Sonni Elliott MD, owner and board-certified adult psychiatrist for Sunrise Psychiatry Inc., grew up in the Kansas City area and has always been interested in people, science and medicine.
“I grew up around amazing physicians and saw their impact on others' physical and emotional lives. I attended Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans for undergraduate studies, graduating with honors in biology and a minor in chemistry,” she explained. “While attending medical school at Saint Louis University I fell in love with neurology, psychiatry and its interface with medicine. There I learned the intricacies of the mind, body and spirit and how behavior and emotion are oftentimes seen in various medical diagnoses.”
She specialized in psychiatry and attended a four-year residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital, where she honed her skills as a psychiatrist and discovered transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at the time of FDA approval in 2008 as a safe treatment for Major Depressive Disorder.
In 2010 she returned to Kansas City to work as an attending psychiatrist in various hospital systems and provided mental health treatment in several capacities in inpatient and outpatient settings.
“I've used various modalities of treatment, including psychotherapy and psychiatric medications which have limitations in different situations. I have also been lucky enough to engage with patients who received TMS since 2010 and kept that treatment option in my mind to be able to offer to people in the future,” she continued.
After a brief time away, she returned right before COVID hit and opened her own telemedicine practice. She developed her plan for a TMS clinic as COVID rates declined and the idea of a physical, psychiatric practice became appropriate.
She confirmed that TMS is a safe, noninvasive process that uses low level magnetic energy to target areas of the brain affected by Major Depressive Disorder. The magnetic field causes the brain to release more naturally occurring signals that help stabilize areas in the brain affected by depression.
Treatments are approximately 18 minutes per day, M-F for approximately six weeks followed by a few additional treatments to decrease down. Response and recovery rates are higher than medications and TMS is covered by most commercial, Federal and state insurance. There is no sedation involved and people are able to go about their day without any wait time following treatments.
“I hope to have a positive impact on people's lives. Throughout my training I've been lucky enough to learn that along with providing top notch care my goal is to treat every single person as I would want my family to be treated,” she expressed. “I have a strong team composed of extremely knowledgeable staff who walk interested persons through understanding TMS. This includes navigating insurance for TMS coverage, engaging with psychotherapists, medical care providers and executing the daily TMS treatments. I provide oversight and medical visits during the treatment course as well.”
As she stated, these safe, nurturing, personal experiences help lift people up and target their depression in a way that makes them feel less impacted by the disease and hopefully find remission.
Their office is conveniently located at College and Metcalf, 2 blocks south of I-435 and Metcalf, at 6900 College Blvd Ste 740 Overland Park, Ks 66211. For more information call 913-333-0448 or visit www.sunrisepsychkc.com.