FAQ:
Q: Do you take insurance?
A: No, but I'm happy to provide a Super Bill for your insurance company if it supports out-of-network benefits for their insured customers.
Q: I'm busy during the week. Do you have flexible hours and do you offer virtual and phone sessions?
A: I do have flexible hours and days as I have moved my practice to a fully virtual and phone session therapy practice. When I had a brick and mortar practice in an office suite, I found that trying to find mutual available time for sessions to occur in the office limited my ability to be more flexible with my session offerings. With the development of virtual face-to-face meetings through Zoom and-or through confidential phone sessions, I am able to offer more therapy times and days to my clients.
Q: How long is a therapy session?
A: I provide 50-minute sessions and 80-120 minute sessions for a prorated fee.
Q: What is your cancelation policy?
A: There is no charge for appointments cancelled at least 24 hours in advance. With shorter, or no notice, you are agreeing to pay for the reserved time full session fee.
Q: What if I have an emergency? Can I reach you?
A: I am not on a 24-hour phone paging system and see clients by appointment only. You may leave a voicemail or email at any time and I will be in contact within two business days. If faced with a mental health emergency, call 911, go to the nearest emergency room, or call a 24-hour helpline such as 512-472-HELP for assistance.
Q: If I hire you to help me with parent therapy and coaching are you available at short notice to answer “in the moment” questions about a parenting situation that needs to be handled ASAP?
A: In short, yes! I believe that many parenting issues arise usually when the therapist is not in the office to help the parent navigate a situation that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. I want to be dedicated to parents to meet their parenting goals to do things differently in the family system for the harmony of the family. I want to support parents as they dedicate to putting in place mindful and healthy parenting communication that will ultimately provide safety and security in the parent and child/teen relationship. While I am not on-call 24/7 and am not available for emergencies, I can be reached by text and email and I will respond by text/email at my earliest convenience.
Q: How do I know if you’re the right therapist for me?
A: Ask yourself: “Can I see myself feeling safe and comfortable with this person? Does it seem that they *get* me? Are they willing to guide me and lead the way to help me in my growth through therapy while at the same time respecting me and encouraging me to also set the goals and go at the pace I am comfortable with?”
Q: What can I expect from our first session?
A: Our first meeting is a slightly different therapy session and is known as an intake session. It’s different from a traditional therapy session because this will be a time for me to gather your history and together we’ll talk about why you have decided to pursue support through therapy and what your goals are for our time together. When the client is a child or teen, I request that I first meet with the parent(s) for the intake session. This is also a time for you to see if I am the right fit for you and to ask me any questions or concerns you may have for our time together.
Q: Do I just talk about my feelings in therapy?
A: While I will always create time for talking about your past and the feelings that you have experienced, I’m a direct and engaged therapist and I actively work to design personal interventions, directed home practices, book recommendations, and thoughtful action steps to help you meet your goals in your therapy work.
Q: What are your fees?
A: My fees are based on my extensive four decades of experience and are competitive with other experienced therapists with multiple graduate degrees in the Austin and the Hill Country area. My fees also reflect my professional training which includes extensive training in Internal Family Systems, Family Therapy, Parent Coaching, Trauma Informed Therapy for children, teens, and adults, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Couples Therapy, and ADHD management. I can offer 50-60 minute sessions, 80 minutes sessions or 120 minute sessions depending on client request and need. Upon request I can provide a detailed receipt to you if your insurance company reimburses you for out-of-network providers.
50-60 minutes session is $190
80 minutes is $ 250
120 minutes is $375
Parent therapy and coaching texts/email responses are prorated for the amount of time needed for me to respond with professional well thought out answers.
Q: Why don’t you take insurance?
A: Many reasons:
Required Diagnosis Of a Mental Illness: the therapist must explain that your mental health condition is affecting your health and overall functioning.
You Are Not Seeing Someone with Lots of Experience: experienced and seasoned therapists are specialized and they do acquire patients from insurance mills.
Your Treatment Will Become A Pre-Existing Condition On Your Record
Loss Of Confidentiality: When your insurance is billed, not only do they require a diagnosis, but they require information about the type of treatment you are receiving and whether you have improved or not
Long Wait Times For Appointments- If you are a new patient using a provider through your insurance, it is very likely you will have to wait a significant period of time before getting in for your first session.
You Are Not Seeing a Specialist- When a clinician accepts insurance, they by nature of their contract with the insurance company cannot specialize.
Your Medical Record- when you don’t use your insurance, your mental health information remains private.
Loss of Control Over Treatment- The number of sessions is determined ahead of time by the claims specialist (a non-mental health professional who you have never met and does not know your situation) and is not based on need.
AND- Most of the time the process for therapists involves repeated denials, multi-year waiting periods, and incredibly low reimbursement rates. The decision comes down to practicing without taking insurance and being able to help some, or not practicing at all and not being able to help anyone; as you can understand, not taking insurance becomes the only option for many therapists.