What will therapy be like?
You will begin by connecting through psychology today or by clicking the direct link via email. This will request information form you such as insurance, medical and mental health history, questionnaires about your current state and what the presenting problem is. The information will be used to aid the therapy process, billing your insurance, and for managing your care. In the first session I will disclose necessary legal information and will work with you to identify the problem, goals, and what treatment will look like. After this initial session you and I will continue to work on the goals and problem in a more therapeutic role than the initial session.
Is everything I say confidential?
All information that is disclosed to your therapist is confidential but there are a few exceptions.
Insurance: Information such as diagnosis, progress, session outline, treatment plan, are disclosed to to your insurance for billing purposes.
Abuse: Abuse in the form of sexual, physical, emotional and neglect of children under the age of 18, dependent adults between the age of 18-59 and elders over the age of 60 are mandated to be reported. For elders and dependent adults this includes financial abuse.
A danger to others: Having a plan and the intent to cause harm to another persons or a specific group must be reported.
Suicide: Thoughts alone will not have one referred to emergency services but having a plan and the means to commit suicide will move the interaction forward to seek additional support to help you. Dependent on the severity, support may be in the form of communicating with your emergency contact, your support system, and possibly emergency services all in the process to get you help through this time of struggle to bring you hope.
Court Order: If there are any legal actions that make the release of medical record Mandated or if the client agrees to a court request/subpoena.
Consent: If the client signs a release to disclose certain information to a specific party such as a psychiatrist, medical practitioner or a family member.
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What can I expect to get out of going to therapy?
There could be a multitude of reasons for one to seek therapy and they have identified something they need in their life. The therapeutic process is designed to aid one in learning how to accept this dilemma, learn to cope with it, gain insight, learn the current patterns, learn new patterns, and execute a new way of living. This is all done by identifying your goals and creating a personalized plan to achieve it. For some individuals short-term therapy can help, and others who struggle with more severe symptoms may need longer time to process underlying psychological issues that could result in months of therapy to aid someone to better mental health.
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