The less aware we are of our thoughts, feelings, motives and behaviors, the more they control us. Psychotherapy helps clients understand their “stories”; the experiences that shaped them, the defenses that have helped protect them and the patterns or habits that are now preventing them from living a satisfying life. Psychotherapy is a dialogue. The client presents data, the therapist offers ideas about it’s meaning, the client responds with his/her interpretation, and so on. It is important that psychotherapy progresses at a pace that is comfortable and safe for the client. Change can feel frightening or overwhelming, and may not occur quickly.
Self-help books contain generalizations, based on someone else’s story, or on a combination of stories. While self-help books play an important role in our culture, they don’t offer the flexible, individualized approach that is often needed to bring about lasting life changes. In addition, books do not offer the therapeutic relationship that can encourage us and hold us to a greater level of accountability.
Read our therapist’s profile to determine if this person’s approach and specialties feel right for you.
Most people can tell after an initial session whether they feel comfortable with a therapist’s style. Please feel free to speak up if you do not feel comfortable with the therapist, it will not offend us whatsoever. We want you to feel that you can develop an alliance of trust with your therapist – that is when therapy works best. We want to help you get to the right therapist.
Some people begin to feel better as soon as they make their appointment or at the time of their first session. There can be a sense of relief when you make the commitment to address an issue that is problematic. More often, however, people do not feel better immediately. Therapy is sometimes emotionally painful, because it involves an active effort to look at yourself and your life situations in a very deep and honest way, and to make some difficult changes. If the problems that bring you to therapy were easy to solve, you would have solved them without the guidance of a professional. Though the short-term distress of addressing problems and making changes may feel challenging, keep in mind that the potential long-term gains can feel well worth it. When therapy is successful, the positive gains in self-esteem, improved relationships and coping skills will far outweigh the distress of making changes.
We accept many types of insurance, including Aetna, Cigna, Optum, and Unites. You should contact your insurance company to see whether they will cover your costs and how much they will pay. While there may be certain advantages to accepting services only from a provider who is in your network, often the savings do not justify the loss of the ability to choose your provider.
Many companies require the insured to call and pre-certify the first session. Our institute also collects co-pays at each visit. Thus, it is always best to contact your insurance company before coming in for your first visit.
Although we take insurance if that makes sense for your situation, we have a number of clients who choose not to use insurance. Some clients have concerns about the degree of privacy that can be maintained once a claim makes it’s way to a huge managed care company. Others do not wish to be given the mental illness diagnosis that all providers must assign them if they are filing an insurance claim.
Although our training is to treat you using sound therapeutic skills, there are times when a medication referral is warranted. If your therapist thinks that medication might be helpful, he/she will discuss a referral to a health professional who is trained in working with emotional and behavioral issues – most often, a psychiatrist. At other times, there may be medical issues your therapist believes should be addressed, since feeling good requires being physically as well as emotionally healthy. As with other aspects of treatment, whether or not you choose to accept your therapist’s recommendation is ultimately your decision.
Most children are open and ready to begin their first session on their own. There are toys and a comfortable room to safely work through their struggles. For most children, it is not necessary for a parent to be in the session.
However, if a child is very anxious about being seperate from a parent, then it may make sense for you to join the first session or part of the first session. This can provide your child with the knowledge that they are with a trusted adult who is safe to spend time with when you are not around.
Our goal is to support your child through the anxiety and develop enough self-confidence and independence to do their work without the extra support of their parents being in the room.
Your child's therapist will discuss the themes and key components of your childs session with you, either directly after the session or over the phone. It's not necessary to name every event that happened during a session for our time to be effective. During this 10-15 minute parent time, your child's counselor will discuss with you what progress is taking place in the playroom, at home and in school. This is also a time for you to discuss ways to support the transformation at home and any questions you may have about the process, specific struggles, and implementation of strategies. The goal is for you to feel supported by the therapist you are working with, so you can collaborate together.
Depression and Anxiety
Defiance and ADD
Conduct Disorder
Mentorship and Athletic Psychology
LGBTQA-Transgender/Dyshporia
Academic and Emotional
Family Therapy/Divorce/Foster
Reunification
Early Intervention
Personality Disorders
Assessment and Treatment
Evaluation for HRT
Adolescent Issues
Social Anxiety AND Phobia
School Related Anxiety
No. Our operating hours are 9am to 6pm, Monday through Friday.