by Geoff Fox
Amanda Bauler has been providing care in Hancock since 2017 when she was working at the Valley Health clinic, which closed last October. But in 2021, she returned to graduate school to become dual certified in psychiatry.
There hasn’t been a psych provider in Hancock in “at least 10 years or so” that she’s aware of, Bauler said.
“That I did specifically for Hancock,” she said.
When the clinic on Pennsylvania Avenue closed, Bauler opened the primary care practice Mountain View Wellness at 117 West Main Street in January and the psych practice in April.
Bauler is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and her specialty is diagnostics and medication management. She also does psychotherapy.
As a primary care provider, Bauler said they all deal with mental health conditions. But for her, there were people who had serious mental health issues and she didn’t have the training for those issues.
“It would take four to six months for us to get people in to see a psychiatrist or mental health nurse practitioner or even a therapist,” she said noting there are months of waiting lists. “I just wanted to fill that need.”
Bauler said she’s worked with patients with the whole spectrum of mental health conditions such as bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and the affects of trauma. She added about 50% of her patients are kids dealing with autism, ADHD and behavioral issues.
In her patient list, Bauler said it was 50/50 the first few months, but 40/60 adult and children. Men and women are pretty similar in number.
Bauler admitted there aren’t a lot of resources available to help people with mental health issues.
Because of that, Bauler has been seeing patients from the surrounding area because of the lack of services in the entire region.
While there are a couple places trying to fill gaps in the Needmore and McConnellsburg areas and more in Berkeley Springs, Bauler said in the immediate area, if she has a patient that needs to see a clinical psychologist for a full autism evaluation, those patients end up going to Baltimore.
Resources are stretched thin even in Hagerstown, she added.
“There’s a lot of people with needs,” she said.
People are taking notice of her practice and are finding her by either recommendation from their regular health provider or by driving by the office and seeing the signs.
“I’m having a number of people say, ‘Hey my psychiatrist retired,’ or ‘I lost my provider from another area and I’m really happy to find someone close to home,’” she said.
One of the most common symptoms presented to Bauler are depression symptoms which looks like hopelessness, mood changes, irritability, difficulty in sleeping, changes in appetite, anxiety, and panic attacks.
Often in kids, Bauler said depression might present, withdrawing from social situations, irritability, mood swings, “those sorts of things that family might key into and notice.”
Bauler said it’s unfortunate there’s a stigma about seeking mental health care.
She practiced in Oregon and Washington for 17 years and has noticed that stigma is more prevalent here than those other places.
“I think it’s more rural the area, the more difficult it can be to feel like they can seek help,” she said.
She tells her patients going to a therapist or mental health care provider should be as regular as going to see a general practitioner because they have a sinus infection or high blood pressure.
“I encourage people that our physical and our mental healths are all inter-related and when we seek care help our mental health to be better, stronger, it improves physical health as well,” she said.
In a first session, Bauler said someone could expect a “nice thorough history” and her getting familiar with the person’s current symptoms, any past history of mental illness, talk about family history related to mental illness, any physical conditions that might contribute to the symptoms.
Since Bauler is also a primary care provider, she said she’s always on alert for what crossovers exist between the mental health issues and physical conditions.
The patient could expect to dive deep into that history and then Bauler and the patient would talk through the diagnosis that make sense based on the symptoms.
They would then work together on a treatment plan such as medication or supplements and nutritional therapy — which is often part of the treatment she suggests — as well as psychotherapy, or even counseling by her or another therapist.
Most of the mental health appointments take place upstairs, but there is space on the first floor for those who are unable to get to the second floor.
Bauler, who likes to see her patients face to face and get acquainted that first time, also offers tele-health, or video chat, appointments as well.
If you need mental health care and want to set up an appointment at Mountain View Wellness, Bauler said you can call the office at 240-343-9095 or go to https://www. mtnviewwellness.com/ mountain-view-psychiatry/ and fill out the “Request a new patient appointment” form.
Bauler said Mountain View Wellness is currently in network with all of the commercial insurance carriers as well as Maryland Medicaid plans. She also allows for cash payments.
“My goal is to make that affordable if people don’t have coverage for mental health care,” she said.
