Meet Jamie Sorenson | Reproductive Psychiatrist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jamie Sorenson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jamie, do you have a budget? How do you make lifestyle and spending decisions?
THIS IS THE BEAUTY OF PSYCHIATRY, I never needed a budget (sorry not sorry?). I have taken things step by step and added on expenses gradually as I make income so no loans or changes to my personal finances. I’m literally setting up this business while my toddler is sleeping. I started with an Instagram social media in November 2023 just to see how it went. My cousin, Brooke Nix, a the coach for the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, a retired Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, a business owner, a wonderful boy mom and an influencer gave me a lot of advice starting out. One of the best pieces of advice she gave me was “only film on days you’re happy.” This seems like obvious advice, but it is SO accurate! People online can really tell when I’ve had a good day. It must be some micro expressions that carry through!

My business license was my first expense and then my electronic medical record in April 2024. I didn’t need an electronic medical record (EMR) at first due to my partnership with Weeks Wellness because I could have used their EMR and phoned in prescriptions, but I have social anxiety! No thank you! I created my own website with Wix in November 2024. I was tempted to pay someone to make a website for me, but I wanted to create it myself so that I could manage and change it myself whenever I wanted to. It’s taken a few months, but I think I’ve got the hang of it. In March 2025, I started paying for SEO Optimization and set up a google business account. I think that has been a real game changer. I learned about the marketing funnel (in my business its called motivational interviewing which I did research on in college and have extensive training it). I was really perplexed that I could have a following of 10K people on Instagram (way bigger than I ever anticipated) and not be getting new patient appointments scheduled. It’s been a slow growth process, but I’ve just taken my time and paced myself. It’s basically been a process of step by step asking, “can I do this? yes, I guess I can? oh? that worked. I guess I need a new goal.” I also continue to work full time at a local psychiatry practice.

I do not need an office, but I did partner with a local business Weeks Wellness to have patient referrals and to have an in person location to see patients. For patients I see referred by Weeks Wellness, they charge the patient and pay me as a contractor. For patients I see from other referrals, I see them mostly telemedicine and pay to use Weeks Wellness location for in person appointments which if I prescribe controlled substances, should be seen about once a year. The DEA is dancing around this issue and has delayed restarting this rule several times. I hope that they continue to delay because psychiatry is underserved across the United States and people need access to care. I think that monitoring for excessive prescribing practices of physicians would be far more helpful in deterring poor prescribing practices than having it as a true barrier to care. There are some people who just need 5 alprazolam a year. You want to mandate I see the patient in person for that? If I never prescribe controlled substances to the patient, I do not ever need to see them in person. Using telemedicine options has kept my overhead very low. I already had a home office set up for my full time job, I could not use that expense as tax deductible until I owned my own business or worked as a contractor, so in that sense it opened up a little savings on expenses that I already had.

What should our readers know about your business?
I started my Instagram TallyReproductivePsychiatrist because I was not getting referrals for perinatal psychiatry patients. I found this incredibly perplexing because I was working and continue to work full time at the largest psychiatric practice in Tallahassee. The admissions staff had been told to funnel all these patients directly to me. One of my earlier Instagram posts, I explained the math. About 4000 women give birth at our largest hospital each year, 6.5-20% of them will develop postpartum depression, so 260 to 800 women with postpartum depression in my community each year, with approximately 20 psychiatric providers in the town, each one of us should be referred 13-40 cases of postpartum depression each year. In the last year, I had received 1 referral for treatment of a postpartum mental health disorder. I interpreted this to mean that the OBGYNs were not sending the referrals, which actually makes a lot of sense and is a pattern we see throughout the US. Most OBGYNs get trained to start sertraline and move on because it’s “treated,” but for so many women is not enough. Many people need to see a psychiatrist to make sure their medications are working and they are tolerating them without side effects. I feel for the OBGYNs because referring to a psychiatrist can be a hot mess. We are hard to locate and you may often run into psychiatrists who will not even prescribe during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Primary care doctors do much more management of mood and anxiety disorders, as well as referring to psychiatric treatment when indicated. Most women don’t go to their PCPs while pregnant or postpartum and fall through the cracks. I tried to do some local outreach, but due to clinic policies it fell flat. Pediatricians were actually the most excited about referring to me, but because the mothers were not their actual patients and there is a lot of liability in recommending medical care that you cannot help people access directly.

In my frustration, I created an Instagram account so women in need of Reproductive Psychiatry could find me. I anticipated it just being a small local account, but it really took off. Reproductive Psychiatry is so underserved in the United States that I have patients all over the state now. Most of my patients are from South Florida which is great because it means I’m not competing in a market with my current employer. Before I started the Instagram account, most of my perinatal cases were women about 18 months postpartum who had suffered with severe symptoms quietly and finally found the motivation to access care. Their goal was to work with me in preparation for a second pregnancy. It’s heart breaking to know I was just sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for them to refer themselves in while they were suffering.

In 2021, I had my first child and developed postpartum OCD. I got access to psychiatric care, but it was inadequate for what I needed. I still to this day cannot believe that no one assessed my risk factors for a postpartum mood or anxiety disorder. I knew that I had almost every single risk factor, but no one took the time to even consider my old self to be high risk. I knew far more about my condition than my psychiatrist did and although he was helpful, I needed more niche care. If I as a Reproductive Psychiatrist cannot access good postpartum care, how can I expect other women to do so? My postpartum OCD presented as: anger (which like a good psychiatrist, I internalized MOST of the time), fears of contamination (especially food allergies in breast milk) and health concerns for baby (which were exacerbated by poor pediatric care).

If I were to design a perinatal clinic. I’d like an office with both OBGYNs and Pediatricians available onsite with a PCP, Reproductive Psychiatrist and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist available for consultation. I would also incorporate a lactation consultant, midwife, pelvic floor PT, LCSW, Childcare Classes, and offer daycare while women are accessing their own medical care. If gyms can offer daycare, why on earth can’t medical clinics? This would be an end goal for TallyReproductivePsychiatrist. If you try to explain this model of care to any administrator, they will say “this would make no money.'” That’s just not true, you can bill health insurance or privately for all these services. This model would be a gold standard of care that every woman would want to access and refer her friends to. Healthcare in general does not understand the needs of women or mothers and if it wants women to not die, it needs to change dramatically and fast.

Being a mother in this country is just coconuts! Why on earth do we not see our PCPs during pregnancy and postpartum? It’s not like our other medical problems just evaporate into thin air! In fact, many conditions are exacerbated by pregnancy and postpartum. Then we expect a postpartum and sleep deprived mother to drive herself to her OBGYN follow up (without baby allowed sometimes?!?!) and then drive her and baby across town to a pediatrician? Then heaven forbid she needs to see her PCP and psychiatrist too! At least with psychiatry, we are accessible from home with telemedicine. Also, it is so dangerous to have a sleep deprived person driving around town! It’s like asking a drunk driver to transport themself and baby to appointments. AND if the woman has ADHD, her symptoms are typically way worse postpartum with low estrogen. Women with ADHD are already at increased risk of accidental death without the postpartum sleep deprivation and surely this exacerbates it further.

I would want these combined because this is what I would have benefited from. If my psychiatrist could have called up my son’s pediatrician and said, “listen this baby has terrible reflux and it’s exacerbating mother’s OCD” my postpartum experience would have been so much better. It’s hard to relax or feel calm if you have a baby spitting up into the backs of your shoes and their pediatrician is writing you off.

In my social media, I try really hard to avoid filters and also post pictures of myself not wearing make up. If I do start getting botox and filler, I plan to let people know straight up. I also try to post genuine and educational content to be helpful to other women. I want them to have the knowledge and tools to advocate for themselves with their healthcare providers.

Pre-COVID, I worked for the Social Impact Bond of Denver. We proved that housing patients and providing them with services was not only effective, but profitable. There are certainly plenty of accurate criticisms to this model, but the argument that providing high quality ethical medical care to everyone no matter who they are saves us all money. Our program was able to pay back investors completely 2 years in instead of 2.5 years that was anticipated.

During COVID, I worked telemedicine in 23 different states across the US. I got quite good at tracking weather patterns from West to East. I really had no intention of working with pregnant women again after detoxing hundreds of pregnant women from opioids during residency. It was extremely emotionally heavy work for me. Turns out though, that in the midst of an international health epidemic pregnant women were being fired by their local psychiatrists and seeking out my care via the telemedicine app I was working for. I’m still disgusted by this. After prescribing methadone and buprenorphine to a few hundred pregnant women, you just aren’t worried about continuing someone’s escitalopram that they’ve been stable on for 10 years during pregnancy. So I put on my big girl panties and reviewed the reproductive psychiatry literature. Turns out that many of my skills from homeless outreach translate really well to Reproductive Psychiatry. You’ve got a screaming baby? No worries, at least I’m sitting in air conditioning on an actual chair instead of squatting on the ground with about a dozen people with active alcohol use disorders talking loudly behind me! That said, I do miss homeless outreach very much and am trying to set up my practice to offer pro bono psychiatric services in my community. That’s kind of the beauty of TallyReproductivePsychiatrist, I own it and I can do whatever I want with it (as long as I’m practicing psychiatry). I love my full time job, but this is like my little back up nest egg if things hit the fan. It provides me with a great sense of security and purpose.

I would describe this journey as pretty easy and I’ve been very deliberate about that. I’ve gradually set things up since November 2023. I have some long term goals, but if it takes me a long time to make it there, I’m okay with that. Also, I have the ultimate flex of bragging to my son when he’s older that I started a whole business while he was sleeping.

The most important thing I want women and mother’s to know is that you are the most accurate historians. Do not doubt yourself. You deserve to be heard. Your body deserves to be protected by your healthcare. Your opinion matters. There is no such thing as a perfect mother, we all struggle. This system is broken and as more and more women graduate from medical school, especially wonderful ones like UMiami, we are here to fight for you sometimes silently and sometimes loudly. We are here to share our stories and force the medical industry to grow. Also, studying rats and mice for women’s hormones is bullshit, call your rep and demand that they mandate researchers the spiny mouse. Why? It’s not even the same type of menstruation as US! ARGH! It’s a massive waste of money. Just like burning money in the trash can.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Friday night sunset at the Wet Lab and then Mango’s on South Beach because why not? I’d tell the DJ it was my friend’s birthday and request Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA to make things good and awkward. Saturday morning wake up at a decent time and go to Matheson Hammock Park. I might have to cry that it is no longer a lagoon and have a panic attack about Climate Change impacting where generations of my family live and have lived. When I worked out in Denver, some jerk liked to show me videos of the Florida going underwater to mess with me. It was so mean! Then on the drive back to Brickell Key, stop at El Carajo. It’s honestly Miami’s best kept secret, I’ve literally traveled across the country to be back there so many times. Take a nap at the Mandarin Oriental then go for a walk around Brickell Key watching for dolphins and mermaids (I mean manatees). For dinner, Mirabella at Fountainebleau and maybe stand outside Liv to see if anyone invites us in because 1) I’m not paying that entry fee 2) I’m a mom now and want to see if I still go it… Sunday morning the Rusty Pelican on Biscayne Bay for brunch, then go chill at one of the Biscayne Beaches. Obviously, go back for a nap after that and probably just some Netflix. Monday morning Vizcaya because you have to and it’s amazing. Then probably hit up one of the derms that went to UMiami for some botox and filler because I don’t trust anyone else. I’d leave a road in front of where Tobacco Road once was. Then probably roll up to do boating with the family in Hallandale and Hollywood.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital. These wonderful people helped turn me from a snot nosed smarty pants to a empathic caring physician (with a side of smarty pants). The faculty there were so wonderful and supportive. Most of my professors were people of color and about half my professors were women. They really guarded us from the old way of medicine and taught us to be better people. My patients at Jackson Memorial Hospital were so wonderful. I carry memories of people from all over the world that I meet there. It was an honor to get to work with them. Specifically: Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, Dr. Ana Campo, The Dr. Mechabers, Dr. Amar Deshpande, and Dr. Christopher Estes. An honorable mention for the good Dr. Eileen Venable at Florida State University who brought me into the Leon County Jail when I was 18 years old to see psychiatric patients with her. An honorable mention for Dr. Stephan Heckers, no one explains psychiatry more compassionately and accurately.

Website: https://www.tallyrepropsych.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tallyreproductivepsychiatrist/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-sorenson-b62a00267/?trk=public-profile-join-page

Twitter: protesting

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570465298907

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Tallyreproductivepsychiatrist

Image Credits
all photos done by myself