Frequently Asked Questions
While much change can come within the therapy session itself, there are many great resources you can use in your everyday life! Below you will find reading material and other useful tools to help you on your journey.
When should I seek a counselor? Can it be beneficial to me?
If you’re asking this question, you likely would benefit by seeing a counselor. Seeing a counselor is simply a way to better your life, to add more tools to the emotional, relational, spiritual toolkit and clear out old ways of relating & functioning that aren’t working anymore. If you are seeking to make any change in your life, likely a counselor can help! Counseling can be beneficial for anyone seeking personal growth, life direction, more connection in their relationships, more freedom from symptoms of mental illness or relief from unwanted feelings.
How do I set up services? How does this work exactly?
You can either book a free 15-minute phone consultation or set up an initial appointment by calling me directly or contacting me via the online form. It is not uncommon to get my voicemail, and you can leave a message with your contact information and I will get back to you in 24-48 hours during the business week.
I like to take the time early on to get to know you a bit by phone, to make sure we’d be the right fit before moving forward. After our phone conversation, we can set up our first appointment date, and I will send you the forms to complete electronically before the first session. I use a HIPAA compliant platform called TheraNest that holds all my appointments, reminders, electronic paperwork and video sessions. There is also a confidential portal that allows you to communicate with me. All of this will be set up before our first appointment.
What can I expect for the first session?
In general, the focus of the first session is to get to know you, your history, presenting concerns, and goals for therapy. Additionally, you will get a feel for me, my approach and how I believe I can help you. Many people find themselves nervous about going to this first session, which is completely normal! It can feel very risky and vulnerable to talk about our painful past, difficult feelings and obstacles we’ve been fighting. Don’t worry, we will go at your pace and slow things down if needed, sometimes it takes several sessions to obtain all of this information and establish safety in our relationship to talk about the deeper issues.
How often will we meet?
This depends on various factors. If you’re looking to make some changes due to the severity of your current symptoms, we can meet for intensive counseling sessions until life is feeling more manageable. In general, though, I recommend weekly meetings to start in order to establish our relationship and start making some progress towards your goals. Then, we can talk together about times when spreading out the sessions make more sense. If cost is inhibitive, we can also look into spreading out sessions or shortening the session length in order to still be able to provide the help you’re looking for.
What if I don’t have the same religious views as you?
I have worked with a wide variety of clients throughout my 20+ years of counseling experience, many of whom have not been Christians. My role as a counselor is to focus on what your goals are for counseling. For some clients that means exploring their spirituality and for some clients that means focusing on other areas. I encourage my clients to initiate a dialogue in our counseling session(s) about their beliefs and how they would (or would not) like to incorporate their beliefs into our counseling process.
What is your cancellation policy?
I have a 24-hour cancellation policy. Your appointment involves the reservation of a time specifically for you. You may cancel or reschedule by phone, text, or email up to 24 hours before your scheduled appointment, or the full fee will be charged and due at the time of your next appointment unless it has been otherwise discussed.
How long does the counseling process last?
Due to everyone’s unique situation, it is nearly impossible to determine how long the counseling process will take for you. The amount of time you spend in counseling is always up to you. What you would like to achieve during our time together and how motivated and dedicated you are to the process are, in my opinion, two of the biggest determining factors of a client’s counseling duration.