Frequently Asked Questions

My base hourly rate is $200/hour. Please see my fees and payments policy for more details. It’s there any time you need a quick reference.

The fee for text-based therapy is calculated weekly. Text-based therapy is billed in 20-minute increments for any portion of 20 minutes used in a week. Based on my hourly rate of $200, the fee for 20 minutes of text-based therapy is $67.00. Twenty minutes covers up to 4,000 words in both directions. That’s 16 pages double-spaced - way more than you’ll probably need! Calculations are based on an average reading speed of 200 words per minute.

I offer sliding scale options for OpenPath clients and professional courtesy discounts for qualifying psychotherapists. Graduate students in degree-seeking programs that train psychotherapists are also eligible for this rate.

OpenPath clients are screened for need and may be clients without insurance, clients whose insurance does not cover mental health services, or clients whose insurance deductible is prohibitively high. You must register with OpenPath to receive these sliding scale rates.

A qualifying psychotherapist is a psychotherapist who is in the first five years of full licensure or is a registered intern or associate psychotherapist.

Please see my sliding scale rates policy or my professional courtesy rate policy for more details.

To provide an elevated experience and ensure privacy, my practice is a private-pay practice. Private-pay is also known as self-pay, direct-pay, or out-of-pocket payment, and these terms are often confused by both clinicians and clients. Health plans often use the terms non-contracted provider or non-participating provider to refer to private pay practices, some of whom provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement and some of whom do not. In both cases, the client pays the clinician directly.

I can supply superbills if you wish. Please see the next two FAQs for more details on the pros and cons of insurance and superbills.

I do not accept insurance, but I will provide superbills if you let me know you’ll need them (see the next question for details).

There are several reasons I chose not to contract with insurance companies:

• If we submit claims to insurance companies, they require me to provide a diagnosis. In my experience, our behavior in active addiction mimics many DSM diagnoses, most notably personality disorders, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders. We go through many changes in our first year of recovery. Because of these changes, you may find that you no longer fit the criteria for the same diagnoses you seemed to have when you first entered recovery. For this reason, I prefer to defer providing you with a diagnosis until you’ve developed some coping skills in therapy.

• Insurance companies have rules about which diagnoses deserve reimbursement and which do not. As a private pay provider, I do not have to pathologize your symptoms in order to get paid. I am able to favor ethics over bureaucracy.

• If we submit a claim to them, insurance companies have the right to read and obtain copies of anything in your chart. Increased privacy is one of the core values of my practice, so that doesn’t sit well with me.

• Insurance companies use artificial intelligence (AI) to read your claims. Again, that’s a privacy issue, as you may not want your health care plan training artificial intelligence with your health data.

• Insurance companies put a cap on how much time I can spend with you. I believe that should be up to you.

• Insurance companies do not reimburse for text-based services or for your private e-library, and I believe those services are helpful, relevant, and important.

• Many health plans either do not reimburse for phone therapy or require us to jump through a lot of hoops to get it authorized, causing you stress, anxiety, and frustration.

If you need a referral to a clinician who accepts insurance, please contact your insurance company for a list of contracted providers.

My standard practice is to provide receipts instead of superbills. If you plan to submit claims to a health plan, please let me know during your intake so I can provide superbills instead. A superbill is a special type of receipt that has additional information required by insurance companies in order for them to consider reimbursing you for out-of-network claims. When you request a superbill, it will be necessary to give you a diagnosis and to adhere to health plan rules regarding session length. Please note that some services may not be covered even with a superbill.

Please be aware that even if you plan to submit superbills for reimbursement, you will still need to pay for services with my practice according to my fee policies. You will find those policies explained in detail under the About tab of this website.

If your insurance company requires your records in order to approve a claim, you will need to request the records from me and send them yourself. As a non-contracted provider, I do not participate in chart audits or claims justification, and I will not communicate with the insurance company on your behalf. This may make it harder for you to obtain reimbursement, and it may result in denial of a claim.

Payment is due no later than 24 hours before your scheduled session. I will send you a payment link when you schedule your appointments.

If you forget to make a payment, I will charge the card you’ve placed on file 24 hours before your appointment time, after the cancellation window has passed. If payment cannot be charged within 24 hours of the appointment for any reason, the appointment will be automatically canceled. If the appointment is made less than 24 hours in advance, the fee will be charged immediately to hold the slot.

I use an established payment processor called Square. Square provides multiple payment method options, including credit and debit cards, prepaid cards, HSA cards, Afterpay, cash apps, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.

Square is HIPAA-compliant and practices payment industry security standards of encryption.

You will be prompted to save your payment information when you pay for your initial session. If you choose not to at that time, we will set up your Square payment portal during the initial session so you can store your payment information, receive invoice reminders, and make payments securely at the touch of a button.

Square sends automatic receipts to your email address. You have the option to turn off automatic receipts if you prefer.

Please be reminded that I do not accept insurance. If you need a referral to a clinician who accepts insurance, please contact your insurance company for a list of contracted providers.

All current clients must have a valid payment card on file through the Square portal or services will not be scheduled. After I accept you as a client, I will send you the link to fill out a credit card authorization form through Square’s secure portal.

If your payment is declined either because your card expired or there is no payment method on file, your appointment will be canceled. It is your responsibility to keep a current card on file.

Your card on file may be a credit card or a debit card, but cannot be an HSA card.

Late Cancellation Fees

The first late cancellation will be charged at 50% of your scheduled session fee as a one-time courtesy for active clients. This courtesy will be handled as a credit, not a refund. The credit will be applied toward any appointment in the two weeks that follow the cancellation. It will not be refunded.

Any late cancellations thereafter will be charged at 100% of your scheduled session fee.

A cancellation is considered late if you cancel less than 24 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time. After three consecutive cancellations by the same client, the policy changes to 48 hours notice, and a cancellation will be considered late if you cancel less than 48 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time.

I reserve the right to terminate therapy with clients who show a pattern of late cancellations. If you’re on my caseload, I have a responsibility to meet with you regularly. If meeting at the scheduled time isn’t working out for you, please talk to me about finding a different time or switching from video to phone sessions.

Missed Appointment Fees

If you do not cancel with at least 24 hours notice and do not show up for an appointment, that’s considered a missed appointment, otherwise known as a “no-show.” The full fee will be charged for missed appointments based on the amount of time scheduled.

With text, email, and voicemail, there is always a way to let me know if you cannot make your appointment, except in the case of an emergency. In limited circumstances, I will consider issuing a credit in the case of an emergency. Documentation of the emergency may be requested. There will be no refunds for no shows/missed appointments, only credits, and only for emergencies..

Please be advised that services may be terminated in the case of repeated no shows.

For the purposes of cancellations and no-shows, an emergency is defined as one or more of the following:

• You are in the emergency room for yourself or an immediate family member.

• Someone you take care of has fallen ill suddenly.

• You are in a serious automobile accident.

• You are in a situation that involves law enforcement or incarceration.

• Death

I will send a first appointment reminder 48 hours prior to your appointment time. This gives you time to make your payment or update your card if it has expired prior to the cancellation window so you do not get charged or lose the slot. I will send a second reminder 24 hours prior to your appointment time. These reminders are courtesies, and the technology may occasionally fail. Showing up for appointments is your responsibility. Failure to receive a reminder does not waive the late cancellation fee.

I do not allow clients to carry a balance. If there are any additional services you’ve requested outside of your scheduled appointments (e.g., additional session time, supplemental documentation), I will send you an invoice and a payment link. You will need to pay the balance no later than 24 hours before your next appointment to avoid suspension of services.

You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost. Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.

You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.

Make sure your healthcare provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your medical service or item. You can also ask your healthcare provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.

If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.

Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate. Save it in a secure location.

For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call the No Surprises Help Desk at 1-800-985-3059.

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No. I do not accept bulk payments for psychotherapy appointments. Session payments will not be collected more than one week prior to a scheduled appointment.

If you plan to have someone else pay for your therapy, you will need to fill out an authorization for disclosure and release of information that is specific to third party payors. You will have the option to limit this release to issues related to payment and session attendance.

The person or entity paying for your services will need to complete a third party payor financial agreement and a credit card authorization for third party payors, and they will need to provide a valid photo ID. The financially responsible party will need to keep a card on file, no exceptions. You can find those forms in the client portal tab in the dropdown menu at the top of this website.