Frequently asked questions.

How do I schedule an appointment?

If you want to find out if I am accepting new clients, click here to see my schedule in live time. If you see openings, please go ahead and book a consultation or an intake. If there are no openings, please send me an email to see if you can be added to my waitlist.

Do you take my insurance? How much will this cost?

Here is where you can find out if I accept your insurance, the policy, and what your estimated cost per visit will be. I accept most major private commercial insurance carriers, to include Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, Oscar, Oxford, and United Healthcare in Virginia. Currently, although I am licensed to practice in DC and North Carolina, I am not accepting new clients from those states at this time because I am not currently on insurance panels for those locations. As this changes, I will update this site.

Please note that I am not able to respond to messages asking if I accept your insurance; you can check here to get the most current information about whether or not I accept your policy and what your estimated cost will be.

Cost is determined by your insurance company and the policy you carry. For example, if your policy says that you have a 20% co-pay, that is the portion of what the insurance company says you owe. Sometimes it will be a direct number, such as $20 per visit.

Sometimes you will have to pay a deductible until your insurance company begins paying; for example, you might have to pay $2000 at the start of the new policy period before your benefits reimburse for services. This means that if they reimburse for $100 per session, you will have to pay out of pocket for 20 sessions, or $2000, before the insurance company pays.

Can I privately pay for services? What if you don’t accept my insurance?

While I can accept private-pay clients, I prefer to work with insurance carriers that I have established relationships with and am considered “in-network.” I typically work with people who need relatively long-term care for chronic conditions such as PTSD, which can quickly become cost-prohibitive without insurance at a recommended weekly rate.

While it is very difficult to give someone an estimate of treatment length because of many factors, such as regular attendance of treatment, life circumstances, and situations, the APA reports that the average length of time for treatment is typically 12-18 months, with some people needing greater or lesser amounts of time in treatment. I believe that in order to continue to work toward de-stigmatizing mental health treatment, normalizing psychotherapy through using healthcare benefits is essential—through considering therapy as vital a component to an individual’s health as routine healthcare, like visits to a primary care physician, annual exams, laboratory tests, x-rays, etc. Weekly treatment is an investment that you should be prepared for.

I need an evening/Saturday/Sunday afternoon/evening appointment time. Do you have anything available?

I work typical working hours M-F 9A-4P, with the hours varying depending on the day of the week. If you see an opening on my calendar for a time slot, likely that is a slot that will be open each week. For example, if you book an 11:00am appointment on a Monday, it is likely that is the day/time that I have available each week. I don’t have any openings that are not listed on my calendar.

I sent an email for services and/or called and left a message and didn’t hear back!

I may not be taking new clients at this time; you can always send a message to see if I am accepting spots on my waitlist.

What type of treatment do you use?

I used evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment practices that work on addressing the symptoms that you are experiencing (“bottom-up” treatment) through helping you develop skills for grounding, staying in your body, lowering anxiety, and developing consistent sleep habits. This is important because your body registers trauma reactions and inputs often before the “thinking part” of your brain can make sense of it.

I help you with anxious, negative, critical, depressed, and traumatic thoughts, memories, etc., through “top-down” treatment: this is typically through an empathic and warmly delivered form of cognitive behavioral therapy and/or dialectical behavioral therapy, developing emotional regulation and mindfulness skills in a way that makes sense for you. This is what people typically think of and experience in therapy. Above all else, I focus on the relational aspect of therapy, the relationship between you and me: if you don’t feel comfortable talking to or working with your therapist, the techniques don’t really matter.

Addressing both the somatic, or body reactions to trauma and anxiety as well as the thought component is essential for a person to have a whole, well-rounded healing experience.