No Surprises Act & Good Faith Estimate
If you don’t have health insurance or you plan to pay for health care bills yourself, generally, health
care providers and facilities must give you an estimate of expected charges when you schedule an appointment. Read more here.
What is a deductible? A co-pay? Co-insurance?
What should I expect on my first appointment?
Do you have sliding scale options?
What’s the difference between counseling and psychotherapy?
What are your standard fees?
My standard fees are $180 for the initial/assessment session, and $150 per session thereafter. Sessions are generally 55 minutes long.
*Please note that therapy intensives are billed at a higher rate due to the additional planning, preparation, and consultation that are required. Please reach out for specific information on these fees.
Do you take insurance?
I am currently in network with the following insurance plans:
- BCBS PPO
- BlueChoice PPO
- Cigna
- Aetna PPO
Unfortunately, I do not accept HMO plans at this time.
If you have a different insurance plan, I highly recommend calling the member services number on your insurance card to ask about your unique benefits and coverage. Sometimes, an insurance carrier will reimburse members directly for a portion of the fees incurred. If this situation applies to you, you would be responsible for the full fee at the time of each session, and I will provide you with a “superbill” to submit to your insurance provider for any reimbursement that they may provide.
Other helpful questions to ask your insurance carrier include:
- Do I have outpatient behavioral health coverage?
- Does my plan provide any coverage for out-of-network providers?
- Do I have a deductible? How much is it, and when does it reset?
- What is my co-pay or co-insurance amount?
- Is pre-authorization needed?
- Is there a limit to the number of sessions that are covered in a year?
What is a deductible? A co-pay? Co-insurance? How about an out-of-pocket maximum?
A deductible is the amount you pay for covered health care services before your insurance plan starts to pay. Deductibles usually re-set each year. Think of this as your “floor.” Example: You have a $500 deductible. You pay the full amount of fees for covered services until you’ve spent $500 out-of-pocket. After that, your insurance benefits take effect.
A co-pay is a fixed amount that you pay for a covered health care service after you’ve met your deductible. Example: You have a $20 co-pay for appointments. You pay this flat fee for each appointment, and your insurance covers the remainder of the cost.
Co-insurance is a percentage of the cost of a covered health care service that you pay, while your insurance pays for the remainder of the fee. Example: A service costs $100 and your co-insurance is 20%. You’d pay $20, while your insurance would pay the remaining $80 of the total fee.
An out-of-pocket maximum is the most you have to pay for covered services in a given year. Once you’ve spent this amount, your insurance benefits pay 100% of the costs of covered services. Think of this as your “ceiling.” Example: Your annual out-of-pocket maximum is $10,000. You had surgery earlier this year and have spent $10,000 on medical expenses. Your insurance plan will now pay 100% of any additional covered services.
What should I expect on my first appointment?
Many people are anxious prior to their first appointment…and that’s okay! Usually at the end of the initial session, clients say they feel relieved, and something along the lines of “it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting!”
During our first meeting, we’ll review privacy practices and other standard forms. I’ll give you a chance to ask me any questions that you may have, and we’ll have a casual conversation about what brings you into therapy. I’ll continue to gather information about you over the next 1 – 2 appointments, and we’ll collaborate to come up with goals and ways to achieve them.
Do you have sliding scale options?
I do reserve a limited number of need-based sliding scale appointments. Please contact me if you’re interested in discussing this option and to inquire whether I currently have availability.
How often will we meet?
Because healing takes place in the context of the therapeutic relationship, I generally find that clients achieve the most benefit when we meet on a weekly basis. I especially like to start off meeting on a weekly basis as we’re getting to know each other. Depending on your goals, your progress, what’s going on in your life, and your other sources of support, we can discuss if or when it makes sense to start meeting on a less frequent basis.
What’s the difference between counseling and psychotherapy?
The terms counseling and psychotherapy are often used interchangeably. However, counseling is typically considered short-term, and it’s used to find solutions and support around specific concerns or issues. Psychotherapy, on the other hand, is generally longer in duration and often more focused on internal thoughts/feelings. Depending on your goals and preferences, one approach may be more appropriate over the other. This is something we’ll discuss at the outset of our meetings, as well as revisit from time to time as we assess your progress.
How long does therapy take?
That varies from person to person, and depending on your goals. Some people come in wanting to work on solving a very specific issue in their life, and they may only need short term (6 – 12 sessions) therapy. Other people may take several months, or even years, to feel like they have met their goals and reached a point where they’re ready to end their sessions. We’ll monitor your progress together, and continually assess whether you’re getting what you need from our sessions.
What is EMDR?
From www.EMDRIA.org:
“Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches. To date, EMDR therapy has helped millions of people of all ages relieve many types of psychological stress.
The amount of time the complete treatment will take depends upon the history of the client. Complete treatment of the targets involves a three pronged protocol (1-past memories, 2-present disturbance, 3-future actions), and are needed to alleviate the symptoms and address the complete clinical picture. The goal of EMDR therapy is to process completely the experiences that are causing problems, and to include new ones that are needed for full health. ‘Processing’ does not mean talking about it. ‘Processing’ means setting up a learning state that will allow experiences that are causing problems to be “digested” and stored appropriately in your brain. That means that what is useful to you from an experience will be learned, and stored with appropriate emotions in your brain, and be able to guide you in positive ways in the future. The inappropriate emotions, beliefs, and body sensations will be discarded. Negative emotions, feelings and behaviors are generally caused by unresolved earlier experiences that are pushing you in the wrong directions. The goal of EMDR therapy is to leave you with the emotions, understanding, and perspectives that will lead to healthy and useful behaviors and interactions.”
What is The Flash Technique?
From https://flashtechnique.com/wp/:
The Flash Technique (FT) is a recently developed therapeutic intervention for reducing the disturbance associated with traumatic or other distressing memories. Unlike many conventional trauma therapy interventions, FT is a minimally intrusive option that does not require the client to consciously engage with the traumatic memory. This allows the client to process traumatic memories without feeling distress.