Referrals

Depression/anxiety specialty support referral checklist

Referral structure for persistent symptoms, diagnostic complexity, or elevated psychiatric risk.

Last reviewed 2026-02-07|mental health | psychiatry | safety

At a glance

Fast checkpoints for point-of-care decisions.

Minimum pre-referral workup

Summarize symptom course, functional impact, and validated tool trends (for example PHQ/GAD scores).
Document trialed treatments, doses, duration, and tolerability.
Include substance-use context, psychosocial stressors, and safety assessment findings.

Urgency tier and escalation triggers

Immediate emergency pathway for active suicidality, psychosis, or inability to maintain safety.
Expedited specialty referral for rapid deterioration, severe impairment, or persistent high-risk features.
Routine referral for treatment-resistant symptoms without immediate safety threat.

Referral packet essentials

Clear referral question (diagnostic clarification, medication strategy, psychotherapy triage).
Current medication list and past adverse effects.
Relevant supports already in place (therapy, crisis lines, family supports).

Pre-referral optimization tasks

Confirm workup completeness, urgency tiering, and referral packet quality before submission.

Verify baseline investigations are complete and recent.

Summarize symptom course, functional impact, and validated tool trends (for example PHQ/GAD scores).
Document trialed treatments, doses, duration, and tolerability.
Include substance-use context, psychosocial stressors, and safety assessment findings.

Separate urgent pathways from routine referral flow.

Immediate emergency pathway for active suicidality, psychosis, or inability to maintain safety.
Expedited specialty referral for rapid deterioration, severe impairment, or persistent high-risk features.
Routine referral for treatment-resistant symptoms without immediate safety threat.

Include all mandatory data to reduce rejected referrals.

Clear referral question (diagnostic clarification, medication strategy, psychotherapy triage).
Current medication list and past adverse effects.
Relevant supports already in place (therapy, crisis lines, family supports).

Address interim safety, optimization, and follow-up steps before handoff.

Jump to

Summarize symptom course, functional impact, and validated tool trends (for example PHQ/GAD scores).
Document trialed treatments, doses, duration, and tolerability.
Include substance-use context, psychosocial stressors, and safety assessment findings.

Immediate emergency pathway for active suicidality, psychosis, or inability to maintain safety.
Expedited specialty referral for rapid deterioration, severe impairment, or persistent high-risk features.
Routine referral for treatment-resistant symptoms without immediate safety threat.

Clear referral question (diagnostic clarification, medication strategy, psychotherapy triage).
Current medication list and past adverse effects.
Relevant supports already in place (therapy, crisis lines, family supports).