NorthShore Health Centers works with the philosophy that mental health is just as important to a happy life as physical health. Last month, they expanded their psychiatric care options by welcoming Dr. Benjamin Troy to the team.
A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, Troy is an experienced psychiatrist who focuses on child and adolescent care, and offers nearly two decades of medical experience. He works with kids just starting school, all the way up through graduation. Some of them are living with ADHD or depression, others are dealing with extensive time in foster systems or other living situations.
“I think there’s just such a need for this kind of care,” Troy said. “If the mental health aspect isn’t there, it’s hard to be successful in any area of life.”
Troy grew curious about a healthcare career early in life, after an interest in science grew into something more.
“I always liked science in school, but I really enjoyed the real-world applications of it,” he said. “I really liked how you can use medicine to perform a service for people.”
He started studying for a career in pediatrics and his training gave him a lot of real-world exposure to psychiatry. Those experiences spurred him to pursue a career in mental health.
“During residency, you rotate through every area of medicine, and I did a lot of ER rotations at a giant children’s hospital,” he said. “The kids that I was more interested in seeing were the ones coming in with mental health concerns. I was more interested in that than when they were coming in with a fever or a migraine.”
To Troy, no two patients are the same, even when they might share the same condition.
“There are a handful of conditions that you treat all the time in this field, but each one of these easily becomes apparent in an individual,” he said. “One thing I really like about psychiatry is that there’s still a lot of room for the art of medicine, along with the science. It’s about meeting these kids where they’re at. Maybe they’re more interested in talking about the game they’re playing on their phone than they are about why they don’t want to go to school. That’s how you connect.”
Troy might be new to NorthShore, but he is already impressed by the work they have accomplished.
“I really like the setup they have here,” he said. “We work with the patient’s primary care doctors, so all aspects of their care are handled in one place. I think that team-based approach is really important.”
To learn more about NorthShore Health Centers or to schedule an appointment, visit northshorehealth.org.
