Psychotherapy is not easily described in general statements. It varies depending on the personalities of the mental health practitioner, the patient, and the particular problems you bring forward. There are many different treatment methods to reduce troublesome symptoms and improve your health; however, any effective psychotherapy treatment requires participation and effort on your part. In order for the therapy to be effective, you may be required to complete homework assignments in-between treatment sessions.

Psychotherapy can have benefits and risks. Since therapy often involves discussing unpleasant aspects of your life, you may experience uncomfortable feelings like sadness, guilt, anger, frustration, loneliness, and helplessness. On the other hand, there is much empirical evidence that suggests that psychotherapy offers many benefits for people who work hard towards wellness. Therapy often leads to better relationships, solutions to specific problems, significant reductions in feelings of distress, and mental wellness; however, there are no guarantees of what you will experience.

Our first session will include a 45-60 minute initial consultation assessment session that will assist you in determining if you are comfortable working with me, as well as whether I believe I can assist you with your mental health concerns. If we agree to proceed, the next few sessions will involve an evaluation of your needs (assessment diagnosis, and treatment plan). By the end of the evaluation, I will provide you will a brief summary of my diagnostic impressions, treatment options, as well as what our work will include. You should evaluate this information along with your own opinions of whether you feel comfortable working with me. Therapy involves a large commitment of time, money, and energy, so you should be comfortable with and confident in the therapist’s ability to assist you in resolving your mental health concerns. If you have questions about my procedures, we can discuss them whenever they arise.

MEETINGS

Once we both agree to proceed with psychotherapy, you will usually schedule one 45-60-minute session per week at a time, however, session’s schedules will vary according to patient need. Once an appointment time is scheduled, you will be expected to pay the session unless you provide 24 hours advance notice of cancellation [unless we both agree that you were unable to attend due to circumstances beyond your control]. [If possible, I will try to find another time to reschedule the appointment.]

PROFESSIONAL FEES

My fee for the initial consultation visit for self-pay patients is $200.00. My hourly counseling fee for self-pay patients is $150.00 In addition to weekly appointments, I charge $150.00 per hour for other professional services you may need, though I will break down the hourly cost if I work for periods of less then one hour. Other services include report writing, telephone conversations lasting longer than 15 minutes, attendance at meetings with other professionals you have authorized, preparation of records or treatment summaries for other health practitioners, and time spent performing any other wellness service you may request of me. If you become involved in legal proceedings that require my participation, you will be expected to pay for my professional time, even if I am called to testify by another party. [Because of the difficulty of legal involvement, I charge $250.00 per hour for preparation and attendance at any legal proceeding.]

BILLING AND PAYMENTS

You will be expected to pay for each session at the time it is held, unless we agree otherwise, or unless you have insurance coverage, which requires another arrangement. Payment schedules for other professional services will be agreed to when they are requested. [In circumstances of unusual financial hardship, I may be willing to negotiate a fee adjustment or payment installment plan.] If so, please send payment to:

Holistic Wellness Consulting LLC
P.O. Box 1866
Winter Park, FL 32790-0002

If your account has not been paid for more than 60 days and arrangements for payment have not been agreed upon, I have the option of using legal means to secure the payment. This may involve hiring a collection agency or going through small claims court. [If such legal action is necessary, its costs will be included in the claim.] In most collection situations, the only information I release regarding a patient’s treatment is his/her name, the nature of services provided, and the amount due.

INSURANCE REIMBURSEMENT

To determine priorities and set realistic treatment goals, it is important to evaluate what resources you have available to pay for your treatment. If you have a health insurance policy, it will usually provide some coverage for mental health treatment. If you prefer to use insurance as payment you will be required to fill out forms, I will provide you with whatever assistance I can in helping you receive the benefits to which you are entitled. It is very important that you find out exactly what mental health services your insurance policy covers prior to your first appointment. You should carefully read the section in your insurance coverage booklet that describes mental health services. If you have questions about the coverage, call your plan administrator. Of course, I will provide you with whatever information I can based on my experience and will be happy to help you in understanding the information you receive from your insurance company. Due to the rising costs of health care, insurance benefits have increasingly become more complex. It is sometimes difficult to determine exactly how much mental health coverage is available. “Managed Health Care” plans such as HMOs and PPOs often require authorization before they provide reimbursement for mental health services. These plans are often limited to short-term treatment approaches designed to work out specific problems that interfere with a person’s usual level of functioning. It may be necessary to seek approval for more therapy after a certain number of sessions. While a lot can be accomplished in short-term therapy, some patients feel that they need more services after insurance benefits end, therefore, you will be responsible to pay for additional any services. If, however, it is impossible for you to pay for the necessary services I will assist you in any way possible to find another service provider who will help you continue your psychotherapy. You should also be aware that most insurance companies require you to authorize me to provide them with a clinical diagnosis. Sometimes I have to provide additional clinical information such as treatment plans or summaries, or copies of the entire record (in rare cases). This information will become part of the insurance company files and will probably be stored in a computer. Though all insurance companies claim to keep such information confidential, I have no control over what they do with it once it is in their hands. In some cases, they may share the information with a national medical information databank. I will provide you with a copy of any report I submit, upon written request. Once we have all of the information about your insurance coverage, we will discuss what we can expect to accomplish with the benefits that are available and what will happen if they run out before you feel ready to end our sessions. It is important to remember that you always have the right to pay for my services yourself to avoid the problems described above [unless prohibited by contract].

CONTACTING ME

I am frequently not immediately available by telephone because I do not take calls during psychotherapy sessions. While you may leave a message for me at anytime on my office telephone (407) 704-3166, I will not answer the phone when I am with a patient. When I am unavailable, my telephone is answered by an answering service voice mail, or by my secretary. I will make every effort to return your call on the same day you make it, with the exception of weekends and holidays. If you are difficult to reach, please inform me of some times when you will be available. If you are unable to reach me and feel that, you cannot wait for me to return your call, please call 911 for emergency assistance. If I will be unavailable for an extended time, I will provide you with the name of a colleague to contact, if you request so in writing before my departure.

PROFESSIONAL RECORDS

The laws and standards of my profession require that I keep treatment records. You are entitled to receive a copy of the records unless I believe that seeing them would be emotionally damaging, in which case I will be happy to provide a brief summary, or send them to a mental health professional of your choice. Because these are professional records, they can be misinterpreted and/or upsetting to untrained readers. I recommend that you review them in my presence so that we can discuss the contents. Patients will be charged an appropriate fee for any time spent in preparing information requests.

MINORS

If you are under eighteen years of age, please be aware that the law may provide your parents the right to examine your treatment records. It is my policy to request an agreement from parents that they agree to give up access to your records. If they agree, I will provide them only with general information about our work together, unless I feel there is a high risk that you will seriously harm yourself or someone else. In this case, I will notify them of my concern. I will also provide them with a summary of your treatment when it is complete. Before giving them any information, I will discuss the matter with you, if possible, and do my best to handle any objections you may have with what I am prepared to discuss.

CONFIDENTIALITY

In general, law protects the privacy of all communications between a patient and a mental health practitioner, and I can only release information about our work to others with your written permission, however, there are a few exceptions to confidentiality. In most legal proceedings, you have the right to prevent me from providing any information about your treatment. In some proceedings involving child custody and those in which your emotional condition is an important issue, a judge may order my testimony if he/she determines that the issues demand it. There are some situations in which I am legally obligated to take action to protect others from harm, even if I have to reveal some information about a patient’s treatment. For example, if I believe that a child [elderly person, or disabled person] is being abused, I must file a report with the appropriate state agency. If I believe that a patient is threatening serious bodily harm to another, I am [may be] required to take protective actions. These actions may include notifying the potential victim, contacting the police, or seeking hospitalization for the patient. If the patient threatens to harm himself/herself, I may be obligated to seek hospitalization for him/her or to contact family members or others who can help provide protection. Although these situations have rarely occurred in my practice, if a similar situation occurs, I will make every effort to discuss it with you before taking any action. I may occasionally find it helpful to consult other professionals about a case. During a consultation, I make every effort to avoid revealing the identity of my patient. The consultant is also legally bound to keep the information confidential. If you don’t object, I will not tell you about these consultations unless I feel that it is important to our work together. While this written summary of exceptions to confidentiality should prove helpful in informing you about potential problems, it is important that we discuss any questions or concerns that you may have at our next meeting. I will be happy to discuss these issues with you if you need further information, however, formal legal advice will not be provided, as I am not an attorney, and the laws governing confidentiality are quite complex.