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Meredith Tecco MD
Psychotherapist and Psychiatrist
I am a board-certified psychiatrist offering online therapy with an integrative and holistic approach. I work with your whole self - mind, body and spirit - by practicing trauma-informed psychotherapy, seeking to identify and to address root causes of illness, reviewing health and lifestyle factors, carefully considering pros and cons of medications and supplements when indicated, honoring life transitions, and exploring connection with meaning, community and nature. I am a co-adventurer on the journey of asking and living the questions that give our lives shape and meaning.
Services
Psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy with a holistic approach. Hope is at the root. We all are capable of reclaiming a sense of wholeness and vitality.
I work with adults of all genders. Areas of focus include but are not limited to:
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depression
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anxiety
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trauma
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loss
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relationship problems
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life transitions
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burn out
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feeling stuck
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exploring purpose and meaning
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women's mental health
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physician well-being and burn out
Initial consultation is 70 minutes and includes a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation and holistic health evaluation. We will begin to explore root causes of suffering, which may include biological causes, lifestyle factors, responses to trauma, loss and stressors, as well as a call to resolve inner and outer conflicts.
Ongoing therapy appointments are typically scheduled for 50 minutes once a week. The path of exploration, self-discovery and healing is unique to every individual, and the nature of the process is particular to each person and situation. My approach is collaborative. My goal is to create a container for our work together that is marked by compassion, respect, attunement, and gentle curiosity to foster insight and integration.
Together, if desired, we may discuss the pros and cons of medications and supplements. I have extensive psychopharmacological experience and understand how medications can be helpful as well as their limitations. Medications can be especially useful for addressing symptoms that are biologically driven and for those with more severe symptoms. In some cases, medications can provide a bridge to gain steady ground to then be able to address other psychological and lifestyle factors. However, medications almost always come with costs, and at times they can suppress symptoms that otherwise might be a call for deeper understanding. When appropriate and if desired, I can work with you to simplify your medications and to support medication tapering. As my practice is conducted via telehealth, I do not prescribe scheduled medications as these medications are best managed in in-person settings. There are no right or wrong decisions when it comes to taking medications. My goal is to provide information, options, and to help support you in what might feel best for you at any given time in your journey.
If you are working with an outside therapist, doing well on medication and need a monthly check-in for refills or minor changes in your treatment plan, then appointments could be transitioned to 25 minute sessions if preferred.
As I have a small practice and all services are via telehealth, I am not able to offer intensive services. If you need more intensive treatment, for example, if there are active safety risks or concerns that might require hospitalization, then I recommend that you work with a clinician who offers options for in-person appointments as well a wider option of supports.
Please note I am not on any insurance panels and I do not accept Medicare. My goal is to provide personalized and thoughtful care without dictation of treatment by an insurance company. If you have a PPO plan, you may be eligible for reimbursement from your insurance company for out-of-network services. I can provide you with a detailed invoice that can be used to submit to your insurance.
Approach
My therapy style is eclectic, with influences from psychodynamic psychotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Jungian and existential perspectives, somatic and mindfulness practices, and exploring other ways of knowing, such as active imagination and dreams. Additionally, I have training in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.
I believe we all have the capacity for inner healing, for coming into better relationship with our bodies, our history, the many versions of us, for finding a touchstone of wisdom, authenticity and compassion within, and for continuing to unfold. We are more verbs than nouns. We contain multiplicity but are whole. The more we can come into a fuller relationship with ourselves, the more we can offer in our relationships with others and the world.
Background
Purpose
I was drawn to the field of psychiatry, with its roots of psyche meaning “soul” and iatry coming from the Greek word iātreía meaning “healing,” in that of all the fields of medicine, I found psychiatry to be the most holistic - our inner world shapes our outer world and vice versa; all healing most include the psyche.
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I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College and attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where I was awarded the American Medical Women’s Association Glasgow-Rubin Commendation for Academic Achievement as well as membership into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. I attended residency at the University of California San Francisco where I received multiple Medical Student Teaching Awards. I have experience in diverse community and academic settings, including outpatient clinics, Consult-Liaison Psychiatry, Graduate Student Health, Psychiatric Emergency Services, and I was selected to serve as a member of the Physician Well-Being Committee that provided support to a group of over 700 physicians. I have an active medical license in Pennsylvania and California.
Following residency, I worked for 12 years in community-based settings. This work was deeply rewarding in many ways; however, I experienced first-hand the limits of addressing mental health within systems that are under-resourced, where physicians are not given the time or autonomy to provide adequate care and patients are not given the support they need. Having this private practice is a return to what drew me to psychiatry - attending to the whole person, to what gives our lives meaning, and bringing compassion to the unfolding of everyone's unique journey.
I am a mother of two, have practiced yoga regularly for the past 25 years, have studied with Earth Wisdom and shamanic practitioners, and enjoy gardening and hiking with my family and my dog Ember.
Professional Memberships
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Member of The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
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American Psychiatric Association Member
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Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society Member
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Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society Lifetime Member
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Postpartum Support International Member
Contact
I work with clients residing in Pennsylvania and California. All visits are conducted via telehealth. For clients in the Philadelphia area, walking psychotherapy could be an option.
If you have questions about my practice or fees, please contact me. If you would like to schedule a free15-minute phone consultation to see how I might be of help to you, please call (215) 515-0984. I have a small practice and am in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
