What is your fee per session?

My current rate is $180 per 50-minute sessions. Longer sessions are pro-rated and billed accordingly.

I have a very limited number of sliding scale slots available. They are currently full, but you are welcome to be placed on the waitlist.

Do you take [blank] for insurance?

I am considered an out-of-network provider for PPO insurance plans. PPO insurance plans allow you to submit bills for therapy to them for reimbursement. This is called a Superbill (fun!). Please check with your insurance provider as to how much they reimburse for mental health services so that you know what to expect.

I understand that submitting Superbills to insurance for the first time can be daunting, and am happy to walk you through the process.

Why don’t you take insurance?

Oh, let me count the ways. I wish I could; I truly do. However, insurance companies are able to make decisions about our treatment together: they require a diagnosis after the first session; they can decide you no longer need sessions and will no longer pay for them; they will not cover sessions for those who are simply going through difficult times or just want to better themselves. All of these decisions are made by those who are not mental health professionals. In short, I do not like insurance companies dictating our work together.

Will you give me advice?

I sure won’t. A lot of people think this is what therapy is about, but I (and most therapists) will generally not offer direct advice. This is for many reasons, the foremost being we want to empower you as the patient to make your own decisions. It is important to learn that you are the expert of your own life, which requires taking charge and responsibility for your choices. Plus, what if we gave you bad advice? That wouldn’t be helpful for anyone.

So what do we do?

At first, we sit and talk (or color and talk, or play in sand and talk, whatever floats your boat). At first, I talk: about the process, what to expect, how this works. Then, you talk, A LOT. You tell me every possible thing you think is important for me to know about you and your life. I will fill in the gaps with questions. I’ll get to know you, and you’ll get to know how I work. We’ll laugh, acknowledge the crappiness of the world, and hopefully get you feeling comfortable.

Next, I will try to set you up for success by teaching you things. You will learn coping skills, routines, new ways of thinking, how to care for yourself and talk to yourself differently. You’ll practice these things and perhaps learn why your old ways weren’t working. You will also learn how to feel your feelings—a huge part of therapy.

After that, we get into the bigger stuff. The why. The what keeps you up at night, what makes you feel less than or lost or nothing at all, what is hurting you and your relationships, what do you need to change. We go deep. We go into how you got this way in the first place (that means delving into childhood, earliest memories, your attachment figures, all that jazz).

Once we understand what happened, we start working on loving self-compassion. We move you away from shame to, ideally, curiosity about yourself and why you might do certain things. With self-compassion, we get into action: what do you want to do? How can you change? How can you live a life you want? This is often the hardest part. It takes a lot of work to make changes, and I am here to join you on the ride.