We strongly believe in partnering with our clients' primary care doctors for a full coordination of care.

As a mental health consultant, Dr. Swartout focuses on helping individuals, couples, families, and groups with depression & anxiety, bereavement, substance abuse, life changes, and infertility issues.

Growing Edges provides the client's referring doctor:

• both written and verbal communications (with monthly reporting via fax or email)
• in-depth experience and compliance with psychotropic medication regimens
• no-cost workshops for your patients on the topics of bereavement, depression, anxiety, and infertility

This type of relationship with our clients' physicians is instrumental in our clients' progress. As outlined in Comparing Standards of Mental Health Care: Combined Psychotherapy/Pharmacotherapy vs. Usual Medical Services by Jack G. Wiggins. Ph.D., published in The Independent Practitioner, Spring 2004, ". . .collaboration between psychologists and primary care doctors significantly improved clinical outcomes over the generalist's usual care."

"I have enjoyed working with Ilyssa Swartout, Psy.D. over the past year in my Family Medicine Practice. She is very effective with patients and is able to break through to them, even the most difficult patient. She is a person who patients can relate to. I often hear feedback that she is easy to talk to. The most impressive part about Ilyssa and her practice is that she communicates with me about our mutual patients. This is very rare in this day and age. This is the reason I keep referring patients to her. I always feel like our patients are getting excellent continuity of care.

In addition, Dr. Swartout has a great knowledge of the drugs used in treating the conditions she is speaking to her patients about. She makes appropriate recommendations regarding the medication treatment for that particular patient. I don't work with any other licensed psychologists who become involved in the patients pharmacological status.

I would recommend her wholeheartedly."

--Suzanne Bennet, DO, Family Physician

She brings to her individual and group practice not only rich experience but a large compassionate heart which is essential for long-term healing. You would be greatly fortunate to have Dr. Swartout as an individual or group psychotherapist."

--Myrtle Heery, Ph.D.,
private practice for over three decades, Associate Professor of In-Depth Psychotherapy at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA., Adjunct Faculty, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA.