# Psychiatric Care for Gardena > Gardena is a short drive from our Long Beach office. Psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis and ongoing medication management, in person or by secure video. **Source:** https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/psychiatrist-gardena/ **Provider:** Breakthrough Mental Health — Long Beach, CA (telehealth across CA) 1. [Home](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/) 2. Psychiatric Care for Gardena Gardena, California Ten miles and about eighteen minutes on the 405, most of it freeway. Psychiatric evaluation and medication management for Gardena, in person or by video. [Request an appointment](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/book/)[Call (818) 286-3862](tel:+1-818-286-3862) *(image: Two neighbours in their sixties talking across a low fence between front yards at golden hour)* In short ## Psychiatric care for Gardena Gardena is roughly ten miles from our psychiatric office and about eighteen minutes down the 405. We provide psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis and ongoing medication management, in person on Long Beach Boulevard or by secure video. Close to six in ten working-age residents hold commercial insurance, which is the coverage we contract with. Our office 3646 Long Beach Blvd # 205, Long Beach, CA 90807 Hours Mon–Fri · 8 AM–6 PM (Pacific) Phone [(818) 286-3862](tel:+1-818-286-3862) [Get directions →](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=3646%20Long%20Beach%20Blvd%20%23%20205%2C%20Long%20Beach%2C%20CA%2090807) Telehealth available across California, with new locations coming to Northern California. What we do ## Psychiatric care for Gardena 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](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/treatments/psychiatry/) Comprehensive psychiatric care — diagnosis, treatment planning, and ongoing management led by a board-certified provider. - ### [Medication Management](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/treatments/medication-management/) Careful prescribing, monitoring, and adjustment of psychiatric medications to maximize benefit and minimize side effects. - ### [Psychiatric Evaluation](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/treatments/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 Gardena 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](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/providers/irine-achuamang/) and [Austina Cho, MD](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/providers/austina-cho/). Paying for care ## Six in ten Gardena plans are ones we bill 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 Gardena Local coverage data, so you can see roughly where you fall before you call: - Among Gardena adults aged 19 to 64, 50.4 percent hold employer-based coverage only and 8.3 percent buy a plan directly, putting 58.7 percent on commercial insurance. [source](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B27010&geo_ids=16000US0628168) - In the same age band 20.4 percent of Gardena residents rely on Medi-Cal or another means-tested public program and 12.2 percent are uninsured. [source](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B27010&geo_ids=16000US0628168) - Gardena has a population of 59,422 and a median household income of $84,803. [source](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B01003,B19013&geo_ids=16000US0628168) - About 1,828 Gardena residents are veterans, 3.9 percent of civilian adults. [source](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B21001&geo_ids=16000US0628168) Accepted in-network ## 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. Verify your coverage[or call (818) 286-3862](tel:+1-818-286-3862)or request a callback Plans we accept - *(image: Aetna insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Beacon Health Options insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Carelon Behavioral Health insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Cigna insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Evernorth (Cigna behavioral health) insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: GEHA (Government Employees Health Association) insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: HMC HealthWorks insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Independence Blue Cross (IBX) insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Magellan Health insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: MultiPlan insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Optum insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Oscar Health insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: Oxford Health Plans insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: TRICARE insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: TriWest Healthcare Alliance (TRICARE West) insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: UMR (UnitedHealthcare) insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* - *(image: UnitedHealthcare insurance accepted at Breakthrough Mental Health)* ## Paying out of pocket? Self-pay rates Clear, 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. [Request an appointment](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/book/) Gardena is close enough that the usual argument about distance does not really apply, and that changes what is worth saying on a page like this one. From 162nd Street it was 10.1 miles and about eighteen minutes on the 405 when we timed it on a Tuesday at roughly a quarter to twelve, and Artesia Boulevard onto the same freeway matched it almost exactly. The surface option, up the 91 and along Long Beach Boulevard, cost three extra minutes and about the same mileage. We did not sample the morning or evening peaks and they will be slower. Still, at this range the drive is not the reason people put off getting seen. So what is? Usually the same three things, and none of them are geography. Not being sure the problem is medical. Not wanting to be the sort of person who takes something for it. And a vague sense that whatever this is, it is not bad enough yet to bother anyone about. That last one is the most expensive, because the conditions we treat do not respect the idea of bad enough. They just run longer. The coverage picture in Gardena is mostly good news. Close to six in ten working-age residents, 58.7 percent, hold commercial insurance, and commercial plans are what we contract with. About 20.4 percent are on Medi-Cal or another means-tested program, which we do not currently bill, and 12.2 percent have no coverage. If you are in the first group, the money conversation will be short. If you are in the second, we are a self-pay practice with published rates and a sliding scale rather than a covered visit, and the county’s help line on (800) 854-7771 answers at any hour and can point you at services we cannot provide. We would rather tell you that in the second paragraph than let you find out at the front desk. Around 1,828 people in Gardena are veterans, 3.9 percent of civilian adults. TRICARE and TriWest are on the same contracted list as everything else we bill, so if that is your coverage it works like any other plan, without a separate process or a referral through anywhere in particular. Getting here without a car is harder than the drive suggests, and the reason is that Gardena has no rail station of its own. The three nearest are Crenshaw Station about two and a half miles off, which is inside Hawthorne, Vermont and Athens Station about three miles away on unincorporated county land, and Harbor Freeway Station about three miles off inside the City of Los Angeles. From any of them the trip runs east to Willowbrook and Rosa Parks Station, south on the A Line, and then Long Beach Transit’s Route 51 along the boulevard. Metro’s Line 209 does carry Gardena in its own title, running between Expo and Crenshaw Station and the city by way of Arlington and Van Ness, which is more recognition than most cities near here get from the network. It still does not come this way. For anyone without a car, the video visit is not a consolation prize, it is the sensible first choice. The city describes itself as an All-America City of 5.9 square miles, about thirteen miles from downtown Los Angeles, with roughly sixty-one thousand residents and nearly forty percent of adults over twenty-five holding four or more years of college. Twenty-one thousand homes, about half of them single-family. That profile matters to us for an unglamorous reason: it is a city of settled households where people have jobs with benefits and a strong instinct not to make a fuss. The conditions that turn up here reflect it. Worry that has run for years without a name. Sleep that stopped working and never restarted. Something difficult from a long time ago that still sets the temperature of an ordinary week. What we provide is a psychiatric evaluation that ends in a working diagnosis, medication chosen carefully and then genuinely monitored, and follow-up that changes course rather than repeating itself. We are not a counselling service and we do not offer weekly therapy. When therapy is what your situation needs, or the missing half of what it needs, we will say so plainly at the first visit instead of leaving you on a treatment plan with a gap in it. Our suggestion for Gardena is simple, because the distance allows it. Come in once, properly, for the assessment. Then keep the routine reviews on video and give the eighteen minutes back to your week. If you are in crisis, 988 answers by call or text at any hour, and the county line is (800) 854-7771. Getting here ## Travelling from Gardena 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 1700 West 162nd Street the quickest option was 10.1 miles and about 18 minutes on the 405, which Google called the fastest route despite the usual traffic, sampled at roughly 11.49am on Tuesday 8 September 2026. The morning and evening peaks were not sampled. [google.com](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&origin=1700+W+162nd+St,+Gardena,+CA+90247&destination=3646+Long+Beach+Blvd,+Long+Beach,+CA+90807&travelmode=driving)checked 2026-09-08 - Artesia Boulevard to the 405 came in at 10.4 miles and about 18 minutes in the same sample, and the surface route by the 91 and North Long Beach Boulevard at 10.3 miles and about 21 minutes. [google.com](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&origin=1700+W+162nd+St,+Gardena,+CA+90247&destination=3646+Long+Beach+Blvd,+Long+Beach,+CA+90807&travelmode=driving)checked 2026-09-08 ### By transit - Gardena has no Metro rail station inside its city limits. The three nearest are Crenshaw Station about 2.7 miles away, which is in Hawthorne, Vermont and Athens Station about 2.9 miles away in unincorporated county land, and Harbor Freeway Station about 3.2 miles away in the City of Los Angeles. [gitlab.com](https://gitlab.com/LACMTA/gtfs_rail/-/raw/master/stops.txt)checked 2026-09-08 - Metro's Line 209 is titled Expo and Crenshaw Station to Gardena via Arlington and Van Ness, one of the few Metro routes that names the city in its own destination. [gitlab.com](https://gitlab.com/LACMTA/gtfs_bus/-/raw/master/gtfs_bus.zip)checked 2026-09-08 - Reaching the office by rail from Gardena means the C Line east to Willowbrook and Rosa Parks Station, the A Line south, then Long Beach Transit's Route 51 along Long Beach Boulevard. [ridelbt.com](https://ridelbt.com/route-51/)checked 2026-09-08 Local ## Other resources in Gardena These are listed because they are useful. We have no referral arrangement with any of them. - The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health help line answers on (800) 854-7771 around the clock and can arrange a referral or a crisis assessment. [dmh.lacounty.gov](https://dmh.lacounty.gov/get-help-now/)checked 2026-09-08 - Gardena does not appear in the published city lists for the county's Service Areas 6, 7 or 8, so the county help line is the reliable first call rather than a named service area office. [dmh.lacounty.gov](https://dmh.lacounty.gov/about/service-areas/)checked 2026-09-08 - Dialing or texting 988 reaches the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at any hour. [988lifeline.org](https://988lifeline.org/)checked 2026-09-08 Related ## Reading before you call - [Generalized Anxiety Disorder](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/conditions/gad/) - [Insomnia](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/conditions/insomnia/) - [Trauma-Related Disorders](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/conditions/trauma/) - [Medication Management](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/treatments/medication-management/) - [Psychiatric Evaluation](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/treatments/psychiatric-evaluation/) - [Psychiatrist in Long Beach →](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/psychiatrist-long-beach/) - [All areas we serve →](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/locations/) ## Frequently asked questions How long does the drive actually take? About eighteen minutes down the 405, 10.1 miles from 162nd Street, in a Tuesday late-morning sample. Artesia Boulevard onto the 405 matched it. The surface route by the 91 and Long Beach Boulevard took three minutes longer. We did not sample the peaks and they will be slower. At that range the drive is rarely what stops someone booking. Is it worth coming in person if I live this close? Yes, at least once. Eighteen minutes each way is a manageable ask for an hour that decides your diagnosis, and being in the room gives us more to work with. After that, most Gardena patients switch to secure video for reviews, because a short drive is still a drive and the clinical content of a fifteen-minute check is the same on a screen. Will my plan cover this? Most likely. Close to six in ten working-age Gardena residents hold commercial insurance and those are the plans we contract with. About one in five is on Medi-Cal managed care, which we do not currently bill, and about one in eight has no coverage. Self-pay with a sliding scale is a real option if you are in the second group. We are a military family. Does TRICARE work here? Yes. TRICARE and TriWest sit on the same contracted list as the commercial carriers and bill the same way. Around 1,828 Gardena residents are veterans, about 3.9 percent of civilian adults, so the question comes up often enough that we have a straight answer ready rather than a form to fill in first. I have been worrying constantly for years. Is that a medical thing? It can be. Worry that runs most days, across several parts of your life, for six months or more, and that you cannot switch off, is the shape of generalised anxiety disorder. Plenty of people carry it for a decade before asking, because it feels like personality rather than illness. It responds to treatment either way, and an evaluation costs you an hour. I sleep badly. Should I see a psychiatrist or a sleep doctor? It depends what the bad sleep is attached to. If you cannot fall asleep because your mind will not stop, or you wake at four and the day starts early and grim, that is often anxiety or depression wearing a sleep costume, and it is ours. If you snore heavily and wake exhausted despite a full night, that is a sleep study first. We will tell you which. ## Eighteen minutes from Gardena Pick a time online and a person will confirm it. Come in, or stay home and use video. [Request an appointment](https://breakthroughmentalhealth.health/book/)[Call (818) 286-3862](tel:+1-818-286-3862)