ABOUT
Dr. George Ullrich provides guidance to primary psychological educational consultants and the families they serve to help support adolescents and young adults with complex mental-health presentations.
With more than 30 years of experience, Dr. Ullrich is double board-certified as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, as well as in general psychiatry. He has held medical directorship positions for various residential mental-health programs, non-profits and in hospital settings. Transitioning from a medical director role, Dr. Ullrich retains his position at Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a hospital with a proud history as a Magnet Facility, as well as and a part of the Mayo Clinic Care Network.
After completing his residency at George Washington University and Children’s National Medical Center, he first served as a Medical Director of Adolescent Services while joining the faculty at Loma Linda University Medical School. Upon relocating to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, he served as the Medical Director of Youth Services at Kootenai Behavioral Health Center in addition to providing consultation in a number of different residential mental-health settings.
In 2004, Dr. Ullrich and Jami Sturges, along with other clinicians, founded the Innercept residential programs, and served as Medical Director until 2021. By applying the integrative-medicine approach, he provided direct assessment, diagnosis and treatment that helped adolescents and young adults successfully navigate a multitude of complex mental-health issues.
CONSULTATION
Providing therapeutic educational consulting, treatment planning, review of clinical records, consultation with other clinical providers, as well as long-term considerations of integrative-medicine approaches.
Dr. Ullrich offers an ongoing weekly zoom meeting for support and educational purposes to families who utilize his services on a regular basis and work in conjunction with their own mental-health education consultant. He welcomes the opportunity to assist in these areas of focus:
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Bipolar disorders
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Schizophrenia
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Schizoaffective
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Severe depressive disorders with repetitive suicidal behaviors
INTEGRATIVE PSYCHIATRY
Combining the benefits of allopathic medicine with complementary and alternative medicine methods to create a powerful, more inclusive approach to the treatment of mental health.
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A word from Dr. Ullrich about integrative psychiatry
I had the good fortune to be raised in a family culture that valued healthy lifestyle choices and was open to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches addressing health concerns. This served me well as I navigated my way through 4 years of traditional allopathic medical school, 5 years of traditional, albeit eclectic, psychiatric internship, residency and fellowship training. I later held a leadership and teaching position in the medical school at Loma Linda University, located in the only Blue Zone in North America. Home to a school of public health and well-known for lifestyle-medicine education, Loma Linda University has conducted several studies on CAM. This includes one of the largest longitudinal studies of its kind, and currently has 97,000 participants.
During my time in this environment, I met Jami Sturges, who became my wife. Her expertise as a registered dietician gave me an even better understanding of how food as medicine can positively impact mental health. Healthy food for a healthy gut can greatly outperform SSRI medications without the possible side effects, particularly since 90% of serotonin is found in the lining of the gut.
Putting integrative psychiatry into practice
When I chose to move my child and adolescent psychiatry practice to Coeur d’Alene Idaho, I gained more exposure to a number of emotional-growth schools and diffident residential-treatment centers with various levels of clinical support. I quickly learned that they could greatly benefit from my traditional experience in providing psychiatric care. They provided me the opportunity to see, in action, the power of a therapeutic community and positive peer culture, as well as the compelling way to apply integrative psychiatry in real-time with strong staff-to-resident relationships. As I worked with residents and performed consultations in these and other settings, I also became more aware of the limits of traditional allopathic medicine.
The hospital environment offered safety, along with staff that had a good understanding of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment; however, they did not offer an environment where lifestyle medicine could easily be introduced. The medical model lacked the time required for a full response to typical psychiatric pharmacological intervention, along with other lifestyle interventions, to support recovery of the mental-health crisis.
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The tension between crisis management and stabilization vs. the benefits of extended traditional psychiatric support, environmental and lifestyle changes were the catalyst for creating Innercept. Working with adolescents and young adults in this setting allowed us to implement traditional psychiatric interventions, along with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to achieve astounding evidence-based results. 17 years later, we have the ability to look back and realize how much the residents, their families and staff have taught us about successfully applying this combination approach within a therapeutic continuum of care. While challenging, the opportunity to see the stabilization and healing that can take place when integrative psychiatric principles are applied is extremely fulfilling.
Looking forward
It is my desire to focus solely on learning from and helping the families that are challenged with adolescent or young adults that have complex psychiatric presentations. I look forward to continuing to draw upon my 30 years of experience to provide guidance rooted in integrative psychiatry to families as they set up long-term plans for recovery and healing.
