Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Sydney and Canberra
A Sydney, NSW and ACT Telehealth Mental Health Service
Meet Our Team
Dr Mimi XU
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
MD MMed(Psych) FRANZCP, Adv Cert Child Adol. Psych
Dr Mimi Xu is a caring and experienced Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist.
Dr Xu holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Master of Medicine (Psychiatry) and has completely further training to attain a Certificate of Advanced Training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry.
Dr Xu previously worked in multiple public hospitals and community settings across Sydney’s Inner West, South Western and Western Suburbs including NSW Health’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
Dr Xu provides assessment and treatment over telehealth to ensure her patients can access their mental health care whether they live in Sydney, Canberra, or more regional settings in NSW. She specialises in caring for children and teenagers with ADHD, anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, Autism and Depression.
As a subspecialist psychiatrist, Dr Xu seeks to prepare her patients for adulthood. She believes in working closely with young people and their families as part of the treatment process and collaborating with carers to ensure the best possible outcome.
Dr Xu values the role of GPs, Paediatricians and other allied health professionals such as psychologists, school counsellors, speech therapists, occupational therapists, family therapists and social workers as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for a young person.
Who we see
We want to ensure patients and their families receive the maximum benefit from our child and adolescent psychiatry service. Patients are accepted for initial and ongoing sessions on a case-by-case basis.
We specialise and focus on assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental health in children and adolescents:
Aged 5-18 and attending school in Sydney, NSW and Canberra
ADHD
Anxiety and Depression
as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist - what makes us different to a Paediatrician
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
What we are not
The Lionheart clinic is not an acute crisis mental health service
We do not currently offer treatment for all mental health conditions as some are suited to a multidisciplinary team approach
We do not offer mental health forensic requests
We are not bulked billed - private billing only
Our approach as a Mental Health Service?
-
At our child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health service, we understand how important it is to find the right support for your child or teenager.
Dr Mimi Xu is an experienced child and adolescent psychiatrist offering specialist care for children, teenagers, and young people aged 5–18.
Her patients often comment how caring, professional and approachable she is. It is because of this superpower that Dr Mimi Xu is able to speak and engage young people to support them on their mental health journey.
-
Dr Mimi Xu is a trusted mental health professional who takes a holistic approach to understanding and treating each young person.
Whether your child is struggling with more common mental health conditions like ADHD, anxiety, depression, and/or other emotional or behavioural challenges, we aim to provide thoughtful, evidence-based care that is tailored to their needs.
We recognise how hard it can be to see your child in distress, and we’re here to help you navigate their mental health journey with confidence and compassion.
-
Our approach is one that comes from personalised approach .
Our clinic’s hope (and heart) is that every child, teenager, adolescent, their families and carers do not feel like just a number but valuable just the way they are.
Our team therefore tailors our approach as much as we can to ensure our patients feel nurtured and empowered.
We, like many of our parents, take a long term view of a child’s mental health journey and wrestle with questions like.
What is cost for a child or teenager if they don’t get timely care?
What if our patients don’t set up the systems and thinking needed to know
1) when they are doing okay
2) when they need assistance and
3) the practical side of how to manage behaviours and tasks like independently taking medication
What is the cost over a lifetime when grows to become an adult and has to be absent from work?
Our hope and focus as a clinic is to work alongside children, their families and other support structures (e.g. psychologist, paediatricians, OTs and other allied health) to build the thinking and habits necessary for adulthood.
Our Services: What do patients see us for?
-
We offer thorough psychiatric assessments that take into account your child’s developmental history, emotional health, behaviour, and school functioning.
What you get from us is honesty and the rigorous independent clinical judgement of our clinical staff.
In many cases a diagnosis is possible. If however, the diagnosis requires more time or not possible Dr Mimi Xu will let her patients know.
Using the information gained through the assessment, we create a personalised treatment plan that may include psychological strategies, support for parents, school collaboration, and where appropriate, medication.
As a medical doctor, Dr Xu is qualified to offer prescriptions where needed, always balancing risks and benefits carefully. We believe that clear communication, shared decision-making, and ongoing support are key to successful outcomes.
-
Many families come to us seeking help from an ADHD psychiatrist, and Dr Xu has extensive experience in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of ADHD and ADD having worked previously as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at CAMHS - Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
-
A common assessment for the diagnosis of Autism is the ADOS-2 Assessment and Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADIR) - these assessment are provided typically offered by a psychologist or other allied health professional.
While our clinic does not do these tests, Dr Mimi Xu can provide insight with whether these more expensive assessments are needed for your child or teenager before these test are performed.
Dr Mimi Xu also supports the children to better manage behavioural issues and provides professional evidence based recommendations on how to best manage these behaviours at home, school or in the community
-
We listen to our parents and carergivers know who sometimes feel that something is missing or something does not feel right.
We support children and teens experiencing anxiety disorders, social anxiety, problems with making friends, depression, school-related stress, sleep issues, sudden burst of anger or heightened emotions, and more.
Lionheart Clinic helps our young minds retell the stories they tell themselves and like the Lion Aslan from the C.S Lewis’ Lion Witch and Wardrobe, courageously take the next steps forward.
Why did we choose a Telehealth approach?
-
We understand that with many children and adolescents that it may not be easy to leave their home for various reasons. Telehealth provides an opportunity for our patients to be seen in an environment where they feel safe, comfortable and protected.
This removes the angst that sometimes occur when a child or teenagers enters a more traditional psychiatry clinic for a face-to-face appointment.
-
Whether you are in the more metropolitan areas:
like the Shire, Bondi or Eastern Suburbs, Hills District, Windsor or North Shore, Inner West
or live in places like Braddon, Deakin, Fyshwick, Queanbeyan, Kambah in Canberra
finding a child and adolescent psychiatrist with open books can be challenging.
Telehealth means there are less geographic barriers for you to get access to the mental health care you and your family need
-
Traveling to Canberra or Sydney on a regular basis can take a toll both financial, emotionally and time-wise for families who live in more regional areas of NSW who may need periodical or regular psychiatric care or mental health support .
By offering our service via telehealth to regional areas of NSW, many of our patients can get access to timely early intervention.
It is for these reason that we chose to prove provide personalised assessment and treatment for children and adolescents via telehealth to NSW regional areas like:
Orange, Bathurst, Newcastle, Northern Beaches, Central Coast, Wollongong, Mudgee, Dubbo, Parkes, Murrumbidgee and Byron Bay