FAQ

Individual counseling session time depends on the child’s developmental age and ranges from 30-45 minutes per session. Parent support sessions are 45 minutes. Initial Mental Health Evaluation sessions are 45-60 minutes.

I am considered out-of-network for all insurance companies.

I firmly believe that I can best serve my clients without the barriers that come with insurance companies creating obstacles to the way I conduct therapy.

Some of these barriers are listed below:

• Diagnosis requirements
• Releasing of medical records/lack of control over the confidentiality
• Restrictions on treatment
• Compromising the best interest of clients

As an out-of-network provider, I can give you a monthly superbill that you can use to seek reimbursement for out-of-network services. However, providing a superbill requires me to provide your child with a mental health diagnosis that will become part of their permanent medical record.

Please call your insurance provider to ensure your eligibility for reimbursement before our first appointment.

To maintain confidentiality, I will not communicate with your insurance provider directly.

I ask that you give 24 hours’ notice for cancellations and rescheduled appointments. If you cancel without 24 hours’ notice, you will be subject to a full charge.

To help prevent this, I provide email and text reminders, easy scheduling at your convenience, and a telehealth option in a pinch.

Appointments are made exclusively for you. To ensure your time is respected, I will never double book my schedule.

If there is a crisis involving your child’s mental health at the time of your appointment, you may call me or come to the session, and I can provide support.

While you will have the opportunity to message me via the client portal in SimplePractice in between sessions, I cannot guarantee that I will respond immediately.

Therefore, in the event of an emergency, please call 911 to request emergency assistance or go to your nearest emergency room. In a crisis, you also have the option of calling a crisis support line, such as (800) 273-8255 or text 741741.

I work with children and teens ages 3.5 – 18 and their parents.

I work closely with the parents of all my clients who are children. I also work individually with parents offering intensive parenting support without also needing to see their child. I can also offer individual therapy to adults looking for counseling services that are not parenting related. I particularly enjoy working with young adults struggling to find direction and fulfillment in their life.

Currently, I am not accepting clients who are seeking family therapy only. However, in my work with children, I require parents to be involved, and sometimes a family therapy session is necessary based on treatment needs.

Play therapy is based on the knowledge that while adults have words that we can use to express our innermost desires, thoughts, and feelings, children have not yet developed words to communicate on this level.

Children have a different language to express what is happening inside them – drumroll, please – t’s Play! Play is their language! Children use play to process their feelings and express their inner beliefs about themselves and the world. And if play is a child’s language, toys are their words.

So, in play therapy, we very intentionally design a space with a variety of “words” (toys) for your child to use to express their full range of emotions in therapy sessions.

Another thing we know is that therapy is most effective when there is a trusting relationship between client and therapist. So, in play therapy, I employ a particular set of skills to foster the most trusting relationship possible with your child. This skill set involves body posture, tone of voice, and specific language when speaking with your child.

Play therapy is so much more than play. It is an extremely intentional way of providing a space for your child to feel comfortable enough to process their innermost thoughts and feelings and foster growth in their confidence, independence, safety, self-image, happiness, emotional regulation, and much more! For more information, please see Child-Centered Play Therapy.

The short answer is “No,” but please keep reading! Your child is my client, so my number one responsibility is to act in their best interest. Telling you everything that happens in our sessions would not be in their best interest because it would damage the trusting relationship between your child and myself, severely limiting my ability to be effective in helping them.

Your child deserves confidentiality just as much as any adult client. However, though I may not tell you the specifics of our session activities, I will work closely with you throughout their treatment and help provide insight into their experience and decode their behaviors. At any time, if there are safety concerns that arise in session, I will notify you immediately.

This procedure is part of the confidentiality agreement that I review with clients and families before treatment begins.

Another short answer: “Maybe,” but please keep reading! My primary job as a therapist is not to interview children after a traumatic experience. There are people called forensic interviewers who have training in this skill set.

Instead, my job as a therapist is to create the space for your child to express their feelings and thoughts related to any experience they are ready to process. That’s it. That’s where the work is – in their expression.

Along the way, they may choose to tell me the details of what they went through, and many times, we may work towards them also telling you, but this is not the primary focus of therapy.

I primarily use a person-centered approach to therapy and in play therapy sessions, offer Child-Centered Play Therapy. Depending on your child’s needs, I will also use Anxiety skills, Mindfulness, Art Therapy techniques, Sand Tray, Psychoeducation, and CBT.  By creating an engaging environment, I establish trust, which helps children feel comfortable and willing to express their deep feelings.

When working with Adults, I use a person centered approach, while incorporating experiential therapies as needed.

When working with parents, I can offer Child Parent Relationship Therapy

I have Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Work. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW 40006-ID/ SWICL 61308530- WA) and have experience providing individual therapy to ages 3 through 70’s.

I have worked with teens in a therapeutic boarding school setting and have done equine-assisted psychotherapy, using horses in the therapeutic setting.

My most recent experience was working with diverse populations providing individual therapy for children and adults who experience difficulties such as anxiety, depression, trauma, loss, intense anger, behavioral challenges, and high suicide risk.

If you have previously been divorced and have sole custody, I will be happy to work with you and your child. If you have shared custody with the other parent, I aim to have both parents involved. This will depend heavily on the specific situation. I am willing to work with families currently in divorce proceedings depending on the case.

It is outside my scope of expertise to advise in custody cases or other court proceedings; therefore, I will not testify in court at your request. However, I can support you and your child through stressful situations such as court appointments.

As the parent, you can provide weekly updates to me by completing an electronic form. Out of respect for your child and their appointment time, I do not welcome parents into the session unless there are safety concerns.

You and I will schedule monthly parent support sessions without your child to work together throughout your child’s treatment.

If your child struggles with being separated from you and you are worried that they won’t be comfortable without you in session, please inform me ahead of time. I aim for all my clients to feel comfortable in the session.

Usually, once a child sees the play therapy space, they are happy to start therapy without their parent. If this is not the case, a parent can join the session for a pre-agreed time at the start of the session. If they continue to be uncomfortable without you in session, we will develop a plan with which everyone is comfortable.

I strongly discourage parents from forcing their children to come to therapy. Establishing trust with your child is difficult if parents have tricked or lied to their children to bring them to therapy.

Most parents picture the counseling environment as traditional adult talk therapy, which involves sitting across from each other, talking about what is going on in their life. This is NOT the picture we want to paint for your child – mainly because it is inaccurate!

Here’s an example of something I might recommend a parent try. “I’ve noticed you’ve been extra angry lately… that’s hard. Sometimes when things are hard for me, I get help from a friend. I have a fun friend, and she helps kids like you who have a hard time with their anger. She has many games and toys and would love to get to know you and help if you want. Let’s try to visit her a few times, and then we can decide if we think she can help.”

If you are unsure how to address the need for therapy with your child, please reach out!

Therapy with children is engaging – we’re crafting, playing games, painting, moving – meaning that it also has the potential to be messy! Making sure your child isn’t in their Sunday best may help with your anxiety when they bring out a freshly painted picture to take home.

Please remind your child about their appointment so that they are not surprised or caught off-guard. A reminder can help them feel more ready for therapy. For young children, I recommend that you allow them to use the bathroom before their appointment.

Keep in mind that even though your child is playing and having some fun in therapy doesn’t mean it’s ALL fun. Expressing what is going on deep inside is hard work. Often feelings such as anger, regret, sadness, fear, and loss are complicated to process. It is somewhat exhausting.

When you greet your child after their appointment, I encourage parents to avoid phrases like, “Did you have fun?” and “What did you do?” Instead, more appropriate statements are, “Wow, look what you worked on! Can you tell me about it?” (if they bring something out that they made), and “You’re all done? Ok, are you ready to go to _____?”

I am Christian, but I am not specifically a Christian Counselor. I have a clinical degree, and I treat clinically. However, I am more than happy for a client to include religion in the session.

YES! It is so kind of you to ask! I have a small, red-furred retriever. Her love language is PLAY!

She has energy for days and loves to swim and fetch and… all things PLAY.

Ten tickles! Of course.