student and his or her provider during the initial appointment.

UWF Psychiatric Services does not provide mandated court-ordered treatment, disability assessments or paperwork, ADD/ADHD psychological testing, or services for injectable psychiatric medications. We will be happy to help you coordinate these services with local providers. Please also see our Local Area Services and Additional Resources page for additional local and national resources.

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Initial Psychiatric Appointment

On your first visit to Psychiatric Services, you will be asked to complete paperwork regarding your medical and psychiatric history. Once this paperwork is completed, you will see your provider. If you are coming in for the first time, the paperwork can take up to one hour to complete.

The initial appointment with the provider will be approximately 50 minutes in length. At this time, a complete psychiatric assessment will be done. This will consist of a review of the current problem, psychiatric history, medical history, family medical and psychiatric history, alcohol and drug use history, and social history. Please have a list of any medications you are currently taking and a list of all previous psychiatric treatment providers with their addresses so that your records can be obtained.

At this initial visit, we will develop a treatment plan with you. Successful treatment requires an active approach to obtaining the desired outcome.

Follow-up Appointments

Follow-up visits with your provider will be approximately 15-20 minutes in length. The focus of these visits will be to evaluate your response to the medication that has been prescribed. These services are available to you through your providers, and referrals will be made as needed.

Medication Refills

It is very important to keep your appointments so that you do not run out of medications. Medication refills will be done, if deemed necessary, by your treatment provider at your appointment time.

All medication refills, questions, or other concerns can be addressed by calling 850.474.2420. If after hours, please leave a detailed message. The Psychiatric Services staff will respond to your message within 24 hours during the work week. Weekend and holiday messages will be responded to on the next business day.

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ADD/ADHD Medication

If you have been receiving treatment for an established diagnosis of ADD/ADHD and have been taking medication on a regular basis prior to coming to UWF, you will need to schedule an appointment for a psychiatric evaluation if you wish to obtain treatment from UWF Psychiatric Services.

If you think you have ADD/ADHD and wish to be evaluated for stimulant medication, you will need to complete psychological testing to confirm the diagnosis prior to scheduling a psychiatric evaluation. We do not offer testing on campus, but there are many local psychologists in the area who will be glad to assist you. Please contact our office at 850.474.2420 for more information.

Please bring all of your prescription medication bottles with you to your initial appointment. It is your responsibility to make sure that you have enough medications to last until your appointment with the psychiatrist, which can take up to three or four weeks, depending on appointment availability.

Your initial evaluation may be with the Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) who will facilitate obtaining all needed information prior to you seeing the psychiatrist. This information includes documentation from previous providers that demonstrates your diagnosis and prescription history, blood work, urine drug screen (UDS) and EKG.

The cost of the blood work, UDS and EKG are the student's responsibility. These costs may be covered by your health insurance. If you have no health insurance, the laboratory work can be obtained for a fee through UWF Student Health Services (SHS). EKGs are not performed by SHS and must be obtained at other healthcare facilities in the community. A “normal” EKG less than 12 months old from your previous provider will be accepted by the psychiatrist. Please see the SHS website for more information on other healthcare facilities in the area. 

Stimulant medications are governed by federal and state laws and regulations. No stimulant medication will be prescribed prior to you seeing the treating psychiatrist. It is important that you understand that it is up to the sole discretion of the treating psychiatrist at UWF as to whether controlled substances are indicated for your care.

If you have a confirmed diagnosis of ADD/ADHD and want special accommodations while a student at UWF, please refer to the Student Accessibility Resources (SAR) website for their requirements.