How to Find Genetic Counselors

Should psychiatrists sometimes refer patients or patients' families for psychiatric genetic counseling?

Two people who provide psychiatric genetic counseling think so. One is Holly Peay, M.S., associate director of the genetic counseling training program at the National Institutes of Health. The other is Christine Finn, M.D., a psychiatry instructor at Harvard Medical School and a medical geneticist.

Peay believes that psychiatrists should answer patients' questions about psychiatric genetics that they feel comfortable answering. But if the questions are too complicated or outside their comfort level, they might then want to refer the patients to a psychiatric genetic counselor, she said (see Original article: Psychiatric Genetic Counseling: Don't Expect Easy Answers).

But then comes the challenge of locating a genetic counselor who can provide the services, since there are so few who specialize in psychiatric genetics. One way to find an appropriate counselor, Finn suggested, would be to contact a local medical center. “Most major medical centers at this point have at least one genetic counselor,” said Peay.

Another possible tack, both Finn and Peay agreed, would be to visit the Web site of the National Society of Genetic Counselors at<www.nsgc.org>. There, one can search for a local genetics professional or a genetics professional by specialty—for example, psychiatric genetics.