Common Questions
Counseling is right for anyone interested in getting the most out of life and their relationships. Many people find they enjoy the therapeutic journey of becoming more self-aware, and they may pursue ongoing counseling as a means of healing, empowerment and self-growth.
Every counseling session is different, catering to the uniqueness of each individual and their specific situation. Standard sessions are 50 minutes long. It is common to schedule a series of weekly sessions, though sometimes individuals going through a particularly difficult challenge may request more time per session or more than one session per week. Counseling can be short-term, focusing on a specific issue or long-term, addressing more complex issues or ongoing personal growth. There may be times when you are asked to take certain actions outside of counseling sessions, such as reading a relevant book or keeping records to track certain behaviors. For therapy to be most effective you must be an active participant, inside and outside of sessions.
Ultimately, the individual’s desire and determination to heal plays an essential role in whether counseling is successful. Research has shown that counseling results in fewer relapses of common conditions such as moderate depression and anxiety, and that the positive effects of good therapy extend well beyond treatment. In fact, many clients report improved conditions long after counseling has terminated. In general, therapy is often more effective than psychotropic drugs or medical treatments alone, which may cause harmful side effects. In addition, many therapeutic modalities are evidence-based, meaning they have been subject to research studies and clinical observations, and they have been analyzed for effectiveness.
I do not currently file insurance claims, and I am not a member of an insurance provider panel. If you have a health insurance plan, your provider may reimburse your visits. Depending on the parameters of your policy and nature of your counseling issues, your counseling fees may or may not be covered. If you are expecting to be reimbursed by your insurance carrier, please be sure to discuss this with me during the initial session. You will be responsible for filing your own claims, but I will be glad to assist you with any part that involves me. Insurance forms that require information from me must first be completely filled out in all of the appropriate places by you. I will then complete the portion pertaining to my services. Your insurance company will likely require diagnostic and treatment information before reimbursing you. I will release that information to them with your written permission. If you wish, I will discuss with you the “diagnosis” that I am releasing to your insurance carrier. While a client’s diagnosis is very sensitive information and is generally treated as such by insurance carriers, I cannot guarantee how any particular insurance carrier or employer will respect or respond to this information. If you prefer that I not release information to your insurance carrier for reimbursement purposes or if your insurance carrier fails to reimburse you in a manner which you expect, you will remain responsible for the full fee for services.
My clients are given the respect of the highest level of confidentiality. There are, however, important exceptions to confidentiality that are legally mandated. In general terms, these exceptions require:
- That I notify relevant others if I judge that a client has any intention to harm either themselves or someone else.
- Report any incident of suspected child abuse, neglect, or molestation in order to protect the child or children involved.
- In legal cases, surrender records subpoenaed by the court.
Confidentiality will be respected in all cases, except as noted above. In those additional cases where in our judgment the maintenance of confidentiality is, in fact, destructive to you, I will inform you of my concern, and you will have the final decision as to whether or not I maintain confidentiality.