Frequently Asked Questions about Therapy

Therapy is very different from talking with friends or family. Firstly, I am not involved in your personal life and so I can take a neutral approach to challenging situations when those close to us often have strong opinions or alignments due to their love for us. Secondly, while therapy is talk-based, I use evidence based practices that are shown to help individuals with their mental health symptoms. Besides just discussing daily problems, therapy will also include helping you gain new insights, challenge long-held patterns that aren't serving you, and learn new coping skills, among other changes.

No! Your therapy sessions with me are confidential unless you choose to sign a release of information that allows me to speak with someone such as another provider or a family member. By law, I can't release your information without your consent unless you are in danger of harming yourself/others and we can't come up with a plan to keep you safe or if you disclose that someone of a vulnerable population is being abused (i.e., children, disabled adult, elderly adult).

Standard sessions for individuals and couples are about 50 minutes in length, unless we make other plans. There are times when we may choose to have a longer session, if circumstances suggest and it is mutually agreed on. The one exception is for discernment counseling. Couples engaging in discernment counseling should budget for about two hours of time that will be split between individual meetings with each person and then time spent back together at the end.

No, I do not. Medication can often be a helpful option to pair with therapy. If you would like to explore this alongside therapy, I can happily help connect you with a provider for medication management.

I am mostly private pay only. I accept cash, check, credit, and other health-related spending accounts (HSA/FSA depending on your company's policies). If you are wishing to use your insurance for individual therapy and have out of network benefits, I can provide you with documentation (superbill) that you can submit to your insurance for potential reimbursement. I have a limited number of individual sessions available to those who have Medicare and I am an Out-Of-Network Certified Tricare provider.

I'm hoping that you learned some about me on my website and think that I could be a good match for your needs. However, I know that it usually feels better after speaking with someone, which is why I offer a free 15 minute phone consultation to all potential clients. Ultimately, I want you to feel comfortable with your therapist so that you can engage in potentially uncomfortable work with a sense of safety. If I'm not the right fit for you at any point in your journey, I will happily connect you with other therapists who might be.

No, of course not. I will ask questions but you always have the option to let me know you're not ready to talk about something. My hope is that over time you will be. I always let clients set their own pace. They are the drivers of the bus and in control of the brakes and gas. I am merely there to suggest potential directions.

If your partner is open to coming to a first session and meeting me, or doing a phone consultation, I am happy to work with them to better understand the process and help them decide if they want to engage in therapy. Most people are a little unsure if they want to start the process. However, if they are refusing to engage at all, I cannot force them to come. At that point, we could discuss how I can help you in individual therapy.

Unfortunately, no. I can see you either for couples therapy or for individual therapy. When I do individual work, my client is you. When I do couples work, my client is the relationship. I want to make sure that you have a safe and unbiased space for either of these. However, I can absolutely connect you with a different therapist for the other service. I work collaboratively with many other therapists to help support the work you are doing and lead to overall healing.

If you decide to stay together, I can offer couples therapy with you as I would be maintaining my role as therapist with you. However, I would not be able to be a divorce mediator once I've been in the therapist role with you through discernment. Being a divorce mediator is a different technique. However, if you choose that path, I can help connect you with someone who can help support a healthy separation.

Please feel free to contact me! I am always happy to answer any questions you have and if we find out I’m not the right provider for you, I will happily help connect you to the next step in finding the right person for you.