FAQs

Q: What should I expect for my first session?

A: I will review things like confidentiality, my practice's policies and procedures, and what you might expect while you are engaging in counseling. Just a warning that I have to talk a little more than normal for that first session! After I give you all of that information, I'm all "yours" and will be the listening ear that you are looking for.

Q: What is a typical counseling session with you like?

A: A typical session is about 50 minutes. During this time, I'll check in with you about what feels important to discuss for that week. This is YOUR time so you get to set the pace and the "vibe" for the session. Sometimes you might want to dive into some harder things and some weeks, you might just want some support around school, work, or friendships. My approach is to be playful and use humor, honesty, and thoughtful questions to help you work on your goals.

Q: How come you don't take insurance? How can I get my insurance to cover some of these costs?

A: There a various reasons on why I don't take insurance, including that often, you have to spend a great deal of time on paperwork, diagnosing, treatment planning and billing. I believe it is more effective for me, as a therapist, and you, as a client, to spend my time meeting with clients, attending trainings and reading about therapeutic research instead of jumping through time consuming hoops that, in my view, don't actually enhance client outcome. Additionally, I am less concerned with a diagnosis than I am about how your symptoms are impacting your life.

HOWEVER, I am deeply concerned about families and individuals being able afford therapy. I work to keep my fees on the lower end of reasonable, and offer superbills, which you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement.

Q: How many sessions do you think it might take for me/my child to feel better?

A: The unfortunate, but accurate response is, "it depends." There are so many factors involved in healing and mastering coping strategies. However, some of the best outcomes result from having an excellent relationship with your therapist, being willing to share things that might be challenging, shameful, or embarrassing, and have a willingness to "work" on things outside of our time together. Improvement can be a slow process and not always linear. However, given all these things, if you/your child aren't getting ANY relief in symptoms (or new insights) after about 3 months, we should have a conversation and develop a new game plan.

Q: What are your rates and cancellation fees?

A: If you research current rates for therapists, you will find that I am on the lower end of what is typical. At $135, I try to make therapy affordable to families. Please connect with me if you are unable to afford this rate and we can discuss alternatives.

Any cancellation 24 hours or earlier will NOT be charged a cancellation fee. Within 24 hours of our scheduled session, I will charge 1/2 the cost of a session for the first three times it happens in a year. After that, I will charge the full cost of the session. While I am not in this business for the money, my time is valuable and I want to dissuade chronic late cancellations.