Behavioral Health

Mental / Behavioral Health

Our mission at Ballard Pediatric Clinic is to provide an integrated behavioral health system of care that increases access to mental health care while building resilience in our patients and families. We believe that your child/family’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and are working on integrating behavioral health into our clinic. This means that in addition to asking questions about your child’s physical health, we will also check in about their emotional wellbeing and encourage you or your child to raise any concerns at any visit. 


Behavioral health services offered at Ballard Pediatric Clinic:



  • Routine developmental/mental health screenings at well child visits
  • Guidance/care coordination/medication management by your child’s pediatrician and care team for conditions like anxiety, depression, ADHD, eating disorders
  • Access to psychiatric ARNPs (Allison Laurie and Elizabeth Mardesich) for more complex medication management (ask your child’s pediatrician if a referral is appropriate). You must first contact your child's pediatrician to determine if a visit is appropriate. 
  • Currently all of our behavioral health visits are done via telehealth. 


Finding a behavioral health provider outside of Ballard Pediatric Clinic:


Resources for finding a provider:


  1. Check with your insurance company for providers who are in-network. You can also request a case manager to assist with your search.
  2. Psychology Today website: Filter by location, insurance, type of provider, specialty, etc.
  3. Washington’s Mental Health Referral Service for Children and Teens (for age 17 years and younger): *If your child has Molina insurance you can ask their primary doctor for a referral (for expedited service)


  • Courtney Woodhouse, LMHCA

    We are pleased to annouce an addition to our Behavioral Health Program. 

    Courtney Wppdhouse, LMHCA holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood and Family Studies from the University of Washington and a Masters of Arts in Child and Adolescent Psychology from the University of Washington.  She will provide short term intervention primarily designed to help solve immediate problems until patients can establish a permanent mental health provider. 


    Courtney was born and raised in Washington state. She spent her childhood in Eastern Washington before moving to the west side for college and has been calling Seattle home since.  She has worked at Seattle Children’s Hospital on the PBMU, and more recently worked at Rogers Behavioral Health providing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals with OCD and anxiety, and completed her masters practicum at Thira Health providing dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). 

     

    She enjoys spending time with her husband and their two dogs Lucy and Zoey. In her free time Courtney can be found cultivating her own indoor houseplant jungle, traveling, cheering on local sports teams and eating tasty food.”


    Requirements to see Courtney: 

    1) Your child must be referred by your Ballard Pediatric Clinic primary care provider.

    2) You must be established patients at Ballard Pediatric Clinic.

    3) Treatment sessions will all be IN PERSON at the clinic.


  • Allison Laurie, ARNP, Behavioral Health Provider

    Allison Laurie "Allie" worked as a full-time provider in the inpatient Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Seattle Children's Hospital from 2017-2022, where she has also served as the Program Director for the Advanced Practice Provider Psychiatry Fellowship.


    She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Michigan State University in 2009 and her Master of Science in Nursing at Wayne State University in Detroit in 2015. Most of her nursing career was spent at University of Michigan, where she practiced in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit, the pediatric palliative care program, and the inpatient child psychiatry unit.


    After completing her Master of Science in Nursing and board certification as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner in 2015, Allie cared for adolescents in a psychiatric partial hospitalization program in Ann Arbor, Michigan until relocating to Seattle in 2017.


    In her free time, Allie enjoys hiking, yoga, baking and spending time outdoors with her husband, daughter, and stepsons.


  • Elizabeth Mardesich, ARNP, Behavioral Health Provider

    Elizabeth Mardesich "Lizzie" comes to Ballard Pediatric Clinic from Seattle Children’s Hospital.  She does still continue to provide care on the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit to patients and families. She received her bachelors degree in nursing from the University of Portland and a masters from Gonzaga University. Prior to working as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, she worked for 7 years as a staff nurse in both child psychiatry and pediatric orthopedics at Shriner’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon.


    Once licensed as a psychiatric provider, she moved to Seattle for a yearlong fellowship at Seattle Childrens. Her preceptor and mentor was Allie--also a psychiatric provider at Ballard Pediatrics. Following completion of that additional year of training, she was lucky enough to stay and continue working with kids and families at Children’s.


    In her spare time, she can be found in the kitchen making a mess and trying out new recipes. She loves nothing more than a good cup of coffee and getting lost in a book store.