Frequently Asked Questions About Counseling

Have you tried everything you know how to cope with the distress that you are experiencing. Has it worked in the past, and maybe now does not seem like it is working as well anymore? Do you want someone along for this new journey who can be objective and unbiased? Perhaps you feel stuck in your relationship or with yourself, and you need some help navigating and making sense of things. It’s time to sit on the couch!

Think about going through your day without feeling as anxious or triggered. Perhaps even finding that you are able to express yourself without feeling like you might upset someone or feel as though you were dismissed. These are benefits. Clients feel less anxious, more in control of their thoughts and emotions, and are less reactive to outside things. Overall, you can begin to look at your triggers with compassion and curiosity, welcoming them and healing them as they present themselves. Realizing that you do not have as many triggers as you did at the beginning of your therapy journey. You can go about your days feeling less like there is a dark rain cloud hovering over you, hijacking your happy days. At the end of therapy, clients feel more at peace and are calmer due to them being able to take what they need and what is serving them and leave the rest. Therapy can provide that validation and freedom that can create your own best life.

I enjoy working with clients/couples that are learning skills and processing trauma, sexual related issues, such as intimacy and pleasure, anxiety, and depression. I enjoy assisting clients with rebuilding self-esteem and self-worth.

Sex therapy is a type of talk therapy designed to help individuals and couples address psychological, personal, or interpersonal factors that are negatively impacting sexual satisfaction. During sex therapy sessions, clients will explore sexual challenges that they face, learn about their bodies, improve intimacy and satisfaction with self, and rediscover desire. Clients who have had sexual trauma can also benefit from sex therapy.

**Unfortunately, sex therapy is not covered by insurance, meaning that sessions would be out of pocket.

Generally speaking, during our first few sessions, we will do a thorough history and establish specific and realistic goals for your therapy.

Our sessions will be 50 minutes long.

Counseling sessions are typically weekly appointments to get the best and most out of therapy. As clinicians, we have found that meeting weekly improves clients’/couples’ progress toward their goals. we will establish a set time to meet each week, which will be our reoccurring weekly appointment. As we begin to approach the end of our journey together, your appointments can be shifted to biweekly appointments.

Doing healing work at the level that will sustain long-term change takes time. Its a commitment. Clients that invest the time get better faster and with less relapse into old patterns.

There are a lot of factors that contribute to the length of counseling, so it is difficult to predict until we begin working together. This can vary depending on the presenting concern and willingness to implement change. Typically, clients commit to counseling for 6 months, and progress is measured monthly.

Absolutely! Especially at the beginning. I will suggest activities for you to do at home that will support the work that we are doing in our therapy sessions. I have found that a lot of processing and healing happens between our sessions. I have also found that clients make significantly faster progress when they are doing the homework between sessions. Much of the homework is to support the integration of the deep work that we are doing in sessions. Don’t worry, it’s not graded! After the first few sessions, where we collect all of the info, we will get into the “nitty gritty” of your sessions, creating a tool kit full of techniques for dealing with the current stressors that brought you to counseling. After our tool kit is stacked and you are well on your way to processing and growing, we will do a deep dive into the core beliefs and roots of the problems so that we can heal them and perhaps give your inner child the loving that they need or needed. Toward the end of our sessions together, we will begin maintenance so that you are well on your way to being able to cope and continue healing after our sessions are complete!

50 minute individual sessions are $175, and couples’ sessions are $250. The co-pay for United HealthCare, Aetna, NC Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Tricare are dependent on the reimbursement rate and your plan. Sex therapy is a self-pay service.

The only insurances that are accepted at this time are United HealthCare, Aetna, Optum, NC Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Tricare East. 

Visit my page with Alma to check if your insurance is covered.

https://secure.helloalma.com/providers/latina-edmonds/

Unfortunately, I am not in the Medicaid network which means I am unable to take any insurance that is a subsidiary of Medicaid. Check your insurance plan to determine if it is through the Marketplace, such as Healthy Blue.

You can request a “Superbill” invoice and request reimbursement with your insurance. This is not always guaranteed, and you can contact your insurance to find out if your specific plan accepts them for out-of-network benefits. After verifying this information apps are available to upload the superbill into (such as GetBetter.co or Insurance Reimbursement or Reimbursify)

I have appointments Monday through Thursday from 9-5 pm and Friday 9-12 pm

Yes! I use a secure HIPAA-compliant platform to offer video counseling. If you have any questions regarding this process, please reach out to me at the bottom of this page or visit the contact page.

If you feel that counseling is not work, by all means let me know and we can explore changing the counseling modality or referring out to another great clinician.

I have a 48-hour cancellation policy, but I definitely understand that is not always possible because, well…”life happens!” If you need to cancel for any reason, make sure you give me at least a 24-hour notice to avoid paying the late cancellation fee, which is $75. If at all possible, we can reschedule your appointment for the same week if the schedule permits.

I offer a free 15-minute phone/zoom consultation to see if I am the right fit for you based on your needs. Contact me using the button at the bottom of the page or visiting the contact me page, so that we can schedule your appointment and begin your healing journey.