There are forms to fill out. These are required by many insurance companies and professional licensure. Forms will be sent electronically from our HIPAA compliant EHR, Simple Practice.

We take your privacy seriously. This is suppose to be a safe space and confidentiality is vital to that. If you want someone to be able to communicate with us about your services. (including billing) you can sign a release of information. This is also something that can be revoked by you at any time. Best practice includes coordinating with your primary care provider, but again, this is your choice.

Payment is expected at the time of service. If you are using insurance you may be billed after your insurance claim has been processed. Payments can be made via the client portal.

Phones are answered by voicemail and calls are returned within 48 business hours. The client portal is the preferred method of contact followed by email.

We do not have a full time receptionist. Please have a seat when you get to our office.

Individual therapy (sometimes called “psychotherapy” or “counseling”) is a process where individuals work with a trained therapist to process address a variety of issues. Issues can include stress, trauma, conflictual relationships, or finding a better work/life balance. Therapy happens in a safe and confidential environment.

Individual therapy sessions are generally 45-50 minutes in length and clients are welcome to invite others if he/she/they feels it would be beneficial. There is no right or wrong way to share feelings in therapy. This is a place for clients to explore their feelings, beliefs, or behaviors, work through challenging or influential memories, identify aspects of their lives that they would like to change, better understand themselves and others, set personal goals, and work toward desired change.

In the first session I ask lots of questions and do an assessment. This gives me a good idea of the whole person, not just emotionally what is happening. I like to get the client’s feedback about what he/she thinks would be helpful and together we decide what direction to go. Sometimes that is just continuing individual therapy, other times it may be adding a referral for another service (ie family counseling, medication management, nutritionist, etc.). Once clients identify the goals to work on in therapy, we work to determine how often session should be and evaluate if they need to continue. Some clients may only come for 1-2 sessions and find relief and others may come regularly for several years. Every individual is different, and again, there is not one right or wrong way to do therapy. It is also important to note that you may not feel like I am a good fit for you and that’s OK. My goal is for the individuals who come to my office to find what works for them.

EMDR has 8 phases and the first phases are information gathering, planning and developing coping resources with clients. These phases may take anywhere from 1-2 session to multiple sessions. When the client and therapist agree that it is time to move into processing, the counselor will utilize bilateral stimulation (BLS) to aid in processing. This may be watching the therapist’s hand and tracking with eyes, or may use vibrating buzzers in each hand or tapping on knees. The important thing is that both sides of the brain are engaged. During processing the therapist will sit facing the client but off to the client’s left side. This makes it more conducive for eye movements. To see the tools I use in my office, you can check out this video.
The therapist will use BLS for short periods of time (less than 1 minute) then check in with the client to ask what they are noticing in the body or are thinking. This will continue until the end of session or until the therapist has determined the network has been processed. Therapists are trained to look for several different things in determining this. Depending on the intensity of the processing the therapist may use one of the resourcing techniques from the early phases. The therapist will also ask about physical sensations in addition to emotions. Clients are always able to stop processing at any time. Clients are fully in control of themselves during the process.

Watch a video about EMDR