Questions

I currently offer sliding scale rates from $100-$150. I additionally work with the Open Path Collective to offer a limited number of $40-$70 spots for people who are un- or underinsured.

If you are interested in the Open Path pricing, please look into them first and then reach out to me. They charge you a one-time fee to help sponsor their mission.

The first time we meet, we’ll have a brief talk to figure out what rate makes sense for you. After that, I’ll lock you in unless we have another conversation to renegotiate. I trust you to reliably report your financial situation–the folks who pay more help to subsidize me to take on more people who pay less. If you have a change in circumstances, let me know and we can renegotiate within boundaries.

Click on my client portal here or in the link bar. Choose New Client. I have 15 minute phone or video consult spots marked out where I’m available to chat about what’s going on with you and see if we’re a match for each other, and address any concerns you may have.

I work out of a second floor office at 1204 4th Ave E, 98506. I can also have teletherapy with anyone in the state of Washington, but my teletherapy time slots are limited.

There is a small parking lot for my office and street parking available around the building. Come up to the second floor where there’s a couple chairs for you to wait in. My office is not ADA accessible and I unfortunately cannot accomodate clients who cannot traverse stairs.

I leave it up to you. I can generate a bill for you to pay online, which I’ll email you a link to. I can automatically charge you once we have payment information on file. I can run a card at the time of services. You can pay in cash.

If you are paying online, payment is due within the next 30 days, preferably before the next time we meet. If you start running up a balance, we’ll have a chat about it and how best to work together to handle it.

At the moment I write this, I am still figuring out the right schedule for me and I’m willing to make accomodations. I am not scheduling on Tuesdays at all. You can find my current availability on the calendar on my client portal, but you’re welcome to contact me if you’d like to meet but don’t see a time that works for you.

I am only licensed in the state of Washington and if you can’t be physically located in Washington during our sessions, I legally can’t meet with you.

As a sole counselor, I do not have the resources to support someone who is in life-threatening danger, such as someone with a severe eating disorder or who is likely to make a suicide attempt. I am very willing to work with you if you have been through eating disorder treatment or if you have a history of suicidality and are looking for outpatient care.

For couples and families, if there is active domestic violence, particularly with the intent to control one member, I can’t work with you. Part of relational work means every party taking responsibility for their share of the problem and when there is control in the picture, it’s likely that either I’ll end up colluding with the abuser and make therapy unsafe or me trying to get them to take responsibility will increase the harm being done when you return home. That said, if you are trying to get out of a situation involving domestic violence and want to work with me on an individual basis, please contact me.

If you start working with me and we realize that your problems are too severe or my therapeutic stance makes your symptoms worse and will likely continue to, I may have to refer you out or to a specialist. I recognize that it can be very hard to find therapists, especially specialists, and I’ll do my best to have conversations with you to support you through any transition in the unlikely event that happens.

I respect that my clients are busy adults so I rarely assign workbooks or written homework. I know a lot of workbooks and I’m happy to recommend and go through them if you’re interested in spending some extra time thinking about yourself.

I also think there is only so much change that can happen in an hour a week. Especially with couples and families, we may mutually develop challenges to practice what we’ve been working on outside of your time with me. That said, I am always less interested in if you succeeded or not than how the process of trying was for you.

I am looking into options that may allow me to take insurance. But insurance companies reimburse us therapists poorly, especially for work with couples and families, while also imposing additional restrictions and making me have to release your records–which are some of the most private things that I hold–to them so that they can monitor your care. Sometimes they make us justify treatment, even for clients who obviously still need it just to keep costs down. It’s a balance between accessibility and not buying into a terrible system, which I’m currently trying to square by offering sliding scale rates.

I see this surprisingly frequently, especially as people move all around the world. Unfortunately our licenses are restricted to the state that you, the clients, are physically located in (not are a resident of). So if you’re in Washington and your partner is in Oregon, even just on the other side of the border, I or any other counselor who’s only licensed in Washington can’t work with you.

There are some ways around it. If you manage to find someone who hold multiple licenses, you may be able to find a counselor who is licensed in both states. Unfortunately, licenses are expensive and we have to do different work for each state to maintain them, so not many people are unless they have a really good reason to be. If you can find a licensed psychologist, they may be a part of PSYPACT, which allows them to treat clients in other PSYPACT states. There is also an upcoming counseling compact that will accept licensed mental health counselors, like myself, however they haven’t even begun taking registrations for that.

If you’d like to meet with me and you can manage to get both of you into WA, even for a brief time, I’m happy to work with you. I can offer more time or multiple sessions in a week–at a commensurate cost and I’m comfortable having only one or two sessions if necessary.