Currently accepting new patients
Thoughtful, in-depth psychiatry in San Francisco and across California.
Culturally-informed, trauma-sensitive care for children, teens, adults, and families, in person in Noe Valley or by telehealth anywhere in California.
Four areas where deeper expertise changes the outcome.
Board certified in both general and child & adolescent psychiatry, Dr. Yu works with patients across the lifespan and the diagnostic spectrum. These are the areas she is most often sought out for.
Children, Teens & Young Adults
Whole-systems care that looks at the child, the family, and the community systems together, through adolescence and the transition into adult life.
Learn moreNeurodiversity
Thorough evaluation and treatment for ADHD, autism, OCD, and tic disorders, in children and in adults diagnosed late.
Learn moreFounders & Tech Professionals
Care that understands the actual conditions of the work: burnout, decision fatigue, funding pressure, and performing under sustained accountability.
Learn morePregnancy & Women's Mental Health
Reproductive psychiatry across fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and hormonal transitions, including medication safety decisions.
Learn more
A wider set of lenses
Dr. Haining (Helen) Yu is a Harvard- and UCSF-trained psychiatrist, board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both general psychiatry and child & adolescent psychiatry.
Before medicine she was a biomedical engineer, an epidemiologist, and a middle school teacher. She's an immigrant, a mother, a physician leader and public health advocate. This range of professional and lived experience allows her to hold a rigorous, evidence-based process alongside a genuinely relational understanding of what a particular person needs.
The whole person, and the life you are actually trying to build.
Symptoms are where an evaluation starts, not where it ends. Understanding what is happening means looking at all of it at once: what is going on biologically, psychologically, socially, and functionally. These shape one another constantly, and a plan that addresses only one of them rarely holds.
Treatment is aimed at the things you are actually trying to reach: a child who can get through a school day, a return to work you can sustain, a relationship you want to be different in, the kind of parent you mean to be. Those goals are yours to set.
There are no cookie-cutter solutions here. Every plan is thought through carefully and built for the particular person it is for.
Relieving suffering matters. It is also not the whole of the work. Treatment is aimed at the life you are actually trying to build.
Biological
Sleep, development, medical conditions, family history, and whether medication is helping.
Psychological
How you think and feel, the patterns carried from earlier relationships, and what this period means to you.
Social
Family, school, work, culture, community: the environments a person is actually trying to live in.
Functional
What you can do day to day: focus, learn, work, rest, and stay connected to people who matter.
Support is built into how the practice runs.
Good care depends on more than the time in the room. Scheduling, paperwork, prescriptions, and the questions that come up in between all shape how treatment actually goes, so this practice is intentionally structured to take care of them.
Bianca, our registered nurse, is your first point of contact. She provides quick and effective responses for things ranging from refill requests to pharmacy snafus, from scheduling needs to questions about billing. She sends proactive reminders to help keep your care on track. This level of support outside of session time is uncommon, and it is a deliberate choice about how this practice is built.
Anything that calls for clinical judgment goes straight to Dr. Yu, so you can be assured that Dr. Yu's attention stays where it belongs, on the clinical decisions and on being fully present with you in session.
A real person, quickly
Get a prompt, human reply from someone who knows you.
Scheduling, handled
Appointments booked, moved, and coordinated around school, work, and the rest of family life.
Paperwork and forms
School and workplace forms, prior authorizations, and insurance paperwork completed on your behalf.
Pharmacy coordination
Prescriptions confirmed with your pharmacy, and anything that comes up resolved directly with them.
Out-of-network, with real help getting reimbursed.
This practice does not contract with insurance companies, which keeps treatment decisions between you and your physician. Most PPO plans reimburse a meaningful share of out-of-network care, and we help you claim it.
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You pay at the time of service
Credit and debit cards, HSA/FSA cards, Zelle, and checks are all accepted.
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We verify your benefits
Using Reimbursify, we check your out-of-network coverage up front, including your deductible and reimbursement rate, so you know what to expect. The practice pays for this service; it is not an added cost to you.
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Claims get filed for you
We submit claims on your behalf, or provide a superbill if you would rather file yourself. Reimbursement is determined by your insurer.
Noe Valley, and everywhere in California.
In person visits when it matters, and virtual when flexibility matters more. Some appointments are simply better face to face: a first evaluation, a difficult stretch, work with a younger child. Others do not need to cost you a commute, a school pickup, or a day off.
Patients prescribed controlled substances, including ADHD stimulant medications, are required to attend at least one in-person evaluation.
When appointments are available.
- Tuesday
- 9:00a – 5:00p · virtual only
- Wednesday
- 9:00a – 5:00p · virtual or in-person
- Thursday
- 9:00a – 5:00p · virtual or in-person
- Friday
- 9:00a – 5:00p · virtual or in-person
Taking the first step is the hard part.
Dr. Yu is currently accepting new patients. Send a note through the secure contact form and you will hear back to arrange an initial consultation.