Fees and Policies
Appointments are usually scheduled once or twice a week. Individual sessions last for 50 minutes. Occasionally, it might be of benefit for couples to have extended sessions, usually for 75 minutes.
My standard fee is $195 per 50-minute session. I do not take insurance. This fee is standard regardless of the number of people attending the session. If you are entering couples therapy, I have a specific approach and structure to the sessions. In the first session, I see the couple together and will gather an extensive history of your relationship. I will see each partner individually over the next two sessions to gather individual histories. From these three sessions, I will formulate an assessment that will serve as the basis of our ongoing work together. My fee for this assessment is billed by time, typically three to four hours. The fourth session will be an extended couples session, usually 90 minutes to two hours, where we will review this assessment.
Payment must be made at the conclusion of each session unless we specifically agree on another payment schedule. I accept checks, cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express. A $20.00 fee per check will be charged for returned checks. A finance charge of 1½% per month or $2.00 minimum, whichever is greater, will be assessed on balances outstanding over 30 days unless we have made other arrangements in advance of you incurring debt to me. In any case, where a bill is accumulated, we will have a written agreement regarding a payment schedule.
If I am doing work related to your treatment that is outside the bounds of our scheduled counseling, you will be billed on an hourly basis for all the time I spend on your case. This includes travel time to another location (such as the hospital, your home, an attorney’s office, or another setting), meeting with other professionals regarding your case, writing reports, preparation time, etc. My fee for this type of work is the same per hour that you are charged for a therapy session.
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 that requires another arrangement. Payment at the beginning of our sessions is appreciated. 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 which will require me to disclose otherwise confidential information. In most collection situations, the only information I release regarding a client’s treatment is his/her name, the nature of services provided, and the amount due. If such legal action is necessary, its costs will be included in the claim.
Cancellation Policy
I require 24-hour notification to cancel or reschedule a scheduled appointment. Missed appointments or appointments that are not canceled at least 24 hours in advance will be charged for the time reserved for them. I will keep a credit card on file for this purpose, and the charge will be applied on the same day of the missed appointment or late cancellation.
My cancellation policy is in place for two reasons: 1) When someone does not cancel within 24 hours, it does not give me the opportunity to schedule another client who may be waiting for an appointment time to open up 2) It covers costs for scheduled times not utilized.
If you have any questions regarding this policy, I welcome hearing your concerns.
Link to Disclosure of Information, Policies, and Client Agreement