Frequently asked questions.

What is therapy?

  • Therapy is where people often go when they are having trouble with their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, relationships, and/or life changes. Sometimes people have experienced traumatic or scary events that are hard to forget. In therapy, they can learn ways to manage their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, improve relationships, and deal with life changes as they happen.

  • Therapy is different for everyone. Just like meeting someone new it takes time to establish a connection/relationship. In the first 2-3 months, often I will spend time collecting information, getting to know you, and working with you to create treatment goals. I regularly use art, games, play, story telling, worksheets, and talk to help you towards reaching your goals.

  • This is different for everyone. In my experience people have fallen under 3 categories:

    3-6 months: Sometimes people have a single “acute” issue they want to work on and are able to resolve it quickly.

    6-12 months: Others may have more than one issue, a pattern or thoughts/behaviors, or trauma that requires a little more time to resolve.

    > 1 year: Some people enjoy therapy and find it valuable to check in with a therapist regularly. Some have “chronic” mental health issues that require long term participation in therapy. Others have complex and/or layered issues that may require more time to explore and resolve.

  • Typically I meet with individuals once a week for about 50 minutes, unless otherwise clinically indicated. Meaning that I might suggest meeting more or less than once depending on the intensity or frequency of your symptoms. Alternatively, you may feel the need to increase services which we can discuss during our sessions. When I meet with youth, I typically schedule weekly individual sessions with the youth and monthly family sessions along with intermittent check-ins with the youth’s guardian to monitor progress in session and at home, unless otherwise indicated.

Teletherapy

  • Teletherapy is also known as online therapy, telepsychology, and telehealth therapy. Teletherapy is having therapy sessions remotely through technology, either via phone calls, text messages, live chat or video conferencing.

  • If so, voice this to your teletherapist. Minimizing the window with the picture of yourself may help. That way you are not staring at yourself.

    1. Spend a few minutes alone to collect your thoughts before therapy.

    2. Make sure you’re in a private place with no background noise, interruptions or distractions

    3. Make sure you have a good internet connection.

    4. Check that you are using the best browser for the service you are connecting through and it is up to date.

Between session communication

  • If you need to contact me between sessions, please leave a message on my voicemail or send me an email. Due to my schedule, it may take roughly 2-3 days for me to respond. Please leave a brief message to let me know why you are reaching out. As always, please keep your privacy in mind when using electronic communication. If you are experiencing a true medical or psychiatric emergency involving a threat to your safety or the safety of others, please call 911 or any local emergency room.

    You should also be aware of the following resources that are available in the local community to assist individuals who are in crisis:

    Crisis Hotline: (800) 273-8255

    Youth & Domestic Violence Shelter: (310) 543-9900 or 877-854-3594

  • While I do have a social media presence, I maintain separate professional and personal accounts. To encourage the integrity of the therapeutic relationship, I do not accept friend or message requests made through my personal accounts. You may, if you’d like, follow and interact with my professional accounts. To protect your confidentiality, no acknowledgments will be made on my part in any public space.

    Follow me on Instagram and Facebook

Sliding Scale

  • YES.

  • A sliding scale fee structure is often used to help clients receive treatment without breaking the bank. It is typically based on your income. For more information on my sliding scale fee rates CLICK HERE.

  • Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a nonprofit nationwide network of mental health professionals dedicated to providing in-office and online mental health care—at a steeply reduced rate—to clients in need. For more information about their fees and services CLICK HERE.

  • I have a limited amount of availability for Open Path members. I see members at the rate of $70 per session weekly.

Payments and Insurance

  • At this time, I am not participating on any insurance panels. This allows me to provide high-quality services that meet your personal needs rather than those of the insurance company. I am also able to provide services without having to give you a diagnosis that will stay on your permanent record. This means you will pay for sessions out of pocket. You may seek potential reimbursement from your insurance. CLICK HERE for more information about my insurance policy.

  • Fees are payable at the time that services are rendered via debit/credit card through the client portal (Visa, Discover, American Express, Mastercard). You may also use a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA).

What is your cancellation policy?

I understand that emergencies happen, especially when children are involved. Please communicate if you need to cancel, or make changes to a scheduled appointment 12 hours prior to your appointment time. You may utilize your client portal to cancel or reschedule 12 hours prior to your appointment. Otherwise please contact me via email or phone (be sure to leave a message if I am unable to answer). If you are unable to cancel or reschedule your appointment 12 hours in advanced, you will be responsible for the full session fee. CLICK HERE for more information about my cancellation policy.

Therapy and Minors

  • In my experience, most youth over the age of 10 understand what therapy is. I often talk to children about other helping professions they may have encountered like doctors, dentist, optometrist, nurses, teachers, and coaches. Whereas doctors help their bodies feel better and dentist fix their teeth, therapist help with feelings and behaviors so they can get in trouble less or be able to control their bodies when overwhelmed.

  • While asking for help can be scary, it’s important that you know you have not done anything wrong. It might be helpful to practice having this conversation with someone you trust who might also be able to help you advocate for yourself while talking with your parents (i.e. other family members, a close friend, a school counselor or teacher). Mental health America has a great template you can use to get the conversation started; CLICK HERE to get access to it.

  • In California, a minor who is 12 years of age or older may consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis if both of the following requirements are satisfied:

    (1) The minor, in the opinion of the attending professional person, is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or residential shelter services.

    (2) The minor (A) would present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to self or to others without the mental health treatment or counseling or residential shelter services, or (B) is the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.

    (Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 115, Sec. 76. (AB 1817) Effective January 1, 2020.)

  • While our sessions are confidential there are exceptions especially when it comes to your safety and the safety of others. Your parents may be legally entitled to some information about your treatment including your general progress, but we will discuss this more in our sessions.