FAQ

Welcome! Once we get to know each other, you will quickly realize I am curious and full of questions. My questions help me gather information to complete puzzles; they will be from wanting to understand you and your unique perspective and experience, and some will come from wanting to crystalize my clarity of the message you are sharing. Let’s dive in, but if anything is not here, I am open to being asked later!

I offer therapy services Monday through Thursday, 8 am to 6 pm. While these are my “official” hours, contacting me directly for scheduling is best. I will work with you and your schedule to accommodate as best as possible!

The typical session is 50 minutes. I often get the follow-up question, “Why 50 minutes and not an hour?” It’s important to me to offer every client my best, which requires me to have a few minutes to close out your session and refresh for the next client. Plus, living in the dryness of Arizona, I try to stay hydrated. You can figure out the rest from there!

To honor the work we do together, I do not accept insurance. I found that clients have a more beneficial therapeutic experience without the constraints that many insurance companies put on mental health services. I can supply a Superbill for you to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. I do not know if or how much your insurance company will pay back to you.

As with everything concerning our work together, every situation is different. The average new client comes in weekly for a period. Usually, they will eventually pare back to every other week. Then, it gets to a point where they continue in a check-in fashion, once a month or once every few months. We will discuss this area and can work together to create the best plan for you!

I am a texter. I will contact you by text regarding any scheduling situations or general information unless you request a different form of communication. For reasons of confidentiality, reaching out to me by phone is difficult. If you need to speak to me by phone, it is best to schedule a time with me. I usually reserve emails to send intake forms or handouts about homework.

Yes, yes, yes, and no. I work with adults, both individually and relationally. I do not work with children or adolescents. There are other therapists better suited to work with your little ones, and I am happy to provide you with referrals.

Yes. I have worked with many clients who identify with this population. My personal and professional beliefs are that we are all human. We all have struggles in our relationships, feel pain, and sometimes need to reach out for help.

Yes. My clients lead the way in terms of these conversations. I do not invite religion into the therapy office unless it is essential to the client. I work with a multitude of clients. Each has their own story; some have backgrounds that continue to harm them today. I create a safe place for my clients to share what hurts them, regardless of the topic.

First, we will review the intake form you completed before the appointment. I welcome and encourage any questions you have about the new client paperwork. Next, I am your audience. I want to know your history with therapy, if any. I want to know what gave you the courage to seek help and what prompted you to ask for help now. I will take notes to get what you share to help in this first session and future appointments.

Many clients tell me how quickly the first session goes. I will do my best to make the most of this first session and help you discover where you are now, where you came from, and where you want to go!

What you share with me is entirely up to you and your comfort level. The more you share, the better I will understand and get to know you. Therapy is a process and a journey. There is no time limit. It would help if you felt secure with your therapist, but everyone has a different time when they think that.

That is very understandable. I am not unaware of how unnatural this feels in the beginning. I am a stranger, and you feel like you are “supposed” to share your secrets, your pain, your guilt, shame, embarrassment, etc. with me. I have been on the couch. We will take our time until you feel secure and safe with me.

As with everything else on this journey, whatever you do is allowed in my office if you are being your true self. I want to get to know you. If you’re a crier, I always have tissues on hand. If you are not, please reserve the tissues for the next client!

Being a person who saves the best for last, let’s start with risks. Therapy can be incredibly emotional. Reliving pain (not retraumatizing) can serve to bring it all up to the surface again. Many clients share they feel “crazy” after getting into therapy. This feeling results from many feelings being pushed down and ignored for years. Therapy brings those up from the depths.

During your process of change and growth, some experience difficulties in current relationships. As you change, some may feel they are losing you, the person you used to be.

Now, the benefits! Imagine living the life you feel destined to live. Your relationships become filled with healthy communication, and you can handle conflict effectively and come to resolutions that serve both people. You and your partner feel the friendship, passion, connection, spark, joy, and unity that fueled the beginning of the relationship.

Imagine waking up in the morning, looking at yourself in the mirror, and liking, no loving, the person staring back at you. You make choices that honor who you are (not punish who you were or who you saw yourself as) and create romantic, friendship, or familial relationships that encourage, support, and love you. All of this is possible, and everything is your choice!

The easy answer is you will feel it. We are probably a good fit if you feel at ease after several sessions. Even though painful, if our work together feels necessary, reasonable, courageous, supported, and client-focused, we are a good match. We are a good match if you feel heard and validated in your feelings. We are a good match if you think I empathize with your perspectives and experiences and feel safe and accepted in our work. These are all indications we work well together, and you have found a therapist who “gets you.”

I create a Safe space for all clients. I want you to feel comfortable and secure. You are Accepted. There is no judgment from me in our work together. Throughout my life, both personally and professionally, I have learned the necessity of giving and receiving Validation and Empathy. A professional or personal relationship is virtually impossible if you aren’t heard or feel understood by another.

I tailor the therapy I offer to each client’s needs. I can bore you with the different modalities I work within (SFT, EFT, Gottman Method, Collaborative, Narrative), but I would prefer to show you what working with me feels like!

It’s funny: when I was in high school, I was moderating an argument between two friends. When we reached an apology and a resolution that worked for them, another friend told me, “You should be a therapist.” In that moment, I realized how fulfilled I felt that I was able to help two people save their friendship and stop hurting each other.

Fast forward to my undergraduate years, and my social life took priority. I chose Communications as my major. I spent the first few decades of my adult life in advertising, marketing, and sales. I always tried to help my clients in any way I could to increase their business. I saw this as my way of giving back. If my clients were successful, that should trickle down to their employees. I felt this was my way of creating a better world.

Then, in 2014, I had a traumatic experience in my personal life that showed me that I needed to do more, but what? I woke up one morning, and while brushing my teeth, I remembered that friend who predicted my future. At that moment, I knew I was returning to school to become a therapist. I love what I do because I love helping people be who they want to be and ever dreamed they could be, including having relationships they think exist only in the movies and renewing damaged relationships to a place that is better than it was.

Oh, yes. I had challenges in my childhood that I brought into adult relationships (with others and myself). I had a few different periods of life that took me into therapy. I cannot say every experience was fantastic and helpful, but those experiences (before I was a therapist) proved helpful for me with my clients. I was able to learn some things not to do! This knowledge also helps me identify and empathize with clients because I have been on the couch myself!

I have always said I am an open book. Even my mistakes and failures are badges of honor for me as I can acknowledge them, own them, and move forward. I do not take issue with clients asking me questions about myself or my life. I will answer as honestly as I can while honoring our therapeutic relationship. The session time is YOURS.

If you have read everything down to this question, I hope you already know I am! If you have skipped around and this question intrigued you, I respect that and recognize you value a sense of humor as much as I do! Therapy is hard. I see that as a big plus if we can find something to laugh about while navigating the pain.

No, not at all necessary. If the website creation team included pictures of my office, you will see that I have a small couch and a chair available for clients, so you can choose where you will be most comfortable!

Yes!!! I will cheer you on while I am challenging you! One without the other will either make you feel defeated or unproductive, neither effective in life nor therapy.

Authenticity is key. If your comfortable and natural way of communicating includes cursing, then, by all means, swear away! I am not easily offended, and my personal communication style is not void of colorful word choices!

Sidestepping my first marriage, I will focus on my craziest, as in death-defying! At 17 years old, I bungy jumped off a 240 ft. high bridge over 6 ft. of water between two rock canyon walls in Queenstown, New Zealand! The things we do when we are young and invincible!!

The 80s all the way! “Purple Rain” is the absolute best soundtrack, and I still mourn the passing of Prince.