South Gate, California
Psychiatric Care for South Gate
Three routes and every one takes twenty-six minutes. Psychiatric evaluation and medication management for South Gate, in person or by video.
In short
Psychiatric care for South Gate
South Gate is about eleven and a half miles up the 710 from our psychiatric office, and every route Google offers takes the same twenty-six minutes. We provide psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis and medication management, in person or by secure video. Close to half of working-age South Gate is on Medi-Cal or uninsured, and we say plainly what that means.
- Our office
- 3646 Long Beach Blvd # 205, Long Beach, CA 90807
- Hours
- Mon–Fri · 8 AM–6 PM (Pacific)
- Phone
- (818) 286-3862
Telehealth available across California, with new locations coming to Northern California.
What we do
Psychiatric care for South Gate patients
We are a psychiatric practice, not a therapy group and not a clinic directory. That means diagnosis, medication, and someone who keeps track of how you are actually doing over time.
Psychiatry Services
Comprehensive psychiatric care — diagnosis, treatment planning, and ongoing management led by a board-certified provider.
Medication Management
Careful prescribing, monitoring, and adjustment of psychiatric medications to maximize benefit and minimize side effects.
Psychiatric Evaluation
A thorough first assessment to understand your history and symptoms and build an accurate diagnosis and plan.
What a first visit looks like
A full psychiatric evaluation runs about an hour. We go through what brought you in, your history, what you have tried before and how it went, physical health and medications, and what you want to be different. You leave with a working diagnosis where one is clear, a plan, and a follow-up booked — not a referral to somewhere else.
Follow-ups are shorter, usually every few weeks at first and further apart once things are steady. Medication changes are made deliberately, one at a time, so it stays possible to tell what is working.
In person or by video, from South Gate
Both are real options and the clinical care is the same. Video visits are secure and available anywhere in California, which for most people makes the first appointment in person and the routine follow-ups from home or on a work break.
If getting here is the thing standing between you and treatment, take the video visit rather than skipping the care. That is what it is for.
Care is provided by our psychiatric team — Irine Achuamang, MSN, PMHNP-BC and Austina Cho, MD.
Paying for care
Coverage in South Gate, honestly
Usually, yes. We are in network with 19 commercial carriers, including Aetna, Anthem, Beacon Health Options, Carelon, Cigna and others — you can check your own plan below before booking anything. That list includes TRICARE and TriWest, so service members, veterans and military families are billed like anyone else here.
We do not currently take Medi-Cal managed care. If that is your coverage, we are a self-pay option rather than a covered visit, and it is better to know that now than at the front desk. Self-pay is $250 for a 60-minute initial psychiatric evaluation and $150 for a 30-minute follow-up visit, and there is a sliding scale — please ask.
What that looks like in South Gate
Local coverage data, so you can see roughly where you fall before you call:
- Among South Gate adults aged 19 to 64, 29.0 percent rely on Medi-Cal or another means-tested public program and 17.8 percent have no coverage at all, close to half the working-age city between them. source
- In the same age band 42.5 percent hold employer-based coverage only and 5.5 percent buy their own plan, putting 48.0 percent of working-age South Gate on commercial insurance. source
- South Gate has a population of 91,483 and a median household income of $74,571, against $78,465 in Compton next door. source
In-network with your insurance
We're in-network with most major plans, so care stays affordable. Not sure about yours? Verify your coverage in about a minute — or we'll gladly check it for you.
No card to hand? Just leave your name and number — tick “look it up for me” and we'll do the checking. Self-pay & sliding-scale options are also available.
Plans we accept
Paying out of pocket?
Self-pay ratesClear, upfront self-pay rates — no surprises, no fine print. You’ll know the cost before your first visit.
Initial psychiatric evaluation
$250/ 1 hour
Follow-up visit
$150/ 30 min
Sliding-scale options are available — just ask.
About visiting us from South Gate
South Gate is one of those places where the map offers you a choice and the choice does not matter. From City Hall on California Avenue, Google gave us three routes to our office when we checked at three on a weekday afternoon, and every one of them took 26 minutes. Straight down the 710 is 11.5 miles. Firestone Boulevard to the 710 is 13.1. California Avenue to the 710 is 12.5. They all end up on the same freeway, so pick the on-ramp you like and stop thinking about it. The morning and evening peaks were not sampled and will be slower.
The coverage picture deserves the same plainness. In South Gate, 29.0 percent of working-age adults are on Medi-Cal or a similar program and 17.8 percent are uninsured, close to half the working-age city between them. We contract with commercial insurance, which 48.0 percent of residents hold, and we take self-pay with a sliding scale. We do not currently bill Medi-Cal managed care. The median household income here is $74,571, and employer coverage follows payroll, so none of this is a comment on South Gate. It is a comment on which visits we can bill, and you should have it before you dial.
What you would be dialling for is psychiatric care in the narrow sense, and we prefer to be precise about that. A first visit is a full evaluation of about an hour. You leave with a working diagnosis where one is clear, a plan, and a follow-up booked. Medication is chosen deliberately and changed one thing at a time. We do not offer weekly therapy, and when that is what a situation needs we say so. Two things bring people to us from this direction more than most. The first is sleep that has come apart, which is often the first symptom anyone is willing to mention. The second is a mood that swings well past ordinary ups and downs, which is worth assessing properly before anyone reaches for a label.
There is no Metro rail station inside South Gate. Firestone Station on the A Line sits west of the city line in unincorporated Firestone Park, and it is close enough that people assume it is theirs. The bus is the better fit anyway. Metro’s Line 60 has a stop at Long Beach Boulevard and Firestone, inside the city, and from there it runs down through Lynwood and Compton. Metro lists the route as ending at Artesia Station, and for daytime purposes that is exactly where it ends. Artesia is the interchange: Long Beach Transit’s Route 51 takes over the same boulevard there and runs it past our office. Ten of the 256 weekday trips do stay on the boulevard the whole way to the Bixby Road and Wardlow Road stops, but every one of the ten passes in the small hours, roughly 12.20am to 4.16am. Read a route map and you would think the through bus was yours. It belongs to the night shift. Long Beach Transit itself does not reach South Gate.
The boulevard has a South Gate story of its own. Amelia Earhart learned to fly at Kinner Field, a dirt strip at Century Boulevard and Long Beach Boulevard inside the city, and the same road runs south to us. South Gate incorporated in January 1923 with 2,500 people, on land the Tweedy family bought after arriving in 1852, and today its central park covers more than 96 acres. We mention the park for a practical reason. Once treatment starts, the advice that actually helps sleep and mood is boring: daylight, a walk, the same bedtime. Ninety-six acres a short drive from most of the city is a good place to do the boring thing.
For follow-ups, most South Gate patients will not want to make the 710 trip every few weeks, and they do not need to. Routine reviews work by secure video from home. Come in for the first visit if you can, and do the rest from your kitchen. In crisis, 988 answers by call or text at any hour. The county mental health line is (800) 854-7771, and South Gate is served through the county’s Service Area 7.
Getting here
Travelling from South Gate
Distances and times below are Google's, timed on a weekday at the hour each route note states, in the traffic it labels usual for that route. Allow longer at the peaks each note says were not sampled.
By car
From South Gate City Hall on California Avenue the office is 11.5 miles and about 26 minutes straight down the 710, timed at three on a weekday afternoon when Google marked it the best route because of traffic conditions. Morning and evening peaks were not sampled.
google.comchecked
Both alternatives took the same 26 minutes in that afternoon sample, 13.1 miles by Firestone Boulevard to the 710 and 12.5 miles by California Avenue to the 710. All three end up on the same freeway.
google.comchecked
By transit
No Metro rail station lies inside South Gate. Firestone Station on the A Line sits west of the city line in unincorporated Firestone Park.
gitlab.comchecked
Metro's Line 60 stops at Long Beach Boulevard and Firestone inside South Gate and runs the boulevard south through Lynwood and Compton to Artesia Station, where its published route ends. Ten of its 256 weekday trips continue as far as the Bixby Road and Wardlow Road stops, and all ten of those run in the small hours, between about 12.20am and 4.16am.
gitlab.comchecked
Long Beach Transit's network does not reach South Gate. Its Route 51 continues Long Beach Boulevard south from Artesia Station, which makes Artesia the daytime interchange between the two systems.
ridelbt.comchecked
Local
Other resources in South Gate
These are listed because they are useful. We have no referral arrangement with any of them.
South Gate is one of the communities served by Service Area 7 of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.
dmh.lacounty.govchecked
The county's mental health help line answers at (800) 854-7771 every hour of every day and can arrange service referrals or a crisis assessment.
dmh.lacounty.govchecked
Dialing or texting 988 connects to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline nationwide.
988lifeline.orgchecked
Related
Start here if you are reading first
Frequently asked questions
Why do all three routes take the same time?
Because they all end up on the 710. Straight down the freeway is 11.5 miles, Firestone Boulevard to the 710 is 13.1, and California Avenue to the 710 is 12.5, and in our weekday afternoon sample every one of them took 26 minutes. Choose the on-ramp you like. The peaks were not sampled and will be slower.
Is Firestone Station in South Gate?
No, though it is close enough that people assume so. It sits west of the city line in unincorporated Firestone Park. The Line 60 bus on Long Beach Boulevard is inside the city and runs south toward us as far as Artesia Station, where Long Beach Transit's Route 51 takes over the same boulevard and finishes the trip.
Most of my family is on Medi-Cal. Is it worth calling?
For a covered visit, not at the moment. We do not currently bill Medi-Cal managed care, and that applies to 29 percent of working-age South Gate. Self-pay with a sliding scale is real and you can ask about it first. If the answer is no, the county help line at (800) 854-7771 can point you to care we cannot match on price.
How often will I need to make the drive?
Once, ideally. The first visit is worth doing in person because an hour face to face is a better foundation for a diagnosis. After that, routine reviews work by secure video from home, and the clinical content is identical. Nobody needs to spend fifty minutes on the 710 to confirm a dose is working.
I am not sleeping and my mood is all over the place. Where do I start?
With an evaluation, and with both symptoms on the table. Insomnia is often the first thing people admit to, and a mood that swings well beyond ordinary ups and downs is the thing they leave out. Together they point somewhere specific, and sorting that out properly before anyone reaches for a label is exactly what a psychiatric assessment is for.
Does the park matter to treatment?
More than it sounds. Once medication starts, the advice that actually helps sleep and mood is boring: daylight, a walk, the same bedtime. South Gate Park is over 96 acres, and a regular walk there is the kind of routine we would ask you to keep. We mention it as a practical suggestion, not a substitute for treatment.
One freeway, twenty-six minutes
Request a time online and a real person will confirm it. Video visits are available across California.