Sometimes referred to ask “talk therapy,” psychotherapy provides a safe space for you to think and feel out loud. 

By helping you understand your life story and all of the experiences you have gone through that has shaped how you navigate the world, you become more empowered to change the patterns or behaviors that are no longer serving you.

The more awareness you have towards your thoughts, feelings, motives, and behaviors, the less power/control they will have over your life! By verbally processing your concerns, you are more likely to take the insights you gain and create positive change. 

There can be many goals for therapy. Some of these will be long-term goals such as establishing a deeper understanding of yourself and others, improving the quality of your life, or learning to live with mindfulness.

Others may be more immediate goals, such as decreasing anxiety and depression symptoms, changing behaviors, or learning healthy coping skills. Whatever the goals for therapy, they will be set by you, the client, according to what you want to work on in therapy.

The therapist may make suggestions on how to reach that goal but you decide what you would like to work on.

Psychotherapy can have benefits and risks.  As with most other forms of treatments, results of therapy may vary.  There are no guarantees that therapy will work for you. 

Participation in therapy can result in a number of benefits to you, including increased insight into your patterns of feeling, thinking, behaving and relating to others; improvement in your relationships; solutions to specific problems you bring forward in therapy; the development of coping skills/learning to manage your emotions more effectively; measurable behavioral changes;  living in the present; improvement in symptoms of distress; overall improvements in the quality of your life and many other advantages.  

Benefits to therapy require openness on the part of the therapy client.  When information about your feelings, thoughts, behaviors, relationships, or other difficulties are withheld, it is not possible for the therapist to help you with them or to help you understand how they may be related (or not) to the issue for which you are seeking treatment.  Benefits also require consistent attendance in therapy and work both in and outside of therapy sessions.  

Since evaluation and/or therapy is an intensely personal process which often involves discussing unpleasant aspects of your life, you may experience uncomfortable feelings like sadness, guilt, anger, frustration, loneliness, helplessness, etc.  Some people notice an immediate sense of relief when they share their pain with someone else.  Others may notice that their symptoms get worse, before they begin to get better or that they make improvements only to go backwards after a time. In either case, it’s important to share your reactions to therapy.  

When these feelings come up, it is important to talk to your therapist about them.  They may be a natural, tolerable, and expected reactions to your work in psychotherapy. Other times it may be necessary or preferable to change the pace of your therapeutic work if the feelings are too uncomfortable.  Or, if the treatment is not helping, it is important to talk about other treatment options.

Your first session/s will involve an evaluation of your needs as well as begin the work of identifying what it is you would like to learn or change about yourself. This time will result in a discussion of your therapy goals and recommendations about how you might reach those goals. You and I will work together to reach a shared understanding of where your problems come from and what factors in your life contribute to keeping those problems in place.  This information guides how you will move forward in resolving them. Should either of us determine that the type of treatment I can offer, or the mode of treatment (online) is not a good fit for you, or even if we find that I am not a good fit, I will share recommendations for the right type of treatment and provider. 

While the specific methods of therapy will come from our assessment, it may be helpful for you to understand the general process.  Initially, our work will be about getting to know and understand you, together.  I make this as comfortable as possible by listening carefully, reflecting back what I hear so that you can let me know if I’m really “getting” you, and collaborating with you to form connections between your experiences with your feelings with your thoughts and your impulses or behaviors.  We’ll look at your current life, your early life, and even your “life” in the therapy room with me to see if we can find themes that exist in all three areas. When we discover those kinds of thematic issues, it helps us to know that we are working on a “core” issue. Core issues can initially feel harder to work on and can bring up more pain, but ultimately can provide longer term relief. We will also do things to bring immediate relief to areas of suffering – for example if you struggle with sleep or anger or anxiety, we’ll assess it deeply and then practice strategies to overcome it. 

If you have unanswered questions about any of the procedures used in the course of your therapy, their possible risks, the clinician’s expertise in employing them, or about the treatment plan, please ask and you will be answered fully.  You also have the right to ask about other treatments for your condition and their risks and benefits. 

Therapy may also involve recommendations or referrals to additional services that support your wellness (e.g. psychiatrist, neuropsychologist, physician).  In some cases these treatments are so vital and central to your recovery that your clinician is unable to ethically continue providing therapy without your concurrent treatment with these providers.  Failing to follow these recommendations may result in impaired treatment progress, suicidal thoughts or actions, deteriorating medical condition, termination of treatment with this clinician or even death.  Most often, however, these are recommendations not requirements.

Currently, I accept the following insurance plans, as well as, employee assistance plans:

·  Aetna

.  Lyra

Health Care

·  Oscar

·  Oxford

With insurance, your rate can vary depending on a number of factors.

Please contact your insurance company and then speak to us to find out what your rate will be.

The majority of our clients pay nothing out of pocket for visits, but that may or may not apply to your specific plan.

For the insurance companies I am not in-network with, I can provide you with a receipt of payment for service (superbill_ that you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. 

Please note that not all insurance companies reimburse for out-of-network providers.

In the event you do not have insurance coverage that covers mental health services or any insurance at all, “out-of-pocket” costs for services are as followed:

$185 for the initial intake session

$175 for all sessions that follow

$85 per group session (typically each group runs for approximately 8-10 weeks and is not covered by insurance)

$195-$210 for couples or family therapy

**Sliding scale fees are available for students and low-income clients. To qualify, you must present proof of income through recent pay stubs or tax forms. Students must provide proof of active student status. Reduced rates are applicable to bi-weekly sessions only and for a maximum of 2 months or as determined by the me