Dr. Stewart Teal, a resident of Davis for some 40 years, is enjoying the summer of 2011 as a retiree. Teal served as a child psychiatrist for many years with Omnibus Mental Health Associates, which was the first venture of its kind in Davis, launched back in 1971.

Teal came to California after growing up in the Detroit area, and attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He came west with the Air Force, serving with the Family Mental Health Clinic at Travis Air Force Base in the late 1960s, when that base was busy with flights coming back and forth from Vietnam.

“It was my first job as a psychiatrist after training,” Teal recalled. “I saw kids and families, mostly husbands and fathers, who had been fighting in the war.”

Teal returned to Michigan in 1970-71, but he had liked living in Northern California, and was drawn back.

“UC Davis was getting their child psychiatry program going,” Teal said. He became a clinical professor, “and I still teach a seminar every once in a while, or supervise a psychiatry resident or fellow.”

With a group of colleagues, Teal also helped launch Omnibus Mental Health Associates in 1971.

“We were a multidisciplinary group, with two psychiatrists, two psychologists and two clinical social workers,” he recalled. “Ours was the first multidisciplinary group here.” Initially, Teal worked out of an office in his home.

“The idea was that we had all come to UC Davis, we were all interested in child mental health services, and we were thinking very seriously of opening a residential treatment program for children. But we thought we ought to practice together before we did that.

“However, we never got around to opening a residential treatment program. But we did practice for 40 years together.”

In the 1970s, Teal’s field was still establishing itself in the public perception.

“I think people knew what mental health was,” he said. “We did family therapy, we did individual therapy, some groups for children. And I did community presentations on things like attention deficit hyperactive disorder — there was lots of interest. I did presentations as far south as Fresno.”

The details of coverage under private insurance plans and government programs have changed over the intervening decades.

“But we are still dealing with the same issues, and the same problems are with us now that we had 40 years ago,” Teal said. “We see a lot of kids with anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (which I’ve specialized in for several years), separation disorder, and ‘school anxiety,’ where they are afraid to go to school.

“There are also some kids with bipolar disorder, though that is still rare in my opinion. And there are kids with schizophrenia, usually older adolescents. And there are the run-of-the-mill learning disabilities.

“Sometimes, you would get a kid who had two or three or more things going on at the same time.

“My focus has always been community mental health,” Teal continued. “I’ve done all kinds of things in that area. I worked at Sacramento County Juvenile Hall for 12 years, at the Sacramento Children’s Home for 25 years, and St. Patrick’s Home for Children — they are closed now.”

But as he drew closer to his 72^nd birthday this spring, Teal decided it was time to retire. He officially wrapped up his duties at the end of March.

“My spouse, Ann Teal, was a licensed clinical social worker. She’s been retired for 10 years,” he said. “Now she’s an artist.”

Teal is trying something along that line himself.

“I’m doing some writing, short stories. I’ve worked on a science fiction story, and a mystery story, and one about a kid in a summer camp.”

He admitted that moving into retirement gave him a little feeling of “trepidation like when I left the Air Force, but also excitement about new things in my life.

“I do have a young child psychiatrist who’s taken over some of my practice, someone I trained,” Teal said. “His name is Dr. Jimmark Abenojar, and he has an office in Davis.”

Two longtime colleagues volunteered appreciations of Teal’s work here over four decades. Jerry Plummer, a partner in Omnibus Mental Health Associates, recalls meeting Teal when they were both working in the department of psychiatry at Travis Air Force Base in 1967.

“When we got out of the Air Force, we joined the department of psychiatry at the UC Davis Medical School, which was still a new enterprise at that time.”

Plummer said early in his acquaintance with Teal “it was clear that Stew was an exceptionally talented clinician.” And soon, Teal became “a dear friend” as well. “He’ll be sorely missed,” Plummer said.

Eva Hunting, a partner in Omnibus Mental Health Associates with Teal for decades, told The Enterprise that “(Stewart) is an exceptional psychiatrist. I really regret that he has retired. But I’ve been more than fortunate in that he continues to be a good friend.”

–Reach Jeff Hudson at [email protected] or (530) 747-8055.

TealW

Dr. Stewart Teal has bade farewell to his career as a child psychiatrist with Omnibus Mental Health Associates in Davis. He’s using his new-found free time to write short stories. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

Comments

comments