Yes. Lyte Psychiatry sees College Station patients by secure video from an apartment off Harvey Road or a parent's kitchen in Houston. Most new patients are seen within 1–2 business days. With an in-network plan you will usually pay a $0–$30 copay per visit; a self-pay psychiatric evaluation is $250.
Who is this College Station page for?
It is the third week of the semester at Texas A&M. Your daughter called from her apartment near Northgate at 11 p.m. She has not slept properly since move-in, she skipped two classes, and she went to CAPS on campus, where a counselor listened and then told her that ongoing medication management needs an outside provider. You are in Katy or Plano, three hours away, and you want a psychiatrist to see her this week, on your family plan, without you driving down SH-6 to make it happen.
That parent is the first reader of this page. The second is the student, who found us on a phone between classes and wants to know whether a video visit between classes on a Tuesday is something we can do. The third is not connected to the university at all. Texas A&M has 70,000+ students, and College Station also has teachers at College Station ISD, nurses and techs at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center College Station on SH-6, and city and county workers who cannot get a psychiatry appointment in Brazos County for weeks. The MHMR Authority of Brazos Valley is the public mental health authority for the county, and it serves residents without coverage first. If you have a commercial plan, Medicare, or Tricare, or you can pay $250, this page tells you what happens next.
What can Lyte treat for College Station patients?
Psychiatric evaluation and medication management for adults, teens, and children. Therapy with licensed professional counselors, using CBT, solution-focused, and trauma-focused approaches. Combined care, where your prescriber and your therapist share a single chart, so a student who sees both does not repeat the story twice. ADHD evaluation and treatment for adults and teens, with stimulant and non-stimulant options.
We treat depression, anxiety, panic, social anxiety, PTSD and trauma, OCD, bipolar disorder, ADHD, insomnia, postpartum and perinatal mood problems, grief, and stress and burnout. Dr. Akintola is a licensed Suboxone prescriber for opioid use disorder. We write clinical letters for school and work on request, including letters a student may need for Texas A&M Disability Resources or a professor.
Mode: video only for College Station. There is no Lyte office in Brazos County, and our Pantego clinic is close to three hours north on I-35 and SH-6, so we will not pretend that is a reasonable drive for a follow-up. You see the same provider at every visit. Prescriptions go to the pharmacy you choose, whether that is a chain on Texas Avenue or the pharmacy at A.P. Beutel Health Center on campus. If you are home for the summer, we send it to the one near your parents' house.
If you are starting a stimulant for ADHD, our policy is that the first evaluation happens in person at our Pantego clinic; follow-ups can be by video. Non-stimulant ADHD medication and everything else can start by video. For a student without a car, the practical route is to begin a non-stimulant by video now and discuss a stimulant if you will be in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on a break. Video visits are available in Spanish; ask when you book.
The first video visit is a full psychiatric evaluation with a prescriber. Log in from anywhere with a door that closes and a stable connection. Between classes, that usually means your apartment rather than the Evans Library. If you want a parent in the room, tell us when you book, and we cover how that works in the questions below.
Learn how therapy and psychiatry work together when both are part of your care plan.
What the numbers say about College Station
College Station reports more depression and more frequent mental distress than Bryan next door. CDC PLACES (BRFSS 2023) puts diagnosed depression among College Station adults at 26.7%. In Bryan, the same release reports 23.1%. Frequent mental distress, meaning 14 or more poor mental health days in a month, is 22.6% in College Station against 19.3% in Bryan. The College Station figure covers 99,951 adults (College Station, Brazos County), and 22.6% of that is around 22,600 people in a bad month.
A large student population explains part of that gap. It also means demand for psychiatry in Brazos County is concentrated in a group that is mostly insured through a parent and mostly without a car to reach a provider in Houston. Texas Department of State Health Services counted 162 Texas counties with no psychiatrist in 2025. Brazos County has psychiatrists, and they are shared with the surrounding rural counties that have none.
| Measure | College Station | Bryan | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults diagnosed with depression | 26.7% | 23.1% | CDC PLACES, BRFSS 2023 |
| Frequent mental distress (14+ bad days/month) | 22.6% | 19.3% | CDC PLACES, BRFSS 2023 |
| Adult population | 99,951 | 64,085 | CDC PLACES, BRFSS 2023 |
The depression and frequent mental distress figures are model-based estimates. Read the CDC PLACES methodology for the survey years, population basis, and estimation limits.
How much does a psychiatrist cost in College Station with insurance?
In network: BlueCross BlueShield of Texas, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, Cigna and Evernorth, Aetna, Humana, Ambetter, Medicare, Tricare, and more (see the full list). Benefits are verified before the first visit. Most insured patients pay a $0–$30 copay per visit.
| Visit | Self-pay |
|---|---|
| Psychiatric evaluation (new patient) | $250 |
| Medication follow-up | $150 |
| Therapy, first session | $150 |
| Therapy, follow-up | $125 |
| QbCheck ADHD test | $150 |
| Late cancellation / no-show | $100 |
Most College Station students under 26 are dependents on a parent's employer plan, and those plans are often BCBS TX, UnitedHealthcare, or Aetna PPOs from Houston or Dallas employers. Those work here the same as they would at home. Texas A&M employees on the A&M Care plan are with BlueCross BlueShield of Texas. College Station ISD staff are usually on TRS-ActiveCare, which is also administered by BCBS TX. If the card in your wallet is a student health plan, send us a photo of it and we will confirm the network before you are charged anything. Self-pay is a flat price; HSA and FSA cards are accepted, and a parent's HSA can pay for a dependent's visit.
Who will you see at Lyte?
Dr. Akinwande Akintola, MD, is our medical director and supervisory psychiatrist. He is board-certified in Adult Psychiatry and in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, trained at Johns Hopkins and stayed on faculty there, and moved to Texas in 2012. Toyin Awe, PMHNP-BC, is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with 12+ years' experience. NaTascha Jones, LPC, and Prishina Jimenez, LPC, provide therapy. Lyte has served 3,000+ patients and holds a 4.9-star average from 200+ Google reviews.
Your questions, answered
Frequently asked questions from College Station patients
I am a parent in Houston or Dallas. Can I book a psychiatrist for my Texas A&M student from out of town?
Yes. You can book at book.lytepsych.com from anywhere and list your student as the patient. If your student is 18 or older, they are the patient under Texas law, so we will need their consent to talk with you about their care, and they need to be the one on camera in College Station for the visit. Most parents book, the student completes the intake forms, and the first visit happens within 1–2 business days.
Can I sit in on my student's video visit?
Yes. Parents can arrange care for a Texas A&M student remotely and join the first video visit with the student's consent. In practice, a parent in Sugar Land joins from a laptop while the student joins from their apartment on Holleman Drive, and the provider talks with both. After the first visit, most students continue alone and give us permission to update a parent on medication changes.
Is there a Lyte office in College Station, or is this video only?
Video only. Our one clinic is in Pantego, inside Arlington in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, about three hours from College Station up SH-6 and I-35. Nobody should make that drive for a follow-up. Every College Station visit is by secure video, and you keep the same provider throughout, including over the summer if you go home.
How quickly can a Texas A&M student get a psychiatry appointment?
Usually within 1–2 business days. Book online any time, including the night your student calls. If CAPS on campus has referred your student out for medication management, or if the Baylor Scott & White clinic on SH-6 has offered a date in a later month, you do not need a referral to start with us. Bring whatever paperwork CAPS gave you and we will read it.
What does a psychiatrist cost in College Station with insurance versus paying cash?
With an in-network plan, most patients pay a $0–$30 copay per visit, and that includes a student on a parent's BCBS TX, UnitedHealthcare, or Aetna plan from Houston or Dallas. Without insurance, a new-patient psychiatric evaluation is $250, a medication follow-up is $150, and a first therapy session is $150. A parent can pay with an HSA or FSA card. We verify benefits before the first visit so the copay is not a surprise.
Will my student's care continue when they leave College Station for the summer or graduate?
Yes, as long as they are physically in Texas at the time of the visit. A student who goes home to Katy in June keeps the same provider and the same video link, and we send the prescription to a pharmacy near home. If they move out of state after graduation, we cannot see them once they are outside Texas, and we will help with a records transfer to a new provider.
Can I start ADHD medication by video from College Station?
Non-stimulant ADHD medication can start by video today. If you are starting a stimulant for ADHD, our policy is that the first evaluation happens in person at our Pantego clinic; follow-ups can be by video. Many Texas A&M students whose families are in Dallas-Fort Worth schedule that one in-person evaluation during Thanksgiving or winter break and do everything else by video from College Station.
Nearby areas we also serve
Explore care across Austin & Central Texas or all Texas locations.
We also see patients by video from Bryan, Huntsville, Waco, Temple, and Conroe.
Free and low-cost mental health resources in College Station
MHMR Authority of Brazos Valley is the public mental health authority for Brazos County and serves residents without insurance. Call or text 988 any time to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Texas A&M students can use Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) on campus for short-term counseling and crisis support; CAPS refers out for ongoing psychiatry, and that referral can come to us. Baylor Scott & White Medical Center College Station has an emergency department on SH-6 for anyone in immediate danger.
Book a video visit at book.lytepsych.com and we will verify benefits before the first appointment. Or call 469-733-0848.
Find the public mental health authority for your county through the Texas HHS local authority directory.