FAQ

How do I get started with therapy with you?

1. Start by sending me a message either through email, my website, PsychologyToday, or HelloAlma. I typically respond within 48 business hours.

2. I then respond to schedule and coordinate a no cost 20 minute consultation video or phone call based on both of our availabilities.

3. During this call, you can further elaborate on what you are hoping for with therapy, I can provide more information about myself, and we then determine if we seem like a good fit to get started. Reading my bio beforehand can help this process. On my end, I am very inclusive of clients and can usually meet clients where they are at. I do require that my clients have the means to commit to therapy independently so need to be a legal adult, have a reliable way to attend and pay for therapy, and are not in a crisis.

4. Before starting, we will also discuss payment options through insurance or out of pocket/ private pay. After this, we can schedule our first appointment.

5. Lastly, I will follow-up to obtain your insurance information for verification of benefits, and for you to review and sign my intake and policy forms 48 hours prior to our scheduled therapy appointment.

What happens with insurance?

I currently accept Aetna, Optum, Oscar, Oxford, and UnitedHealthcare. If your insurance does not indicate any of these names, I likely do not accept it. Your specific plan and its benefits will be verified by a service I use called HelloAlma.

After an appointment takes places, I submit a claim through HelloAlma. Within the next few days, you will then receive a bill based on your benefits through a link by email. I do require a payment method at the start of therapy. Charges made incorrectly will be promptly reimbursed. Although verification on my end takes place, I recommend calling your insurance to prevent surprises.

Do you provide therapy in-person or virtually or both?

I provide therapy in-person at my office in NW Austin right next to Cedar Park, TX and through Zoom for all Texas residents that are currently in Texas. Walk and talk therapy or outside sessions are offered on specific occasion for a more experiential mindfulness based appointment. Clients can freely switch from in-person office and virtual Zoom sessions by appointment. I may make a recommendation based on what I learn about your needs.

What do you offer as my therapist?

Supportive Therapy - The foundation of therapy is good listening. You will be provided with a confidential and nonjudgmental space to identify and address challenges. I provide support by listening, asking exploratory questions, and providing the experience of unconditional positive regard. This can feel like acceptance, curiosity, and compassion for your authentic experiences which can be a strong corrective experience if done consistently for those who are experiencing a lot of external and internal judgment and criticism.

Behavioral Therapy - This is rooted in the idea that if we changed our behaviors, we can then affect our internal experience and our mental health.

This involves:

• Taking inventory and the review of your current coping skills

• Exploration of how it may be helpful or not helpful

• Identifying, teaching, and practicing of additional coping skills to replace or provide additional options in symptom management

• Monitoring and tracking symptoms with the behavioral changes made

NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) - NARM is a trauma-informed cognitive, somatic, and experiential model that focuses on present internal experiences in the context of external circumstances. NARM supports a client in identifying and connecting with their deepest desire for themselves and how their internal process helps or gets in the way of this. Internal processes that get in the way usually stem from complex trauma and survival from adversity. Clients may notice that although they want connection with others which they intellectually know will allow them to thrive and flourish, they get in their own way by sabotaging these connections with the intention to protect themselves and survive.

There can learn more about NARM by visiting https://narmtraining.com/what-is-narm/ or reading the Practical Guide for Healing Developmental Trauma by Laurence Heller, PhD and Brad Kammer, LMFT.

Psychoeducation - I provide information that is available in the mental health field that you may have not considered on your own that may be relevant to your current challenges. This is helpful to create some distance with your experience in order to observe it and better address it. Could be information on attachment styles, personality disorder traits, diagnostic criteria for your diagnosis, effective alternative options to the work we are doing to address relationship issues, self-esteem issues, addiction, depression, and anxiety.

What is trauma anyway?

Trauma can be defined in many ways. The way I conceptualize trauma is past or lived adversity that continues to affect someone today even when the adversity has actually passed. This adversity can range from shocking and violent (think PTSD) to subtle and pervasive (complex developmental trauma). The effect can be observable by the individual through their present thoughts, feelings/emotions, bodily sensations with the nervous system. This effect can affect a person's behaviors and interactions with the external world through their relationships, how they carry out their responsibilities either through work or school, and the way they function with sleeping, eating, and self-care, to name a few. The effect is usually not within the affected person's control at the start of therapy and can manifest as difficulty with impulsivity, self-sabotage, and harmful coping strategies.

More FAQ to come