Steamboat's Rising Psychiatry Offers One-Day TMS for Depression

Steamboat Springs —The hum of the machine is barely there, a low-frequency vibration that you feel in your teeth more than hear with your ears. It’s the sound of magnetic pulses, brief and precise, stimulating targeted areas of the brain without a single incision, without anesthesia, without the sterile smell of an operating room. For Michael Savage, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and a longtime resident who has watched the mental health landscape here for years, that hum is the sound of a solution.

If you’ve been sitting in a waiting room on the Yampa Valley’s medical corridor, wondering if there is actually an option that doesn’t require a week of missed work or a flight to Denver, the answer is yes.

Savage opened Rising Psychiatry in early September, bringing accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation — known as one-day TMS — to Steamboat Springs. It is a specific, interventional treatment for depression that uses the same technology as an MRI but applies it in an intensive, single-day window. According to the Steamboat Pilot, this makes Rising Psychiatry the only clinic outside of Denver offering this accelerated form.

The logic behind it is practical, rooted in the friction that keeps people from getting better. Traditional TMS requires patients to show up four or five days a week for six to nine weeks, with sessions lasting 20 to 40 minutes. For someone living in a mountain town where winter roads can be treacherous and work schedules are rigid, that timeline is often a barrier to entry. Savage’s approach compresses the entire course into 11 hours, broken up into 20 three-minute sessions.

“It’s a lot less travel, it’s a lot less complication,” Savage told the Steamboat Pilot. “I’m just trying to make it accessible and to treat as many people as possible.”

He isn’t doing this from a distance. After working as a nurse for 10 years, he returned to school specifically because he saw a gap in local care. He attended a pharmaceutical conference about a year ago, where a presenter highlighted how quickly TMS could treat patients before pivoting back to medications. That moment sparked his pivot toward this modality.

The cost is a flat $3,000, and the clinic does not accept insurance. That price point is a real consideration for neighbors who are already stretching their budgets, especially given that traditional TMS can sometimes be covered if a patient meets specific insurance requirements. But the trade-off is time and proximity. You don’t have to drive to Denver for a week of appointments; you spend one day in Steamboat.

It’s not a universal fix, though. Savage notes that individuals who have already found success with psychiatric medications are less likely to be appropriate candidates for TMS. The treatment is designed for those who have gone down a longer journey where other things haven’t worked.

The need is documented. A Yampa Valley behavioral health survey presented to the Steamboat Springs City Council in early September painted a picture of a community that is supportive but still struggling with loneliness, high substance use, and persistent barriers to care. Savage’s clinic is a direct response to that data, an attempt to remove the logistical friction from getting help.

If you look closely at the clinic’s setup, it feels less like a hospital and more like a quiet room where you can sit still for an hour. The treatment is non-invasive, but the commitment to showing up, just once, for a full day - is significant.

The magnetic pulse fades, and the session ends. You sit there for a moment, the hum gone, the silence returning to the room.