About Dr. Hall

Greetings, again,

I am the married father of two sons with two dauthters-in-law and two grandsons. I learned most of my child psychiatry skills from my own family, the rest from my education at Harvard College, the University of Washington Medical School, internship, psychiatry residency, and Child Psychiatry Fellowship. There were times during training that my devotion to family cost me demerits on the wards. Liberated from training in 1983 with my marriage still intact and boys 8 and 11 years old, I immediately started a private practice of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry while also working half-time in the Children's Hospital outpatient psychiatric clinic. And I joined the local board of directors of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.

After eight months in practice I had developed the stamina to see patients 8 hours a day and still have energy for my family at home. At that point I left Children's Hospital for full-time private practice.

Since then I have worked with a wide range of children, adolescents, adults and families on issues ranging from simple (even if very disabling) depression to complex family conflicts involving major mental illness, abuse or other serious trauma, and alienated children and parents.

What sustains me in this work is the trust and openness of the people I work with as they reach out for help with their emotional distress. I am repeatedly honored by my patients as they allow me into the sacred space of their inner lives. And I am repeatedly uplifted as we are able together to find new healing and renewed meaning in their lives.

My fees, I believe, are mid-range for child psychiatry and I accept any insurance that will pay me. I am told I am still a preferred provider for some Regence and Blue Shield insurance plans. You will have to check with your insurance carrier to be sure. Some plans require a referral from your primary care physician, so ask about that.

Given the shortage of child psychiatrists in the Seattle area, I have stopped taking new adult patients as of 2001. I am happy to provide psychiatric services to any member of a family I see, if that does not compromise confidentiality.

I do my best to provide a confidential setting for all my patients, regardless of age. For small children this seldom comes up. With tweens and teens I ask parental permission to maintain confidentiality within the limits of the law, which requires disclosure of imminent harm to self or others. I do make a point, however, to include parents as much as possible, understanding that parents are most often the core supporters for their children.

Family work provides a potent venue for resolving family distress even when the focus is one or two members of the family. Because families are closed systems, distress within the family is recycled around the family unless there are safety valves to externalize the pain. Hence the approaches to solving family conflict must strive to be win-win-win-etc, since anyone feeling left out or attacked in the process of solving conflict will inevitably retaliate actively or passively and perpetuate the conflict. Involving all the core members of a family also expands the positive resources available to neutralize and heal the emotional injuries we face.

The satisfaction of doing this work successfully has sustained me over many years of practice. When it gets old and stale, I will retire. Come on in and see what we can do together.