Online Child & Teen Psychiatry for Tampa, FL residents

Duration, function, and change. Moodiness fluctuates. A depressive episode tends to persist for weeks and to drag function down with it, at school, with friends, and at home. A teenager who has dropped the activities they used to want to do, whose sleep has inverted, and whose grades fell over one semester is worth an evaluation. That is a clinical judgment rather than a parenting judgment.

Yes. Asking directly does not increase risk, and it frequently gives a struggling adolescent the first opening they have had. If the answer worries you, call us. In an emergency call 911, or reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by call or text at 988.

Face-to-face visits for children and teens are held only at the Wesley Chapel office, 27724 Cashford Circle, Suite 102. Measured outside rush hour in November 2026, that is about 25 minutes from the center of the city by I-275 N, about 15 minutes from Tampa Palms and about 25 minutes from Temple Terrace. Evaluations and follow-ups otherwise run by secure video from wherever your teen has privacy, so the drive only comes up when the care team asks for a face-to-face visit.

We explain the boundaries to both of you at the start. Parents receive what they need in order to support treatment: the diagnosis, the plan, and anything involving safety, which is always shared. Ordinary private material a teenager discloses is generally kept between the teenager and the clinician, because that is what makes the account honest enough to be useful.

Not automatically, and not as a first move by default. An evaluation comes first, and the plan that follows may involve therapy, changes to sleep and school demands, family work, medication, or a combination. If medication is on the table we go through the reasoning and the risks, including the boxed warning that applies to antidepressants in children and young adults, before anything is prescribed.

We work with many major commercial plans and offer self-pay options. Coverage varies by plan and service. Our team will confirm with you.

There are two children's hospitals in the city. St. Joseph's Children's Hospital has the Steinbrenner children's emergency and trauma center on the St. Joseph's campus, and Tampa General Hospital on Davis Islands, where Muma Children's Hospital at TGH is based, lists a dedicated children's ER too. AdventHealth Tampa, in the University area just outside the city limits, also has a pediatric ER. Call 911 for immediate danger, and call or text 988 for a mental health crisis. None of these hospitals are part of Ascend Mind and Body.

Children and teens from 5 through 17. Margot also treats adults, so a Tampa senior who turns 18 mid-treatment can usually stay with the same clinician instead of starting over somewhere new; at that point the young adult consents for their own care. Video visits continue as long as they are physically in Florida, which matters for a teen heading to college out of state. For a child under 5 with a developmental question, psychological testing with Dr. Richard M. Marshall, Ed.D., Ph.D., a psychologist who tests from age 1, may be the better first step.

Not the same training, but much of the same work. Margot Krahn is a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP-BC) and a Florida-licensed APRN with 12 years in practice. She evaluates children and teens, makes diagnoses, and manages treatment, including medication when it fits. A child psychiatrist is a physician who completed psychiatry and child psychiatry training. For a Tampa family the practical questions are whether the clinician sees your child's age, treats the problem in front of you, and can see you soon. Ask the care team anything about her background.

Check Margot Krahn's Zocdoc calendar, which shows her actual new-patient video openings, rather than relying on anyone's estimate. If you would like help choosing a time around a Hillsborough school schedule, send the request form; a care coordinator usually returns those within one business day. Because the first visit is by video, a Tampa family does not have to plan around the 25-minute drive to Wesley Chapel, and an after-school opening is easier to use. If your child is unsafe right now, call 911 or call or text 988 instead of waiting for a slot.

No. A parent can book directly through Zocdoc or the request form. If your pediatrician has written a referral, send it along with recent notes, because it gives the first visit a head start. With your permission, Margot sends her plan back to the pediatrician afterward, so the doctor who sees your child for well visits and sick visits knows what changed. Some insurance plans have their own referral rules; the care team checks those when it confirms your coverage before the first visit.

Yes, for the first visit. A parent or legal guardian consents to care for a child under 18 and joins the evaluation, and the visit usually starts with parent and child together. For a teenager, part of the hour is then spent with the teen alone, which is often where the most honest account comes out. Later follow-ups vary by age. A Tampa parent at work downtown can join from a private office on a phone while the teen joins from home, as long as both of you are in Florida.

She evaluates ADHD too. Attention trouble in a child or teen overlaps with anxiety, depression and poor sleep, so the evaluation looks at all of them rather than starting from a rating scale alone, and it asks what teachers at your child's Hillsborough school have noticed. If ADHD is confirmed, the plan may include school accommodations, therapy, medication or a mix. Medication is a clinical decision made after the evaluation. Any first stimulant prescription follows a face-to-face visit at the Wesley Chapel office, and the rest of the care can run by video.