Welcome to my practice. 

I know there's a lot to read through here, but it includes important things like information about payment and cancellations. Please take a moment to read this, because I'm going to ask you to sign a form that says you did before our first session.

This document contains important information about my professional services and business policies. Please read it carefully and jot down any questions you might have so that we can discuss them. Before you begin working with me I will ask you to sign this document and it will represent an agreement between us.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES
Psychotherapy is not easily described in general statements. It varies depending on the personalities of the psychotherapist and patient, and the particular problems you bring forward. There are many different methods I may use to deal with the problems that you hope to address. Psychotherapy is not like a medical doctor visit. Instead, it calls for a very active effort on your part. In order for the therapy to be most successful, you will have to work on things we talk about both during our sessions and at home.

Psychotherapy can have benefits and risks. Since therapy often involves discussing unpleasant aspects of your life, you may experience uncomfortable feelings like sadness, guilt, anger, frustration, loneliness, and helplessness. On the other hand, psychotherapy has also been shown to have benefits for people who go through it. Therapy often leads to better relationships, solutions to specific problems, and significant reductions in feelings of distress. But there are no guarantees of what you will experience.

Our first few sessions will involve an evaluation of your needs. By the end of the evaluation, I will be able to tell you whether or not I can help. And I will offer you some first impressions of what our work will include and a treatment plan to follow, if you decide to continue with therapy. You should evaluate this information along with your own opinions of whether you feel comfortable working with me. Therapy involves a large commitment of time, money, and energy, so you should be very careful about the therapist you select. If you have questions about my procedures, we should discuss them whenever they arise. If your doubts persist, I will be happy to recommend another mental health professional for a second opinion.

RETURNING TO TREATMENT AFTER TERMINATION

If we finish our work and you decide at a later date that you would like to return to treatment with me, I may not be able to accommodate that request. Running a therapy practice is a delicate balance of my time and the demands of my current caseload. If you feel that you need additional work and I am unavailable, I will offer you names of other therapists, and can collaborate with them about our work (upon your request) to make the transition as easy as possible for you.

SESSIONS
I will conduct an evaluation that will take approximately two sessions. During this time, we will both decide if I am the best person to provide the services you need in order to meet your treatment goals. If psychotherapy is begun, I will usually schedule one 50-minute session per week at a time we agree on. We may meet weekly to begin, and then move to bi-weekly, to give you time in between sessions to use the skills you’ve learned or complete homework.

CANCELLATIONS
Please be aware that once an appointment hour is scheduled, that time is reserved for you and I am unable to offer it to anyone else. Therefore, missed appointments will be charged a $75 fee, which is not billable to insurance, unless you provide 24 business hours advance notice of cancellation. In case of inclement weather, I will leave a message by 7:00 am on my voicemail to let you know if the office will be closed. If I decide to come in and you don’t feel safe driving, the missed appointment fee will be waived.

PROFESSIONAL FEES
My hourly fee is $175 for individuals and $275 for couples. Many couples opt for a 90 minute session which costs $350, because the extra time allows for more to be accomplished. In addition to weekly appointments, I charge this amount for other professional services you may need, though I will break down the hourly cost if I work for periods of less than one hour. Other services include report writing, telephone conversations lasting longer than 10 minutes, preparation of records or treatment summaries, and the time spent performing any other service you may request of me. I do not participate in legal proceedings of any kind because I lack that specific training.

BILLING AND PAYMENTS
You will be expected to pay for each session at the time it is held, unless we agree otherwise or unless you have insurance coverage, which requires another arrangement. Payment schedules for other professional services will be agreed to when they are requested.

If your account has not been paid for more than 30 days, or you accrue a balance greater than $100, I will suggest that we pause therapy until your balance is paid. It is counterproductive to the therapeutic process to add financial stressors to it. In cases where you and I determine that you are not financially able to afford therapy with me, I will make a referral for another therapist. In cases where arrangements for payment have not been agreed upon, I have the option of using legal means to secure the payment. This may involve hiring a collection agency or going through small claims court. [If such legal action is necessary, its costs will be included in the claim.] In most collection situations, the only information I release regarding a patient’s treatment is his/her name, the nature of services provided, and the amount due.

INSURANCE REIMBURSEMENT
I do not accept any insurance or Medicare, even though some companies may list me as a provider. You, however may be entitled to some reimbursement from your insurance company if you have Out of Network Benefits. In order for us to set realistic treatment goals and priorities, it is important to evaluate what resources you have available to pay for your treatment.

You should also be aware that most insurance companies require you to authorize me to provide them with a clinical diagnosis. Sometimes I have to provide additional clinical information such as treatment plans or summaries, or copies of the entire record (in rare cases). This information will become part of the insurance company files and will probably be stored in a computer. Though all insurance companies claim to keep such information confidential, I have no control over what they do with it once it is in their hands. In some cases, they may share the information with a national medical information data bank. I will provide you with a copy of any report I submit, if you request it.

CONTACTING ME
I am often not immediately available by telephone, but you can reach out to me via email. While I am usually in my office between 8 AM and 5 PM, I probably will not answer the phone, as I am with a patient. When I am unavailable, my telephone is answered by confidential voice mail, which I monitor frequently. I will make every effort to return your call on the same day you make it, with the exception of weekends and holidays. If you are difficult to reach, please inform me of some times when you will be available. If you are unable to reach me and feel that you can’t wait for me to return your call, contact your family physician or the nearest emergency room or 911. If I will be unavailable for an extended time, I will provide you with the name of a colleague to contact, if necessary.

PROFESSIONAL RECORDS
The laws and standards of my profession require that I keep treatment records. I will keep your records for six years following treatment, after which they will be shredded. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records, or I can prepare a summary for you instead. Because these are professional records, they can be misinterpreted and/or upsetting to untrained readers. If you wish to see your records, I recommend that you review them in my presence so that we can discuss the contents. Patients will be charged an appropriate fee for any professional time spent in responding to information requests.

In couples therapy, the records belong to both people. Therefore, both people must provide their consent to release marital counseling records. If one partner does not provide consent, the records will not be released.

CONFIDENTIALITY
In general, the privacy of all communications between a patient and a therapist is protected by law, and I can only release information about our work to others with your written permission. But there are a few exceptions.

In most legal proceedings, you have the right to prevent me from providing any information about your treatment. In some proceedings involving child custody and those in which your emotional condition is an important issue, a judge may order my testimony if he/she determines that the issues demand it. However I am not trained in this type of evaluation and do not claim to offer it.

There are some situations in which I am legally obligated to take action to protect others from harm, even if I have to reveal some information about a patient’s treatment. For example, if I believe that a child, elderly person, or disabled person is being abused, I may be required to file a report with the appropriate state agency.

If I believe that a patient is threatening serious bodily harm to another, I am required to take protective actions. These actions may include notifying the potential victim, contacting the police, or seeking hospitalization for the patient. If a patient threatens to harm himself/herself, I may be obligated to seek hospitalization for him/her or to contact family members or others who can help provide protection.

These situations have rarely occurred in my practice. If a similar situation occurs, I will make every effort to fully discuss it with you before taking any action.

I may occasionally find it helpful to consult other professionals about a case. During a consultation, I make every effort to avoid revealing the identity of my patient. The consultant is also legally bound to keep the information confidential. If you don’t object, I will not tell you about these consultations unless I feel that it is important to our work together.

While this written summary of exceptions to confidentiality should prove helpful in informing you about potential problems, it is important that we discuss any questions or concerns that you may have at our next meeting. I will be happy to discuss these issues with you if you need specific advice, but formal legal advice may be needed because the laws governing confidentiality are quite complex, and I am not an attorney.