The Geriatric Psychiatry Program located within the U-M Geriatrics Center provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to meet the unique needs of the aging population. Appropriate treatments can help facilitate adjustment to the changes of later life, and significantly improve quality of life for those patients and their families.

We believe it is important to look at the big picture when treating our patients, and often look well beyond the initial symptoms or reason for the referral to better understand the underlying mental, physical, and environmental variables that could be contributing to the issue. For this reason, we often rely on input from friends, family, or other loved ones to help paint a complete picture and allow us to develop a comprehensive and personalized treatment plan. These treatments may include any combination of psychopharmacologic, psychotherapeutic and psychosocial modalities. For those with issues related to dementia or memory loss we can also set up a consultation within our DICE clinic.

Your care team in Geriatric Psychiatry may involve a number of different people, each of whom helps tailor your care to your particular needs.

• Each of our faculty clinicians are board-certified geriatric psychiatrists
• As a teaching institution, U-M prides itself on training the next generation of physicians, with both psychiatry and geriatric medicine residents experiencing rotations in our clinics.
• In addition to the care received by the team in our clinic, you may also utilize resources outside of our group.  We frequently connect our patients to a number of outside groups including the Michigan Visiting Nurses, Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Turner Senior Resource Center, and Silver Club, among others.

The Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic consists of an interprofessional team, which includes physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, and nurses and provides outpatient evaluation and treatment for older adults 70 and above with a variety of psychiatric disorders (including mood disorders, dementia, late-life psychoses, adjustment disorders and substance use), often involving interactions with coexisting medical conditions. 

We also provide consultation to geriatricians and other primary care physicians who are treating older patients, both within Michigan Medicine and in the broader community. Our primary clinic is located within the Turner Geriatric Clinic, part of the East Ann Arbor Health Center on Plymouth Road.

Typically, your visit would start with your primary care provider or geriatrician, who may have discussed with you or a loved one some concerns surrounding your mood, personality, or problems with your memory or thoughts that they feel may be better handled by a visit with a geriatric psychiatrist. At that point, your doctor will put in a referral authorization and a request for a consultation into your chart. Once this is completed, you can call our clinic and schedule your first appointment.

To make an appointment please call: (734) 764-6831
Toll Free: (877) 865-2167
Clinic Fax: (734) 647-8535

Prior to your appointment, please request to have your records sent to our office from previous psychiatrists you have seen if they were outside of the U-M system.

What to expect at your first visit

• When you first arrive to our clinic you will check in at the registration desk and may be asked to complete some brief paperwork.
• After you are checked in, an MA will then take you back to get your vitals and go over your medication list.
• A physician or nurse practitioner will then meet with you to hear your story and complete an exam.
• Following the history and exam, your family or loved one will be asked to join to provide additional information and perspective.
• The physician or nurse practitioner might leave the room for 15-20 minutes to share this information with the care team. The team will then return to the room to provide you with recommendations and a personalized care plan.
• Your first visit with us is designed to be very thorough and provide the most accurate information to provide the best care plan for you. For this reason, the initial visit will take at least 2 hours, so please plan your day accordingly, bring with you anything you may need to make your time more comfortable, and plan on arriving about 15 minutes before your appointment time. Future appointments are typically shorter and take approximately 45 minutes. 

To make your first visit with us most helpful, please bring the following to your appointment:

• All of your medications in the bottles themselves, including any over-the-counter and herbal supplements you are currently taking.
• A medication list including everything you take regularly, including the amounts and names.
• A family member or loved one we can talk to about your current situation- this is very important so we can have both the patient’s perspective on their symptoms, as well as that of a friend, family member, or other loved one.
• Insurance cards and your blue University Hospital registration card
• Discharge summaries or copies of other records if applicable