Saber Psychiatry offers comprehensive psychiatric services for the whole family, whether for individuals, the family as a whole, or parent training programs. Call us at 615.678.7839 for assessment and treatment plans. We provide a wide range of evaluations and treatments for family members ages 2 through 65.
Dr. Sricharan Moturi completed his basic medical training in General Psychiatry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), which he followed by specialized training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Northwestern University in Chicago. He has board certification in both adult and child/adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Moturi also has a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH), in which he focused on Environmental Health and Disaster Management.
Terra Lomber is a psychiatric physician assistant. She earned a B.S. at Michigan State University and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies at Lipscomb University; she has trained under Dr. Moturi. Her focus includes – but is not restricted to – mood and anxiety disorders (such as depression, anxiety, or phobias), attention deficit disorders with or without hyperactivity, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Clients from ages 2 to 65
- Telehealth or in-person visits
- Pediatric and adult sleep medicine
- Anxiety, phobias, panic disorder
- Behavioral and emotional regulation
- Psychotic disorders
- Full gamut of psychiatric disorders
- Parent training, family training
- Holistic approaches – conservative medication management
- Usually have quick appointment availability
If 2023 brings in new challenges, or you’re ready to get help battling current ones, call 615.678.7839 to make an appointment.
Parent Training
Being a parent is not an easy job. Every child is different, and developmental changes are only part of the reason that the job can be more difficult at some points or with certain children (or child/adult combinations) than others.
When children (including adolescents) have difficulties, it can throw the family dynamic out of sorts; when the family dynamic is out of sorts, children can have more difficulties. What is important in either case is not whether there is X amount of blame to portion out to the child or the parents; what is important is that something must change. At Saber Psychiatry, we provide the tools for change through Parent Training Programs, also called Parent Management Training (PMT) or Behavioral Parent Training (BPT).
Parent training is a set of family-focused treatment programs that teach parents to use positive reinforcement programs to improve behavior problems such as aggression, hyperactivity, tantrums, and unwillingness to follow directions.
Positive reinforcement focuses on the behaviors that the parents want, rather than those that bother them. Instead of calling out children for unwanted behaviors, which still brings attention, parents praise the actions that they hope to see more of.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and other federal agencies have investigated and approved of parent training. It requires a great deal of time and effort from the parent(s) and other adults in the family.
Treatment typically lasts for several months and may be ongoing to some extent. Parents learn to provide praise and other rewards for appropriate behaviors while setting proper limits. Parents learn to not respond to unwanted behavior, which can be difficult as yelling or scolding have often become the major ways that parents interact with children who are particularly challenging.
Punishment, such as spanking or the removal of rewards, is another type of interaction that some parents rely on. What many parents miss, however, is that punishment is –at best – ineffective. The children for whom punishment seems to have worked are children for whom anything would have worked. When a parent claims that he was spanked once and never repeated the misbehavior, we find that the parent had never done that level of misconduct before either.
Saber Psychiatry is waiting for your call.