Frequently Asked Questions
Do you take insurance?
I get this question quite often. My short answer is no, I do not accept insurance. However, if you want to know why I do not accept insurance, I wanted to give you some insight into why I made that decision and why you may choose not to go through your insurance when finding a therapist....
As a consumer, I understand the importance and necessity of being able to use health insurance when at our medical appointments. However, I feel that therapy and mental health services fall under a very different category and way of operating. In order to use your insurance for therapy, I would need to justify your need for the services (which is not limited to diagnosis, daily functioning and behaviors, and other very personal information). Not only does this divulge sensitive material to a third party, but it also leaves this material to be judged as to whether or not your "issues" qualify you for aid. For example, some diagnoses are not covered by insurance companies. I chose not to have my hand forced to diagnose or misdiagnose anyone for the sake of possible coverage.
If coverage is approved, insurance agencies end up itemizing and constricting therapeutics goals, treatment plans, and even length of sessions and number of sessions allowed. I have never found it helpful when a third party payer has a say in dictating what your care and time spent in therapy looks like when they are not involved in your actual treatment and may not have a full idea or clinical understanding of you and what is best for your needs.
From the therapist's perspective, it is truly a hassle to deal with insurance companies, especially in terms of reimbursement. It is costly, a lengthy process, and rarely timely. It takes time and energy away from focusing on your treatment and care, which is my utmost priority. I will not stand for that. Time spent with insurance companies are lost hours with no compensation and often leads to a cycle of discrepancies.
Furthermore, insurance companies almost never reimburse a therapist's full rates, which means you are either responsible for the rest, or your therapist doesn’t earn their full fee for the full work that they provide you. Most clients are upset when they hear this because they value their therapist and the work they do in session. Now here is the ugly- Truth or rumor, it has been said that many quality therapists end up choosing not to be on insurance panels, as they too believe that accepting insurance does more harm than good to the therapeutic relationship. If this is a reality, it implies that those searching for mental health care are left with limited options; a very disheartening thought. And often times, therapists who are on insurance panels fill their caseload very quickly and have a high volume of cases, so there is often a wait list, or it involves calling therapist after therapist to find someone who has availability. This can leave you feeling frustrated and disheartened even before ever setting foot in a therapist's office.
So my short answer is no, I do not take insurance. But my longer answer is that because I care about your quality of treatment above all else, I don't want to allow something like an insurance company to dictate what our treatment will look like or allow anything to stand in the way of you receiving the highest quality of care that I can offer.
As a consumer, I understand the importance and necessity of being able to use health insurance when at our medical appointments. However, I feel that therapy and mental health services fall under a very different category and way of operating. In order to use your insurance for therapy, I would need to justify your need for the services (which is not limited to diagnosis, daily functioning and behaviors, and other very personal information). Not only does this divulge sensitive material to a third party, but it also leaves this material to be judged as to whether or not your "issues" qualify you for aid. For example, some diagnoses are not covered by insurance companies. I chose not to have my hand forced to diagnose or misdiagnose anyone for the sake of possible coverage.
If coverage is approved, insurance agencies end up itemizing and constricting therapeutics goals, treatment plans, and even length of sessions and number of sessions allowed. I have never found it helpful when a third party payer has a say in dictating what your care and time spent in therapy looks like when they are not involved in your actual treatment and may not have a full idea or clinical understanding of you and what is best for your needs.
From the therapist's perspective, it is truly a hassle to deal with insurance companies, especially in terms of reimbursement. It is costly, a lengthy process, and rarely timely. It takes time and energy away from focusing on your treatment and care, which is my utmost priority. I will not stand for that. Time spent with insurance companies are lost hours with no compensation and often leads to a cycle of discrepancies.
Furthermore, insurance companies almost never reimburse a therapist's full rates, which means you are either responsible for the rest, or your therapist doesn’t earn their full fee for the full work that they provide you. Most clients are upset when they hear this because they value their therapist and the work they do in session. Now here is the ugly- Truth or rumor, it has been said that many quality therapists end up choosing not to be on insurance panels, as they too believe that accepting insurance does more harm than good to the therapeutic relationship. If this is a reality, it implies that those searching for mental health care are left with limited options; a very disheartening thought. And often times, therapists who are on insurance panels fill their caseload very quickly and have a high volume of cases, so there is often a wait list, or it involves calling therapist after therapist to find someone who has availability. This can leave you feeling frustrated and disheartened even before ever setting foot in a therapist's office.
So my short answer is no, I do not take insurance. But my longer answer is that because I care about your quality of treatment above all else, I don't want to allow something like an insurance company to dictate what our treatment will look like or allow anything to stand in the way of you receiving the highest quality of care that I can offer.
How long does treatment last?
This is a very individualized question. Sometimes people are in therapy for weeks or months, and other times people chose to stay in therapy for years. I am a firm believer that there is always more personal growth and insight to be made. I work with each of my clients to determine what is going on for them, how I can best help, and what the best course of treatment is, which includes the length of their treatment with me.