Clear expectations.
More room for care.

Treatment & informed choices

Psychiatric care is a collaborative process. Your provider will explain recommendations, discuss relevant benefits and risks, answer questions, and consider alternatives. No particular diagnosis, prescription, outcome, or letter is guaranteed.

Share an accurate health and medication history, including alcohol or other substance use, other treating clinicians, and changes in your circumstances. Let us know about side effects, concerns, and what is or is not working for you. Treatment is voluntary, and you may ask questions or decline a recommendation after discussing the potential effects.

We complete treatment consent and any service-specific agreements separately. Reading this website does not provide consent for treatment, recording, medication, or payment.

Documentation technology

If AI-assisted or audio-processing documentation technology is proposed for your visit, the practice will explain its use and any applicable choices or consent before use. Tell your provider if you have concerns or prefer an alternative. Clinical decisions and final records remain the provider's responsibility.

Respect and accommodations

You have a right to respectful, nondiscriminatory care. We ask for the same courtesy toward staff. Tell us about disability, communication, or accessibility needs before the visit so we can discuss reasonable arrangements. If a representative is consenting on someone's behalf, we must verify their legal authority, subject to applicable consent and confidentiality laws.

Telehealth visits

Use a private location, a working camera and microphone, and a reliable internet connection. At the start of each visit, confirm your identity, current physical location, and an emergency contact when requested.

You must be physically located in North Carolina for a Steadwell telehealth appointment unless the practice has specifically confirmed that care in another location is legally permitted. Tell us about travel before your appointment. Do not join a visit while driving.

Telehealth has limits, including technical interruptions and privacy risks. If a visit cannot be safely completed, your provider may discuss rescheduling, another permitted method, an in-person evaluation, or referral. You can ask about alternatives or decline telehealth; available options depend on your needs and practice availability.

Appointments & cancellations

Keep scheduled appointments and notify the office as soon as possible if you need to cancel or reschedule. Missed follow-ups can affect the safe continuation of medication treatment.

Any required cancellation notice period and applicable fee will be explained before it applies. Contact the office to confirm the current terms. A blank or pending amount on our fee page is not an authorization to charge a fee.

Missed-appointment or late-cancellation charges are assessed only when allowed by applicable law and your payer or program rules. Restrictions for Medicaid and other government programs take priority over general practice policies.

Medication & controlled substances

Prescribing depends on clinical assessment, your safety, and applicable requirements. An appointment or prior prescription from another clinician does not guarantee that Steadwell will prescribe or continue a particular medication.

• Take medication only as directed. Do not change doses or stop medications abruptly without discussing a safe plan with your provider.
• Attend the follow-up visits and monitoring your provider recommends. Depending on the medication and circumstances, monitoring may include prescription database review, pharmacy records, laboratory or drug testing, pill counts, or coordination with another clinician.
• Disclose all medications and substance use so interactions and risks can be considered. Tell us about pregnancy, pregnancy planning, or breastfeeding when relevant to your medication plan.
• Do not sell, share, or give medication to another person. Store it securely and use an authorized take-back option for unused medication.
• Coordinate controlled medications through the prescribing clinician and one pharmacy when reasonably possible. Tell the practice about overlapping prescriptions or a needed pharmacy change.

Request refills through your patient portal

Please request prescription refills directly through your CharmHealth patient portal. Steadwell does not respond to automated prescription refill requests from pharmacies. Medications and dose strengths can change, especially during a medication trial, and an automated pharmacy request may refer to an older prescription.

Use your portal request to tell the clinical team which current medication and dose you need and which pharmacy you are using. If you cannot access the portal, contact the office for help. Ask the team about the required lead time and request refills early enough for review during business hours. Same-day, after-hours, weekend, holiday, early, and travel-related prescriptions are not guaranteed. Do not wait until you are out of medication to ask about next steps.

Travel and lost medication

Lost or stolen controlled medications are not routinely replaced; a police report does not guarantee replacement. Notify the office promptly so your provider can discuss clinically appropriate next steps. Prescriptions may be restricted when you are outside a state where the provider is authorized to practice.

Controlled medication treatment requires a separate agreement when applicable. Concerns about safety or agreement compliance are assessed individually and may lead to additional evaluation, a different treatment plan, a supervised taper, referral, or discontinuation of prescribing consistent with clinical duties and applicable requirements.

ADHD evaluations and previous records

For ADHD or suspected ADHD, Steadwell conducts a comprehensive assessment of your concerns, history, daily functioning, and other factors that may affect attention. Your provider may refer you to an outside practice for additional testing when clinically needed.

Please provide any relevant past medical records, especially medication history and previous medication trials, ADHD assessments, diagnostic records, or letters from a previous clinician. If you need help requesting records from another practice, let us know. We can help coordinate an appropriate release and secure transfer.

A first visit does not guarantee an ADHD diagnosis or a prescription. If you have not previously been diagnosed with ADHD, medication for ADHD, including stimulants, may not be prescribed immediately. Even with a previous diagnosis or prescription, the provider needs to assess your current needs and safety before deciding on treatment.

Messages, email & optional texts

Use CharmHealth or the secure method directed by the office for clinical messages, records, insurance documents, and sensitive information. Regular email is for general administrative, scheduling, or billing questions. Do not include medical histories, photographs, insurance identification numbers, or financial documents in ordinary email or text.

Portal messages, email, voicemail, and texts are not continuously monitored. Do not use them for emergencies or delay urgent care while waiting for a reply.

Give the team time to review

Clinical and billing teams review a large number of calls, emails, and portal messages each day and triage requests according to their needs. Please allow time for review and response. Repeated messages about the same issue, including messages across multiple channels, do not make the practice respond faster. A clear message with the question and any relevant update helps us respond more completely.

If there is new information or your condition changes, please tell the clinical team. If you need immediate help or cannot stay safe, use the urgent-help options rather than waiting for a routine message reply.

For billing questions, email Click to reveal ↗ or address a portal message to Billing Department. For prescription refills, send your request directly through the patient portal.

Text message preferences

If you separately opt in to practice text messages, they may include scheduling reminders, account or billing notifications, secure portal alerts, care-related updates, or office closures. Message frequency varies; message and data rates may apply. SMS is not fully secure, and others with access to your device may see messages.

Text consent is optional and is not required to receive care. You may reply STOP to opt out or HELP for assistance, or call the office to update your preferences. Your mobile number and messaging preferences are not sold or shared for unrelated third-party marketing. Visiting this website does not enroll you in texts.

Billing, insurance & payments

Keeping insurance information current is the patient's responsibility. Tell the practice promptly about changes in your plan, member information, coverage dates, or other insurance. Provide updated insurance documents through the patient portal or another secure method.

Before scheduling, contact your insurance company to confirm your eligibility and benefits for outpatient mental health treatment by a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). Ask about the specific provider and practice, in-network or out-of-network status, deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, referrals, prior authorization, and any visit or telehealth limits.

The office may run a courtesy eligibility check and share what the response says about your coverage and benefits. Any information quoted by the office or billing team is an estimate based on the information available, not a guarantee of coverage, network status, payment, or final patient responsibility. Your particular health plan's terms and claim processing govern the final determination, including in-network and out-of-network benefits. Eligibility checks, referrals, and authorizations do not guarantee payment.

You are responsible for permitted copayments, deductibles, coinsurance, self-pay charges, and other properly disclosed patient obligations, subject to applicable law, payer contracts, program rules, and any approved financial arrangement. We do not treat all unpaid insurance claims as automatically billable to the patient.

Payment authorization

Any card-on-file arrangement and charges require the appropriate separate authorization. Payment information is handled through the practice's payment processor, not entered on this public website. Ask the office about the timing of charges and available payment arrangements.

Balances and questions

Contact the Billing Department promptly if a statement looks wrong or you need help understanding insurance processing. Approved payment plans may be available. Unresolved balances may be subject to collection procedures only after appropriate notice and where permitted. Refunds or credits are reconciled with the appropriate patient or payer under applicable requirements. Returned-payment fees, if any, must be disclosed and permitted.

For self-pay planning and the right to a written estimate, visit Fees & Good Faith Estimates or contact the Billing Department.

Financial hardship requests

If paying for care would make it difficult to meet essential needs, contact the office and ask for a private financial hardship review. A request is considered individually and does not guarantee a reduction or payment plan.

Review may consider household size and income, employment changes, essential living expenses, medical costs, insurance-assigned responsibility, and the circumstances and expected duration of the hardship. Supporting documentation may be requested when reasonably necessary.

Any approved accommodation will identify the charges or dates covered, payment terms, duration, and reassessment needs. Assistance is not an automatic waiver of patient responsibility and must remain consistent with applicable law and payer or program requirements. Tell us if circumstances materially change during an approval period.

Ask for the application through CharmHealth or another secure method. Do not email bank statements, tax returns, identification, or other financial documents to the general inbox.

Forms, letters & documentation

Documentation must be supported by your evaluation and medical record. Requests may include work or school accommodations, FMLA or disability paperwork, treatment summaries, medical necessity letters, or third-party forms. Asking for a form does not guarantee that a provider can complete it, meet a requested deadline, or reach a particular opinion.

For routine requests, please allow 7–10 business days after we receive all required information and any agreed payment. More complex requests may take longer. Expedited service may not be available. Simple work or school excuse notes connected with a visit are generally provided without an additional charge.

Any administrative fee will be explained before work begins. Fees must be permitted by applicable law and payer rules. Charges for administrative opinion letters are different from any permitted cost-based charge for a patient medical-record copy. Read about administrative fees and contact the office for a quote.

Medical records & release authorizations

You may request access to your own records or ask us to coordinate an appropriate release to another party. Where an authorization is required, the form identifies the sender, recipient, records to be shared, purpose, expiration, and your signature or the signature of an authorized representative.

A general authorization is voluntary. You may revoke it in writing, but revocation cannot undo disclosures already made in reliance on it. Information received by a party outside HIPAA may be redisclosed and may no longer have the same protections. Additional safeguards apply to certain records.

A release authorization is not required for every permitted treatment, payment, or operational disclosure. We apply the rules that govern the particular information and request. Use a secure method for forms and records, and contact the office for help rather than submitting sensitive material through this website.

Read our Notice of Privacy Practices for your access, correction, communication, and complaint rights.

Confidentiality, reporting & young patients

Privacy is an important part of treatment, but it is not absolute. North Carolina law requires reports to county social services when there is cause to suspect child abuse, neglect, dependency, or death from maltreatment. It also requires reports when there is reasonable cause to believe a disabled adult needs protective services. Other reporting duties and legal exceptions may apply.

Information may be disclosed when required or permitted to address a serious safety threat or a qualifying legal request. We apply the law and any additional protections governing the information.

There is no blanket age of 13 or 14 when all psychiatric records automatically become hidden from parents in North Carolina. Consent, the service, the patient's status, and legal exceptions matter. Read the North Carolina guide to minor consent, parent access, and reporting.

Urgent concerns & crisis support

Open the urgent help page for immediate options.

Steadwell is not a crisis center, emergency response service, or 24-hour support line. We do not provide life-threatening emergency visits or after-hours emergency appointments. If you are in immediate danger, cannot stay safe, or have a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.

For suicidal thoughts, emotional distress, or a mental health crisis, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available by phone, text, or online chat:

Do not rely on the portal, email, voicemail, or text messages for an emergency. These channels are not continuously monitored.

During routine care, your provider may help you develop a personalized safety plan that identifies warning signs, coping strategies, supportive people, professional resources, and ways to reduce access to items that could be used for self-harm. A safety plan supports care; it does not replace emergency help.

Read about risk assessment, safety planning, and support, and explore North Carolina mental health resources.