Frequently asked questions

As of summer 2024 I have a short waitlist for therapy, but please contact me if you are interested and I can estimate when we could start working together.

For assessment, I am not currently ready to take on clients but am happy to take your information, estimate when we could start, and, if appropriate, proceed with initial paperwork.

Currently, I operate on a sliding scale that ranges from $50 to $125 per session, with ranges determined multiples of the Federal Poverty Line, which accounts for household size. See the intake paperwork for details or contact me to learn more. For former clients from other agencies, I will honor your previous rate if lower than the scale (billed rate but not co-pay).

For some people and situations, an official report detailing a diagnosis from a licensed provider can help them gain certain services. I am starting up evaluations for those suspecting the following:

• ADHD, PTSD or trauma-related disorder, any anxiety or depressive disorder, eating and body image concerns, or bipolar

I cannot diagnose intellectual or learning disability via telehealth, or any diagnosis where an intelligence test is required, these tests cannot be virtual. I am not an Autism Spectrum expert, but can diagnose it should this question arise. If ASD is your primary concern, please instead consider a specialist in this area.

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For assessments, you must attest that you are not pursuing this evaluation related to any legal concerns. This is a bad idea for both of us. My evaluations are ideal for clients needing accommodations at school, when required by a prescriber, to obtain certain community services, and so on.

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Testing cost will depend on your questions, but I will provide a Good Faith Estimate. After testing I will provide a report detailing the test results, diagnosis, and recommendations. Total costs are generally in the range of $500.

I can provide an ESA evaluation + letter for an airline flight and an airline flight only (to allow your cat or dog to be with you in the cabin and not put in cargo), but I encourage you to ask a current treatment provider instead. Many primary care physicians will provide one free of cost and I will have to charge you for my time. It is also less likely (from what I have heard) for an ESA letter to be accepted if it is from an assessor you don't know, as compared to a regular provider. I cannot provide ESA letters for apartment rentals or other needs due to liability issues.

All other non-diagnostic evaluations are outside of my scope of expertise.

In approximate frequency of use, I'm a fan of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), family systems therapy, solution-focused therapy, motivational interviewing, exposure and response prevention, harm reduction for substance use, feminist therapy, and internal family systems. I do not use dynamic techniques and am not trained in EMDR.

I have two arms to my private practice: a self-pay, non-insurance private practice, and I also take clients on Uplift, an online group practice (VA and NY only) that accepts some insurance plans. For information about Uplift and the insurance plans they accept, see their site.

I'm sure you pay a ton for insurance and I validate that it's a nightmare to find providers who are taking patients and accept your insurance. In this essay, I will explain why insurance panels are a nightmare for individual therapy providers and clients and that self-pay can work for everyone. 

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Taking insurance as an individual provider can put limits on my practice that harm both of us. Once I take insurance as a solo psychologist, I can no longer publish or discuss my rates publicly, and many companies require that I do not offer a sliding scale to anyone, even those whose insurance I don't take. I would then need to bill everyone $150 to $200 per session, so that insurance companies can, should they deem you worthy of therapy, pay some fraction of that cost at some future date. I will also need to spend time justifying your care to your insurance company, which could be simple or eat up my time and soul. Should they decline to pay, either I am stuck not getting paid at all or I have to bill you for however many sessions we've accumulated since at $150-$200 each. As most people don't have several thousand dollars to throw my way, we run the risk of needing to stop or slow our work until we work out a payment plan, as it is unethical of me to rack up medical debt for you. There are other garbage limits we might have to abide by, such as charging you the full fee for a missed appointment, again even if you are a self-pay client. If you change jobs or your job changes plans, you could go from therapy being "free" to 200 bucks a session. This all presumes that I am even allowed to bill with a company at all - many insurance companies simply decline to "board" new providers, especially solo providers like myself. For many small practices, who do not have the resources to outsource this, being on a bunch of insurance panels to cover the needs of their clients is not doable. 

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I have chosen to work with Uplift for about half my overall caseload to make care accessible for those with insurance, and the rest of my openings are private self-pay on a sliding scale. On Uplift, they handle all the billing and you might be able to access sessions free of cost or for a small co-pay, but all the terms and conditions of other medical services apply, such as needing to make a yearly deductible if that applies to you. I'm happy to answer any questions about how to access care that is best for your situation.

Superbills are a really common way therapists get around the problems with our capitalist medical system. I can at any time provide you with an itemized bill including our sessions and charges, and many insurance plans allow for to you submit this for partial, and in a few cases, full reimbursement. Check your "out of network provider" benefits or call your insurance company to understand how much you could be reimbursed. Generally, the only thing is needed is this form, and I'm happy to provide anything else that is required. I am not allowed to submit this on your behalf (this is billing insurance as a boarded provider, see previous rant), but I can help you as best I can.

For my self-pay clients, I utilize a series of HIPAA-compliant platforms, including doxy.me or google meet (your preference) for video chatting, pandadoc for signing forms, google workspace for questionnaires, and square for billing. These are all free services, which is annoying because there are a few systems to interact with, but this helps keep my, and thus your, costs lower. I'll give you a handout with all the links and services for convenience, and as needed you'll get email or text reminders with needed links included. If you use Uplift for services, all the video chatting, scheduling, and payment is handled through their platform.

Use the Contact Me page to send me a message with some basic information about you and what you're looking for. Please include a valid email so I can respond!

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