Yes. A new patient in The Woodlands can usually have a first visit with Lyte Psychiatry within 1–2 business days, by secure video from anywhere in the township. In network, that visit is typically a $0–$30 copay, and we check your benefits before you are seen. Without insurance, the psychiatric evaluation is a flat $250.
Who is this page for in The Woodlands?
The counselor at The Woodlands High School has called twice this month. Your teen has stopped sleeping, grades on the Conroe ISD portal have dropped a letter, and the pediatrician at Texas Children's Hospital The Woodlands off I-45 gave you a printed list of child psychiatrists, none of whom are taking new patients before winter. That parent in Alden Bridge or Indian Springs is the first reader of this page. The second is the one who signs the insurance card: an engineer or project lead at the ExxonMobil campus in Springwoods Village, at Chevron Phillips Chemical or Huntsman in Town Center, or a pilot or manager who flies out of Bush Intercontinental two weeks a month and has never found a psychiatry appointment that survives the travel calendar.
Care exists here; the wait is the problem. Houston Methodist The Woodlands and Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center both run outpatient behavioral health, and Lone Star College-Montgomery on College Park Drive has student counseling for its own enrollees. The safety net for Montgomery County is Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare, which serves residents without coverage first. If your card says BCBS TX, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, or Aetna, a private practice in network can usually see you sooner, and it can do it from your office in Hughes Landing rather than asking you onto Woodlands Parkway at 4:30.
What can Lyte treat for patients in The Woodlands?
Psychiatric evaluation and medication management for adults, teens, and children. Therapy with licensed professional counselors using CBT, solution-focused, and trauma-focused work. Combined care, meaning your prescriber and your therapist write in one chart and can read each other's notes. ADHD evaluation and treatment for adults and teens, with stimulant and non-stimulant options.
Conditions 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. Requested documentation for Conroe ISD campuses, employers, or clearances requires clinician review. We cannot guarantee a clearance decision.
Mode: video only. There is no Lyte office in The Woodlands, and our one clinic is in Pantego, inside Arlington, more than 200 miles north on I-45. Nobody in Montgomery County should make that drive for a medication check, so we do not ask. You keep the same provider at every video visit, and prescriptions are sent electronically to the pharmacy you name, whether that is on Research Forest Drive or out on Kuykendahl by Creekside Park.
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 an adult in The Woodlands, a non-stimulant started by video is usually the workable route, and the prescriber will say at the first visit whether it fits. Video visits are available in Spanish; ask when you book.
Plan on about an hour for the first video visit, which is with the prescriber. If therapy belongs in the plan, the first counseling session can be booked before you log off, and the counselor works from the same chart. Rotation workers who are home in The Woodlands for two weeks and then gone to the Permian or a platform should tell us the pattern at booking; follow-ups get placed in the home weeks. An employer EAP through an energy company can run alongside care here, since the two are separate.
Learn how therapy and psychiatry work together when both are part of your care plan.
What the numbers say about The Woodlands
Compared with Houston next door, The Woodlands looks like a place where people get diagnosed and then cope. CDC PLACES (BRFSS 2023) puts diagnosed depression among adults in The Woodlands at 20.3%, slightly above Houston at 19.9% and above Texas at 19.7%, though still under the U.S. figure of 21.8%. Frequent mental distress, defined as 14 or more poor mental health days in a month, runs 13.7% here against 17.1% in Houston, 16.1% in Texas, and 15.4% nationally. Apply those rates to the 84,570 adults counted in The Woodlands (Montgomery County) by the same release and you get roughly 17,200 adults carrying a depression diagnosis and roughly 11,600 having a bad month at any given time. Diagnosis running ahead of distress is what a well-insured suburb tends to show: people have seen someone. What the data cannot show is how many weeks each of them waited for that first appointment.
| Measure | The Woodlands | Texas | U.S. | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adults diagnosed with depression | 20.3% | 19.7% | 21.8% | CDC PLACES, BRFSS 2023 |
| Frequent mental distress (14+ bad days/month) | 13.7% | 16.1% | 15.4% | CDC PLACES, BRFSS 2023 |
| Adult population, The Woodlands (Montgomery County) | 84,570 | 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 The Woodlands 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 |
The cards we see most from The Woodlands come from the energy sector: BCBS TX, Aetna, and Cigna PPOs issued through ExxonMobil, Chevron Phillips, Huntsman, and the contractors around them. UnitedHealthcare shows up from the two hospital systems, and Conroe ISD teachers and staff bring the district employee plan. Read us the carrier name on the card and we will quote the copay before the first visit, so there is no surprise on the statement. Medicare covers video visits, which matters for patients in Windsor Hills and the other 55-plus neighborhoods in the township. Anyone holding a security clearance or a senior role who prefers to keep psychiatry out of the employer plan can pay the flat $250 for the evaluation and $150 per follow-up, with an HSA or FSA card if they like, and no claim goes to the carrier.
Who will you see at Lyte?
Dr. Akinwande Akintola, MD, is our medical director and supervisory psychiatrist, board-certified in Adult Psychiatry and in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He trained at Johns Hopkins, stayed on faculty there, and moved to Texas in 2012. Toyin Awe, PMHNP-BC, is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with 12 or more years of experience. Therapy is with NaTascha Jones, LPC, and Prishina Jimenez, LPC. Lyte has served 3,000+ patients with a 4.9-star average from 200+ Google reviews.
Your questions, answered
Frequently asked questions from The Woodlands patients
How soon can a new patient in The Woodlands get a first psychiatry visit?
Usually within 1–2 business days, by secure video, and the booking page is open around the clock. Patients who have already been given a date weeks out by the behavioral health clinics at Houston Methodist The Woodlands or Memorial Hermann The Woodlands can start here without a referral and hold the other appointment in reserve.
Does Lyte have a clinic anywhere in Montgomery County, or is The Woodlands served by video?
By video. Lyte's single clinic sits in Pantego, a small town inside Arlington, more than 200 miles up I-45 from The Woodlands, which is why no Montgomery County patient is asked to come in. The same provider sees you each time, whether you are at the kitchen table in Creekside Park or in a parked car in a Market Street garage between meetings.
What does a visit cost a Woodlands patient in network, and what is the cash price?
In network, with BCBS TX, UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Cigna, or another plan on our list, the copay is usually $0–$30 and we tell you the exact number before the first visit. Self-pay is $250 for the new-patient psychiatric evaluation, $150 for a medication follow-up, and $150 for a first therapy session. Some practices around Town Center and Hughes Landing take cash only and cannot bill your plan; here the plan can be used.
Can a Conroe ISD student in The Woodlands see a child psychiatrist without leaving home?
Yes. Students from The Woodlands High School, College Park High School, and the other Conroe ISD campuses in the township see Dr. Akintola, who is board-certified in child and adolescent psychiatry, by video from home, usually within 1–2 business days. A parent sits in on the first visit. Letters for Conroe ISD counselors and 504 coordinators are written on request, and one of our counselors can pick up therapy for the same student in the same chart.
I rotate through the ExxonMobil Springwoods campus and travel half the month. Will follow-ups hold?
They will, as long as you are physically in Texas when the visit happens. Give us your travel weeks at booking and follow-ups get scheduled for the weeks you are home in The Woodlands, before or after the Springwoods commute. Out-of-state trips mean a reschedule rather than a visit from there, because our license covers Texas only.
Does the stimulant rule mean an ADHD patient in The Woodlands has to drive to Pantego?
Only for a stimulant. 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 can start by video from The Woodlands at the first visit, and because Pantego is more than 200 miles up I-45 from Montgomery County, that is the route most adults here take. The prescriber will tell you at the first visit whether a non-stimulant fits your case.
Should I contact Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare before a private practice if I live in The Woodlands?
If you have no insurance and cannot pay $250, yes. Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare is the public mental health authority for Montgomery County and serves uninsured residents first. With an in-network plan there is no reason to wait on Tri-County; a $0–$30 copay video visit is usually available to anyone in The Woodlands within 1–2 business days.
Nearby areas we also serve
Explore care across Greater Houston & Gulf Coast or all Texas locations.
We also see patients from Spring, Conroe, Cypress, Humble and Kingwood, and Houston.
Free and low-cost mental health resources in The Woodlands
For Montgomery County residents without insurance, Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare is the public mental health authority and the first stop. In a crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at any hour. If someone is in immediate danger, the emergency departments at Houston Methodist The Woodlands and Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center are both just off I-45.
Start at book.lytepsych.com and we will run your benefits before the first visit. If you would rather talk to a person first, call 469-733-0848.
Find the public mental health authority for your county through the Texas HHS local authority directory.