I find that being clear about my office policies and rules is helpful. I prefer to be up front, as this is how I would want to be treated if I was the patient. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to tell me in my office, or by phone or email which are listed on my Contact Me page. I will also go over these with you in person as well.

• The first four sessions will be a trial period for both of us, to see if we are a good fit, and if your life circumstances are conducive to trauma or grief work
  
• Please be aware it is your responsibility to keep track of your appointment, my office does not give reminder calls/texts
  
• Please be on time for your appointment. Everyone is a little late from time to time, that happens to everyone, even me. However if you are more than 15 minutes late for your appointment, you will need to pay out of pocket for your session. The primary reason is that when I bill your insurance I am saying that I have seen you for at least 45 minutes. If you are more than 15 minutes late and I do that, I am defrauding the insurance company.
• The clinical hour is 50 minutes, so we will usually end 50 after the hour.
• I respectfully ask that your cell phone be on silent or airplane mode during your appointment, to show respect for our time together.
• With the exception of water, there is no food for drink allowed in my office. This is a simple precaution in case of accidental spills. If you are diabetic I am happy to make an exception for you.
• My office cannot be responsible for children in the office–this means they may not wait in the waiting area while you are in your appointment, and they may not accompany you to your counseling session.
• All payments are due at the time of service. It is important that I have a debit or credit card on file for you, so on your initial session I will charge your card at least $1, even if you would not normally pay.
• I have a late cancellation/no show policy that I will go into in more detail about. I want to make sure that there’s no miscommunication about it, and that my clients understand it and agree to it 100%:
  • In a nutshell, clients can cancel or reschedule an appointment anytime, as long as they provide 24 hours’ notice. Some practices have a 48-hour policy, some even have a 72-hour policy! Mine is 24 hours, and I am firm at 24 hours. This means if your appointment is at 11am, you need to call and cancel by 11am the previous day. If you cancel an appointment with less than the full 24 hours’ notice or fail to show up, you will be charged for the appointment. The fee is my regular out-of-pocket fee which is $145. Remember that insurance will not pay for missed appointments.
  • This cancellation policy is really important for my practice because if a client cancels with less than a full 24-hour notice, I won’t be able to fill that time slot and I’ll lose an entire hour from my work schedule. While a medical doctor can see 35 patients in a day, a therapist like me generally sees a maximum of 6 or 7. This mean I lose 15-20% of my income, and this is how I provide for my family.
  • I want you to know that my cancellation policy in not a penalty or a punishment. Most of my clients understand this. Rarely I’ll have a client who thinks he or she is being punished when I charge them a late cancellation fee. I want to make sure that you don’t feel this way if someday you miss an appointment.
  • I’m never upset with clients when they miss an appointment. I know that’s life. In return, my clients understand that scheduling an appointment with me is like buying tickets to an event. If you miss the event, it doesn’t matter why you missed it or even if it was your first time, you can’t turn in your tickets for a refund. The exception to this rule is if you wake up and feel the roads are unsafe for driving please call and cancel. You will never be charged for this, I don’t want to put my clients in that kind of position.
  • If you do not show up for an appointment and I don’t hear from you within 48 hours, I will cancel subsequent appointments. This just prevents you from being charged for those sessions. Of course you are still free to schedule appointments with me.