Based in Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is a mental health professional with over two decades of experience in the industry who serves as a psychiatrist at Gateway Homes. In addition, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is a member of several industry organizations, such as the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which seeks to advance mental health treatments and research.
The non-profit APA recently responded to a $1.4 trillion spending bill passed by Congress for the 2020 fiscal year, welcoming the funding that mental health and addiction services will receive. The APA highlights the fact that several areas in particular, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will receive $12.5 million in funding. In addition, the organization applauded the 6.7 percent increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with $2 billion of this being earmarked for the National Institute of Mental Health. On top of an initial $41.68 billion in funding, the NIH will receive an additional $12.5 million to research evidence-based methods to prevent firearm injuries and deaths. Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is an experienced psychiatrist who acquired his MD in 1995. Since 2009, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has served as an outpatient adult psychiatrist serving individuals' mental health care needs at Gateway Homes in Virginia.
A cultural arts enthusiast, Dr. Yaratha provides support to local artistic institutions such as the Richmond Ballet. For more than six decades, the Richmond Ballet has advanced the art form through productions and education. The organization, which also operates the School of Richmond Ballet, administers a number of programs for children, and even offers ballet birthday parties. Birthday parties at the Richmond Ballet are designed for children between the ages of four and 10. The parties are held at the organization’s state-of-the-art facility, and include party invitations, studio sessions with ballerinas, a party room, and party favors. In addition, children can select Cinderella, the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, or Sleeping Beauty as a party theme. The Standard party package is for up to 10 participants, with the option to expand to 15 for an additional fee. Premiere package is available as well, adding a craft project and the option to expand the party to include up to 30 participants. For further information on programs at the School of Richmond Ballet, visit www.richmondballet.com. Geriatric psychiatrist and former associate professor of psychiatry at the VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has been a practicing psychiatrist for over a decade. Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has earned many awards and honors in Virginia, a state where psychiatrists are sorely lacking while mental health trends continue to decline.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, over a million Virginia residents experience some form of mental illness and around 300,000 of those are serious illnesses. The fewer than one thousand psychiatrists licensed in Virginia can’t hope to address all the state’s mental health needs. Telepsychiatry has come up frequently as a potential way to help Virginians get the mental health counseling they need. Direct to consumer telepsychiatry allows professionals to deliver psychiatric and other mental health services to people in their own homes. This clinically effective way of providing health care reduces commuting stress and makes it easier to fit sessions into people’s schedules. At the very least, it may be a good transitional tool until the number of professionals in the field can catch up with the growing demand. Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is an experienced forensic and addiction psychiatrist who holds medical degrees from Spartan Health University and the West Virginia School of Medicine. Currently, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha leverages this education and decades of medical experience as a psychiatrist at Gateway Homes in Chesterfield, Virginia.
Gateway Homes has provided mental health support services in a residential setting since its founding in 1983. A nonprofit organization, Gateway offers services that range from case management and counseling to psychosocial rehab and skills training at its 36-acre campus. The organization currently adheres to a three-step approach to treat those with serious mental illness.: Supportive living center - The first step takes place at Gateway’s housing and residential treatment facilities, and involves an individualized treatment plan. Residents receive support with medication management and daily living in addition to skills training, counseling, and classroom-based education. Supportive living apartments - The second step takes place in on-campus apartment living, where staff help residents learn to live independently. In addition to receiving ongoing mental health support, residents learn socialization and vocational skills. Independent living in the community - Lastly, residents move to the community, where they receive ongoing case management on a weekly basis. Having served as the director of inpatient psychiatry at VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is currently a psychiatrist with Gateway Homes, where he provides care to people living with chronic mental disabilities. An active member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has extensive knowledge of recovery pathways for patients with substance abuse issues and has a strong interest in the field.
As defined by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addiction is both a mental illness and an intricate brain disorder that involves a chronic imbalance in motivation, memory, reward, and related brain circuitry. Over the past few decades researchers have found that an addict's environment matters. To test this theory, one classic study provided rats kept in cages with a pair of options: to drink from a regular bottle of water or from a bottle of morphine-water. During the course of the study, out of the 10 rats, 9 selected the morphine-water compulsively and to the point of death. However, Dr. Bruce K. Alexander discovered a flaw in this study in the early 1980s and chose to conduct his own experiment. Instead of keeping the rats alone in cages, Dr. Alexander constructed an enriched environment known as Rat Park, which included access to games, toys, socialization, and sex. The result was that a majority of the rats did not partake in drinking the morphine-water. Even those that did drink morphine-water imbibed in much smaller amounts than the rats in the earlier study. With morphine-water readily available, they did not display addictive forms of behavior. Dr. Alexander's study ultimately led to the conclusion that one's social environment can have a major impact in determining the form and scope of addictive behavior. Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is a psychiatrist dedicated to helping people with complex mental disorders. Working at Gateway Homes in Chesterfield, Virginia, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha manages psychiatric care for patients diagnosed with illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder.
Gateway Homes was established with the guiding belief that even people with severe mental disorders can attain fulfilling lives. The facility offers residential treatment programs that care for patients with tough mental illnesses, helping them recover and achieve independent living. At Gateway Homes’ central regional program, patients stay at the Supported Living Center, a licensed facility operating 24/7 and capable of serving up to 16 people. Patients begin their stay here. After admission, they are taken through a baseline assessment before a customized treatment plan is developed. Members of the staff educate them on their conditions and work with them to ensure they take their medication and develop skills to cope with their illnesses. Classroom education, counseling, and community activities are held every week. Residents who are prepared are moved to the Gateway’s Supported Living Apartments designed to mirror life in the outside community. Patients continue to receive mental health care and are motivated to develop the social, educational, and vocational skills necessary for job placement. Afterward, Gateway ushers them into independent living as full members of the outside community. Weekly staff support is offered and patients are encouraged to keep participating in on-going rehabilitation programs on campus. An outpatient psychiatrist with Gateway Homes since 2009, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha attends to the mental health needs of adults who live with chronic psychological conditions. To inform his professional endeavors, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha holds active membership in several medical organizations, including the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).
Serving professionals in the addiction medicine field since 1954, ASAM supports more than 6,000 members. One of its key educational and networking events is its annual conference. The ASAM 51st Annual Conference will take place April 2 - 5, 2020, in Denver, Colorado. Themed “Innovations in Addiction Medicine and Science,” the event will feature workshops and courses that cover topics including motivational interviewing and the relationship between addiction and pain. Smaller group meetings at the conference will discuss issues that include child/adolescent addiction and nicotine/tobacco use. ASAM will also sponsor two days of pre-conference meetings and a pre-conference fundamentals workshop. A psychiatrist caring for adults with chronic mental health challenges, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha delivers psychiatric treatment to patients at Gateway Homes, a provider in Chesterfield, Virginia. Over his career, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has conducted numerous lectures and seminars on mental health topics, including a lecture on addiction before an audience of legal professionals in Charlottesville, Virginia. When people lose control of their behaviors, feelings, and thoughts regarding their craving for a substance, for example a drug, and this craving takes command of their lives, we say that they’ve become addicted to that substance. The decision to take drugs may be due to the drug’s ability to make the user euphoric, to reduce stress, or to enhance performance. Why does a person feel compelled to use a drug even if they understand that the drug is doing harm to them and even if they wish to stop, as is often the case? The answer may center on the way a drug interacts with chemical processes in the brain. Drug use can cause the brain to become flooded with dopamine, a chemical that gives rise to euphoria. With repeated drug use, however, the brain becomes acclimated to dopamine, and people no longer feel as euphoric when they take the usual amount of the drug. Moreover, when the brain releases dopamine during everyday, non-drug related occasions for pleasure, users may find that they do not feel as good as they expect to due to the brain's acclimation to the chemical. To get the pleasure they desire, users end up consuming more and more of the drug to release effective quantities of dopamine in the brain. This in turn leads to addiction. Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is a psychiatrist with Gateway Homes in Chesterfield, Virginia. In this position he is responsible for outpatient psychiatric care of adult patients living with chronic mental illness. A graduate of the West Virginia University School of Medicine, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has nearly two decades of experience in the field. He is also a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association.
Every year, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) celebrates outstanding professional achievements through a comprehensive awards program. The program is comprised of nearly 50 unique honors, including the Administrative Psychiatry Award, which is given to an APA member who has excelled in an administrative role with a major mental health services provider, particularly those that improve mental health service delivery systems. The Davis Carol Ethics Award, meanwhile, was established in 2005 to recognize the important role ethics plays in psychiatric education. The honor is given to an APA member who has published an influential work regarding ethics. More generalized awards include the Distinguished Service Award, given for exceptional work in the field of psychiatry or meritorious work with the APA, and the District Branch Best Practice Award, which honors district branches maintaining high quality, innovative psychiatric programming. Additional awards include the Fryer John Award for mental health work in sexual minority communities, the Hartford-Jeste Award for Future Leader in Geriatric Psychiatry, and the Health Services Research Award. The awards program can be explored in full at www.psychiatry.org. |
AuthorSince 2006, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has worked for Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, as a forensic psychiatrist and attending physician for the men’s long-term forensic unit. Archives
January 2020
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