Frequently Asked Questions

  • Psychotherapy is a partnership between you and a trained mental health professional within which you work to deepen insight and achieve goals specific to your life. Psychotherapy looks different from one person to the next - ranging from talk therapy to targeting trauma processing and exposure techniques, to deepening your emotional intelligence and “editing” long-existing belief systems. At its core, psychotherapy is an individualized experience aimed to move you closer to alignment with your values and experiencing a life worth living.

  • Only you know the answer to this question. Sometimes people come to therapy because a loved one has advised them it might be helpful, and sometimes a crisis point in our lives necessitates further assistance from someone outside of our immediate circle. Do you know what you want to get out of therapy? Sometimes, part of the therapeutic process is figuring out just that - and that’s okay. I often say that therapy can be helpful for everyone, just not at every point in their life. Let’s chat and figure out if psychotherapy is a tool that could be helpful at this phase of your journey!

  • First and foremost, always contact your insurance carrier with any questions about your coverage. Providers’ in-or-out-of-network status can change at any point, and online directories are not always up-to-date. As a provider credentialed through Headway’s billing service, I am in-network with several insurance carriers listed on my payments and insurance page - however, the specifics of your coverage may vary in terms of how much of a copay you may owe for each session. Often, people have to hit a deductible before their insurance starts paying a portion of services. Please check with the member services and/or customer care line on your insurance card.

  • As a provider who solely practices psychotherapy using virtual means, your privacy is important to me. I only use HIPAA-compliant platforms including Headway for insurance billing, SimplePractice for my electronic health record, document transmission, and private pay invoicing, Psychology Today and/or Doxy.Me for telehealth visits, and a HIPAA-compliant Google account for email and telephone communication. However, as technology is an imperfect medium, please exercise discretion in communicating private information with me via email and text message. If I am sending any sensitive information to you via email, I will either do so with encryption or through Encyro as an extra means of protection. 

    I will not speak to anyone about our treatment relationship without your written permission on an authorization to release/exchange information form. The only exceptions to this are in case of an emergency where you or someone you know is in immediate danger, if there is an allegation of child abuse/neglect, or if there is an allegation of abuse/neglect of a dependent adult (e.g. an adult with a disability whom is in the care of a legal guardian). These situations would necessitate my reporting to the appropriate authorities including law enforcement, CPS, or APS. 

    Lastly, I will only release information to any legal entity if so compelled by a court order. Due to the financial, ethical, and administrative burden of legal proceedings, I do not provide any sort of testimony unless so compelled by a court order. Fees for this situation are detailed in my intake paperwork.

  • Some things to consider for our work together via telehealth:

    • Privacy and safety - are you in a private, secure location where whatever you discuss will not be overheard by anyone you wouldn’t want hearing it? Are you stationary and not operating a motor vehicle? Are you in the state of Virginia? If yes to all these questions, we’re mostly good to go!

    • Check your connectivity. Sometimes, if you are home or in another location where you’re using a WiFi router, proximity to the router can affect the quality of connection. Check your data connectivity as well if not connected to WiFi.

    • Cell phone vs. Laptop/tablet - Certain tools and techniques we may utilize in session are more user-friendly on a bigger, more stationary screen. For example, if I am screen-sharing materials with you or utilizing eye movements for EMDR, a monitor and/or tablet-sized screen may be most effective.