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FAQ

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My standard rate is $190 for a 45-minute session for one-day-a-week therapy. I sometimes reduce fees for those who are attending sessions more than once a week.
I reserve part of my practice to clients whose financial situations require a reduced fee. However, my lowest sliding scale is $90.
No. I am an out-of-network (OON) provider with insurance companies. This allows me to spend my emotional time and labor focusing on my patients rather than paperwork and dealing with insurance companies. Many insurance companies offer reimbursement for an OON provider. I can provide a “superbill” or monthly invoice to send to your insurance company for reimbursement. To find out what the reimbursement will be for your budgeting purposes, you should ask your insurance company the following questions:
  • What is my OON deductible?
  • How many sessions per year are covered?
  • What is the reimbursement amount per therapy session for an OON provider?
  • What is the maximum allowable amount for the procedure code (CPT code) 90834?
  • Is prior approval required by a primary care doctor?
Once you have all that information, you may have to do some math to figure out budgeting. So I’ll offer an example to help you figure out your costs: Let’s say your In Network Deductible is $1,200 and your Out of Network Deductive is $5,000. This means that your insurance would start paying for therapy after you had already paid $1,200 for an in network provider and $5,000 for an OON provider… or so you would think! This is where it gets tricky! Let’s say that the insurance has a maximum allowable amount for the CPT code 90834 (a 45-minute psychotherapy session) of $60 and they pay 40% for an OON provider.
  • That means that would pay 40% of $60 or $24. And then would count the other 60% ($36) towards your deductible.
  • But if the OON provider is charging $100 (just to make the math easier), you would be paying that whole $100 until the OON deductible is met.
  • If you had no other OON expenses other than therapy, you would reach the $5,000 OON deductible only after you had had over 83 sessions ($5,000 OON deductible/$60 per session counted towards the OON deductible).
  • But if you paid for all 83 sessions at the “full” fee of $100, you wouldn’t reach the $5,000 OON deductible until you had paid $8,300 for therapy. That’s quite a bit more than $5,000!
  • If you were attending sessions only once a week, you would never reach the OON deductible to even be able to use your OON benefits in this scenario.
  • Even after you reach the deductible, they would only pay 40% of the maximum allowable amount, not the therapist’s actual fee.
Just to throw another wrench into this insurance mess, the insurance company can limit the number of psychotherapy sessions that are covered in a calendar year. If they only offer coverage for 12 sessions per year, then the therapy amount would stop going towards the deductible after 12 sessions! Again, this is just an example. But if you have all the information from the insurance company (maximum allowable amount, OON deductible, percentage covered for OON therapy, maximum number of sessions covered), then you can figure out what will be covered and how much.
The insurance company will gain the right to review your file as they are paying for it, at least in part. If you are not using insurance, your treatment is fully yours and your chart remains completely confidential (within other limits of confidentiality, such as a court order). In addition, your insurance will not be able to restrict the number of sessions.
Normally, I accept cash, check, or credit card. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I am only accepting credit cards as I’m not meeting with patients in person. Fees are due at the time of each session.
Psychotherapy can be expensive! I do have some sliding scale spots open, but they are limited. If I don’t have any openings, then I will try to ask around my therapist colleagues to see if anyone else is available that I think would be a good match for you and has sliding scale openings. However, most private practice therapists will rarely be able to have a sliding scale below $50-$60 per session. In that case, it may be a better option to find services at a low-fee clinic or become a control case for a psychoanalyst-in-training. Here are a few options to check out: Low/No Fee Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Clinics      Low/No Fee LGBT-Specific Mental Health Services   Psychoanalytic Institutes
I work with adults (18+).
Individual sessions are 45-minutes long.
I see patients during the daytime, evening, and Saturdays.
Together, we will find a time or times that works for both of us. That time will, generally speaking, stay the same each week. I find that consistency can be helpful in creating safety in the therapy.
I offer sessions at least once-a-week. I find that every other week doesn’t allow for the therapeutic relationship to gain enough traction for real change and growth. Many patients prefer multiple times a week. This can be due to being in a difficult stage of life and needing more containment. This can be due to needing more time/space to do depth work. It isn’t an indication that someone is "sicker" as many people may assume, but more available to work through old wounds.
Sadly, I don’t have a crystal ball...or at least I don’t have one that tells the future. It’s impossible to estimate how many sessions you will need as everyone is different in terms of speed of progress and their ultimate goals of treatment. As the kind of therapy that I do is more about inner growth rather than symptom reduction, it is not uncommon for patients to stay in treatment for years.
I highly doubt it! I actually find that the opposite happens. As we get to know each other more and you feel safer sharing about more vulnerable parts of yourself, there is an expansiveness to the topics available to talk about.
I require 48 hours notice for cancelling an appointment. I have reserved this time in my schedule for you and generally cannot fill it without sufficient notice.
Yes! Confidentiality is a cornerstone of any therapy. Otherwise, people wouldn’t be willing to share their inner worlds! No information is disclosed without prior written permission from the client. However, there are some limits on confidentiality as required by law, such as (but not limited to):
  • 3rd party party payors (insurance companies)
  • Child abuse
  • Elder abuse
  • Adult dependent abuse
  • Threats to serious bodily harm to another person
  • Intention to seriously harm yourself
  • Subpoena or court order
Yes! Several peer reviewed studies have established that online therapy was just as effective as in person treatment. The more important question isn’t what the research suggests, but whether it will work for you. That is a question only you can answer. Some people can struggle with seeing themselves on video, so they will hide their video or will prefer a phone session. That’s totally fine! Some days there may be technical difficulties and we may need to move from online to phone. During the pandemic, I think the bigger question is whether therapy in-person is a risk you are willing to take. If you are, great! But I won’t be a good match for you, as I’m not seeing people in person right now. If you don’t want to risk exposure, telehealth either on encrypted video online or the phone is a great option to help get your mental health needs met.
Yes. There is lots of peer reviewed evidence to support psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Most patients report feeling a greater sense of wellbeing, ability to have intimate relationships, and more resilience. The patients that get the most out of it are those who are invested and engaged in the process, those who have curiosity about their minds, and are open to change. However, there is no guarantee that it will be the right type of therapy for you and your journey. If I determine that a different type of therapy, a different therapist, or even another healing treatment (like psychiatry, registered dietitian, etc.) may be a better option or a good supplement to our therapy, I won’t hesitate to make the referral.
That depends on how much you bring your mother up. She (if those are her pronouns) may be quite important to you or caused you a lot of pain, in which case we may end up talking about her more often. There may be others in your history or even nowadays that are more important relationships than your mother. I will follow your lead about who is important for your development and growth.
I may be a doctor, but I’m not that kind of doctor. A medical doctor, such as a psychiatrist, can prescribe medication. A psychologist cannot. If I believe medication may benefit you and you are interested in trying medications, I’m happy to give referrals.
Yes! For those requiring a letter for gender confirming surgery, most patients can get a letter within one session. For those dealing with severe impairment due to a mental health condition, I may recommend several sessions or ongoing therapy in order to help prepare you for surgery so that you can have a better outcome. For example, if you are a transgender persons who is struggling with activities of daily living, like bathing, I will work with you to be able to find ways to deal with that to avoid post-operative infections. My intention is not to gatekeep, but rather to ensure that even those with severe mental illness are able to have a successful surgery and a minimally painful (physically and emotionally) recovery. This is a rare situation, but everyone I worked with this way was grateful for the extra support in their gender confirming surgery process as they often have been refused by other therapists.

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