Adult Mental Health Assessment
A private adult mental health assessment is a comprehensive medical assessment of your mental health, exploring symptoms, history, and life experiences to develop an accurate diagnosis and personalised treatment plan.
A general adult assessment usually explores conditions such as depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Bipolar Affective Disorder, psychosis and trauma-related conditions such as PTSD and complex PTSD.
How we help
A private mental health assessment in Cornwall with Porthia Clinic provides a thorough, expert evaluation of your mental health — whether you are struggling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, trauma, or a complex presentation that has been difficult to address through your GP. Our NHS consultant psychiatrist takes the time to understand your full picture even through a detailed history that will consider mental and physical health factors during your birth, chilhood and adulthood, lifestyle and personal circumstances providing an accurate diagnosis and a personalised treatment plan tailored to you.
Many of our patients come to us after finding that their GP or other mental health providers have limited capacity or expertise to investigate complex or persistent mental health difficulties in depth. A private psychiatric assessment provides the time, expertise, and clinical tools to reach answers that a standard GP appointment cannot.
Lifestyle Medicine and Treatment Plans
Where clinically appropriate, our treatment plans may also include a recommendation to explore lifestyle-based support alongside medical care. There is a growing and credible body of evidence linking physical activity, breathwork, and stress physiology to improved outcomes in depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health conditions — and Cornwall’s natural environment makes it a particularly fitting place to embrace this approach.
Porthia works in collaboration with The HALO Project, a Cornwall-based lifestyle and wellbeing organisation and certified provider of the Wim Hof Method — a structured programme combining controlled breathwork and cold water immersion that has attracted significant research interest for its effects on mood, stress, and mental resilience. Breathwork and cold water immersion are not for everyone, and HALO’s offer extends well beyond this — encompassing physical activity coaching, functional movement, and broader lifestyle optimisation to suit a range of needs and starting points. Where this kind of support is relevant, and with your consent, we can liaise with HALO to inform a personalised lifestyle plan that complements your clinical care.
What is the process
Assessment
Our comprehensive mental health assessment explores your experiences, symptoms, and history in detail. Working together, we build a clear understanding of your mental health needs through expert medical evaluation, listening carefully to how difficulties affect your daily life and wellbeing and creating a diagnosis or a description of your difficulties together.
Treatment Plan
Based on your assessment, we develop a personalised treatment plan combining evidence-based approaches with practical strategies. We explain our recommendations clearly, ensuring you understand and feel confident about each step of your treatment journey. In some cases the treatment plan will include medication. In other cases medication might not be suitable and your treatment plan may focus instead on lifestyle and wellbeing interventions or advice on psychological therapies.
Ongoing Support
We provide consistent support throughout your treatment, adjusting approaches as needed and helping you maintain positive progress. If you want to have additional follow up appointments to look in more detail at your difficulties and treatment planning we can provide this. If you have started medication you will need follow-up appointment reviews to monitor your response and doses. This will be in addition to the initial assessment and treatment planning sessions included in the assessment fee. Regular review appointments ensure your care evolves with you, supporting lasting improvements in your mental health and well-being.
How to book
These can be online or face to face. For general enquiries or to discuss specific requirements, please complete our contact form and our team will respond promptly.
Fees & Payments
£590 – 90 minute General Adult Assessment (Including a 60 minute assessment and a subsequent 30 minute discussion and treatment planning session).
Payments are only taken using our secure payment option when you book online.
Our cancellation policy requires at least 7 days notice to avoid a fee. Cancellations made within 2 working days will not be refunded. For more information please read our Terms and Conditions. Please contact us promptly to reschedule or cancel.
Important Information
- Initial assessment appointments last up to 90 minutes. This includes an initial 60 minute assessment and subsequent 30 minute treatment planning session. The assessment fee covers both of these appointments.
- Additional follow-up appointments are chargeable at a rate of £190 for up to 30 minutes.
- Appointments are face to face.
- Treatment plans are provided as part of the fee, electronically on our patient portal.
- We always liaise with GP’s before and after an assessment.
- Dr Murton does not provide wrap-around care outside of booked appointments. Post-consultation queries (e.g., regarding treatment plans or prescription dosage) and unplanned third-party (e.g. family or other healthcare providers) correspondence require chargeable follow-up appointments, or chargeable time.
Referral Information
Referral Process
To refer a patient or yourself, simply contact our clinic with the
individual’s details and relevant medical information. Our team will follow up to coordinate an appointment. Patient’s can self refer but in this situation we will need to liaise with their GP.
General Practitioners
GPs are often the first point of contact for health concerns. If the referral does not come from a patient’s GP, we will liaise with their GP with the patients permission.
Insurance Companies
We are not currently aligned to any insurance companies, or private hospitals, but may be in the future.