FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

I’ve tried to make the process easy with an online non-clinical intake form, but also personal.  I make sure we speak by phone before meeting, with me answering all of your questions. Only after we’ve had that chance to talk will I personally secure your first appointment.

I can likely see you within 2-3 weeks. 

To help make our schedules fit together more successfully, I typically keep three appointments scheduled with each client. After your first appointment, if you wish to schedule future appointments, we will arrange them. Usually the second appointment is one to two weeks out, when my schedule is a bit less crowded, so it’s easier to get the time and day you prefer.

At the end of each appointment, I access my online schedule of appointments, re-confirm the next appointment we made last time, and then set the new one, what I call the “forward appointment”. This system allows us to verbally and visually confirm – in the office – every appointment twice. 

By scheduling as I do, it’s easier to get the appointment time you want. If you have to cancel any next appointment, we do not have to suddenly get your next one set up. If you must cancel without adequate (48 hour) notice, or if you do not appear, having the next appointment already scheduled qualifies you to pay 85% of the regular cancellation fee.

My scheduling system sends out two reminders, via e-mail and/or text. If you decide to cancel, you must send me an e-mail, text or voice mail to that effect. I do require a 48 business hour (this excludes weekends) period in which to cancel or reschedule an appointment. This is not a flexible policy; it does not take into account specific reasons for waivers. Cancellation fees are also reduced to 85% of the amount I normally receive. If a cancelled appointment is rescheduled within the same week, a $25 fee is applied.

When you (re-)schedule via e-mail or text, your appointment is only confirmed when you’ve received a reply message from me that says “Confirmed”.

I frequently work with relationship clients for 80 minute appointments. This length of appointment is not covered by any insurance carrier. Therefore, I use my private fee schedule. However, I always have you review and understand your benefit. There are often alternatives that allow for some coverage of your visits.

I mostly work on a private pay basis. Many clients have insurance, so I make sure that they can bill their insurance carrier to received their out-of-network benefits. My office’s financial policies seek to be as accountable, private, confidential, accurate, safe and responsive as possible.

You secure your first appointment with a credit or debit account. This is the only way I can protect my schedule when we have not yet begun to work together.

For a typical appointment covered by insurance, I collect the “patient responsibility” amount (co-payment, deductible or co-insurance) when I receive my copy of the claim voucher (EOB) from the carrier.  That’s about two weeks after the appointment. Once I receive the EOB, I will seek payment in cash, check or online via Zelle or Venmo.

If we have a private or sliding scale payment arrangement in place, I accept payment after the appointment. If I am seeing you on an out-of-network basis, payment is due online or at the next appointment. I usually send you the statement you need to send to your insurance carrier within 24 hours after each appointment.

My cancellation fee is 85% of the fee I normally receive from you. It is due within 48 hours after the missed appointment.

In a word, no. Medication prescription is not in the licensed scope of practice for LICSWs (or LMHCs or LMFTs either). Only MDs and ARNPs are legally able to prescribe in the State of Washington.

If you are using medication, I bring you the familiarity and support that comes from spending many hours on this subject with hundreds of clients. The longer, more frequent appointments for therapy, compared to brief follow-ups with MDs, allow my clients a greater ability to understand and evaluate the effects of their medications. We talk about a wide range of medication-related issues. Yet I am careful not to advise on various medical subjects that only physicians and specially trained ARNPs are qualified to discuss.

There are circumstances where a first individual appointment should occur, such as when IPV (intimate partner violence) has occurred. Starting with individual appointments sometimes “eases in” the relationship therapy, but not always. If we start couples therapy with an individual appointment, then usually I want the next appointment to be for the other partner individually. But it’s usually preferable to see relationship partners interact in my office, as soon as possible. After that, individual appointments are fairly common.

I have long maintained a policy for individual therapy appointments during the course of couples or relationship work. Most often, after I have seen a relationship client once or twice, I set up individual appointments to go over personal, family, social and sexual histories

I offer a 10-15 min. phone or Meet call that does not obligate you in any way. During the call you can if you wish briefly summarize why you want to begin this work so that we’re both clear that my training, experience and approach – as described on this website -fit well enough together. If you have a question specifically related to what you’ve read, please ask about it. I do not engage discussions about psychological theories, or more than a general summary about how I typically begin working with my clients. I rarely if ever share more personal information than I publish on this site. I am happy to provide information about the cost of this work, how insurance generally works. If you are seeking individual therapy but are also interested in the possibility that I might work with you as a relationship client, I’m happy to discuss that.