getting oriented

rates and insurance

Insurance:

I am in network for Cigna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and HealthPartners, and Optum. I am out of network for all other insurance companies and will gladly provide you documentation, called a superbill, so you can submit for reimbursement. The below fees apply for out of network clients, though the details about using a diagnosis would be different. Feel free to ask me for more info if interested.

Private Pay - Fees for services provided:

Paying for therapy out of pocket and skipping insurance altogether has some advantages. We won't have to use a DSM-5 diagnosis, and you won't be limited to the providers contracted only by your insurance company. Also, we can be more creative with our sessions in terms of what we cover, for how long, and in what order so that your needs are fully met.

The below fees are standard for therapy services. If you are financially secure I ask that you pay the full fee:

Initial consultation (15-20 min): free (via video chat or by phone)

Intake session (55 min): $200

Individual session (55 min): $175

(80 min): $200

Clinical supervision (55 min): $130

Late cancel: $75 No show: $150

Sliding Scale:

If the full fee prohibits you from accessing services, contact me to see if I have room in my caseload to offer my sliding fee scale. You know your financial needs best, and we can talk about what works based on your individual situation. I can offer up to 10 sessions at a sliding scale rate.

Cancellation Policy:

If you fail to cancel an appointment with less than 24 hours notice (business days), you are responsible for an out-of-pocket cancellation fee unless you are able to reschedule the same week. Actual emergencies are excluded from this policy. I am also flexible with sudden-onset illness. This cancellation policy is standard practice for the field and allows me to offer the timeslot to another person if you are unable to make your appointment. Once in a while, I also may have to cancel our appointment due to unforeseen circumstances; I am aware that "life happens," and also believe that keeping commitments and schedules is really important when possible.

the therapy relationship

I regularly mention to clients that the therapy relationship is an unusual one. It's not like any other relationship in your life, but at the same time should be one of the best you've encountered. I also often mention that goodness of fit between client and therapist is one of the most important components of success and progress. So, I think it's important to start off on the right foot: by getting oriented first to the process of therapy.

Prior to our first meeting, I will need you to complete some forms to let me know your basic demographic information and some things about what brings you to therapy. The intake appointment involves 5-15 minutes of going over logistics and policies, and then the rest of the time will focus on what brings you to therapy. I often want to know: why now, and what should change? We will also cover what somatic therapy and IFS can look like. From there, we can determine if we'd like to schedule again based on whether it feels like a good fit. If we are not a good fit, I will attempt to help you find next steps to get your needs met.

It has been my experience that the people who get the most out of therapy are ready for change and motivated to do what it takes to get there. A therapist is not, in essence, a paid friend, or a person to vent to. Therapy is a place to work on making improvements in your life where you plan what you're going to do in between sessions to sustain that change. It is hard work, and takes patience and engagement. If you find you're not quite ready for change, don't fret, it happens to all of us at some point or another. We can make a plan for that too, for you to take a break, possibly find another outlet for support, and come back when you're ready.

If you are using insurance, I am required to use a mental health diagnosis to bill for our sessions. A diagnosis does not define who a person is. It is a kind of singular, overly-simplified description created at a specific moment in time to depict experiences, behaviors, and effects, but does not explain how they came to be. Mental health diagnoses are different from other medical diagnoses in that they do not represent proven organic pathology. It is my belief that clinicians, businesspeople, and all involved in therapeutic consultation should actively challenge the ways diagnoses limit perceptions of people, and strive to situate diagnoses in context while adding complex descriptions of the person that include skills and abilities.

I welcome you to discuss with me any questions or concerns you may have.

LGBTQIA+ affirming care

I am proud to support LGBTQIA+ identified adults with affirming, relational and resonant approaches. Many therapists claim to be proficient at working with queer and trans/non-binary clients but some are just "winging it" without meaningful lived experience or training to provide quality care. I am a therapist with many years of experience providing therapy services to the LGBTQIA+ communities; I also identify as queer, have many loved ones in our diverse community including close relationships with beloved trans folks, and find a great deal of personal and professional meaning from supporting others who are queer/trans/nonbinary.

I can focus on typical concerns that people often come to therapy for such as depression, anxiety, stress, grief, chronic illness, relationships, and life purpose.

Many people in the LGBTQIA+ communities suffer from effects of trauma and chronic stress. I specialize in supporting greater nervous system regulation and can help with integrating and releasing past unwanted experiences.

I can also focus on better understanding your sexuality and/or gender identity in regards to coming out, dysphoria, social and medical transitioning, shame or guilt associated with orientation and identity, internalized homophobia/transphobia, and conflict with others around coming out.

If your spouse or partner is going through a gender transition, you may also benefit from seeing a therapist to talk about the impact on your own identity, sexuality, and how to be in the relationship.

I can also help support parents and caregivers of LGBTQIA+ individuals in ways that help strengthen the family unit and develop compassion and connectedness. As a caregiver, you may:

Have questions about your child’s coming out you may not be able to get answered anywhere else or are afraid to ask
Want to learn about various aspects/struggles of the coming out process
Seek to know how to best support your loved one
Be trying cope with your own confusion, distress, grief, anxiety, and fears over your child’s coming out as LGBTQIA+
Want to navigating your own coming out experience in a way that honors your child’s privacy and process
Seek resources for your child and family for needs outside of counseling (support groups, transgender-competent medical care including primary care, gender care, etc.)

I am also poly- and kink-friendly, and generally supportive of what is consensual and makes sense for you and your people.

Somatic Experiencing® & Internal Family Systems

Somatic Experiencing® is the type of somatic therapy I am trained in. Though there are a few different types of somatic therapy, they all have a core principle of supporting the nervous system to cope with stress and trauma using what is called a "bottom-up approach." This term refers to the structure of the brain and a focus on working with symptoms and reactions that originate in the brain stem and support basic survival mechanisms. This is quite different from many other types of therapy that focus on the logical, thinking parts of the brain. Researchers and traumatologists have learned that we cannot think our way out of stress reactions, we must sense and feel our way through them to have shifts in experience. Read more about SE™ here.

Internal Family Systems is a therapy approach centering the idea that we all are made of various parts - a multiplicity - because we are all complex and from an early age learn very creative ways of coping with life's stressors. Our inner worlds are made up of various parts that often take over and work very hard at managing our lives, which can sometimes be confusing and conflictual. We have all felt like "part of me wants to quit this job today, and part of me wants to keep trying to see if it gets better," or, "part of me wants to leave this relationship, but part of me thinks there's something worth saving here." Through compassionate exploration of our parts, we can ask them to work together and even calm a bit so that our more essential Self can be the leader of our lives. IFS is centered on the belief that every person is whole and capable of healing.

While I have been a psychotherapist since 2009, SE™ and IFS that have completely transformed the way I do work in recent years. My clients report greater emotional and behavioral flexibility, more hope and change, and improvement in functioning in all areas of their life as a result of these types of therapy. I also have personally experienced great transformations in my own life as a result of the personal work I've done with SE™ and IFS therapists of my own.

Photo credit Anni Roenkae | Pexels

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