82A Ponemah Rd.

Amherst, NH.

03031

603-672-4782

I offer a twenty minute free phone consultation. The fee is preferably discussed during the initial consultation at my office. I will work on a sliding scale if it is indicated.

INSURANCE AND MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS:

Almost all insurance companies have some mental health benefits. Usually, if your plan is an HMO you will not be able to choose a therapist that you might want to go to, but you are only permitted to do so if you choose from their list of providers. In many cases you may be allowed eight visits of non-authorized therapy or counseling. After this point the assessment of whether you will be covered for further sessions will depend on carefully developed guidelines that are set up for the clinician. Further sessions are granted if your insurance company feels that very specific goals are met in a certain period of time. The therapist often have to fill out progress reports and treatment plans for the insurance company that are assessed to determine if they feel you need more therapy. Often a number scale is required for the therapist to fill out to define if your functioning fits their criteria to permit further sessions. This is assessed by an independent behavioral health company that the insurance company hires or operates themselves. The therapist must most often 'fight' to justify more treatment. The bottom line is that they are doing this and structuring the therapist's approach to get the most immediate behavioral results in the most profitable manner. All of your records are forever described in detail on computerized files. The relationship between you and your therapist is forever burdened with this kind of control. It has been out of a sense of ethics and personal experience that I came to the conclusion that I would not join insurance panels. I accept out of network insurance, which intervenes minimally. This is often described as a PPO. Many of my colleagues belong to insurance panels and they are resentful and feel owned by the insurance companies. I would rather have a sacred therapeutic relationship with my clients, and I would prefer to work with a sliding scale when indicated.