Making decisions about your mental health can be difficult. To help make it easier, here is a list of commonly asked questions accompanied by pictures of sea otters.

Can counseling help me?

If you are a human being, than mental health counseling can help you. Just as frequent visits to the dentist are important because of daily use and health of our teeth, you are using your mental health every day. The goal of counseling is to improve or maintain your life as you see fit.

What will counseling be like?

Initial counseling intakes always feel very formal and awkward, as you are sitting on a stranger’s couch while a clinician asks very specific, evasive questions about you. There is no way to get around this, and it is necessary in order for the clinician to be able to do good work in the future. The second session should be more relaxed, and feel more like a casual conversation as opposed to “treatment”. There will be both laughter and tears, depending on what you decide to work on. If you know that you are going to talk about something incredibly emotional or difficult, you should try and plan to no have anything scheduled immediately after your counseling appointment.

I am a minor, what things are you going to tell my parents?

By law your parents do have a right to your medical information at anytime, including what you talk about in therapy. However I greatly encourage that parents allow you to have confidentiality and trust that I will tell them if they need to know something. If your parents does ask me for information, I will let you know what they are asking and we will cultivate an answer that you are comfortable with, and gets them the information they are looking for.

By law there are times, where I have to break your confidentiality and report to your parents or to authorities. Those times are: if you are going to hurt yourself, if you are going to hurt someone else, or if someone is committing or has committed a crime against you.

What insurance do you accept?

I do my best to accept all insurance policies offered in Wyoming. Currently I am in-network with: BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, Tricare, Wyoming Medicaid, and UMC. I will be able to accept Medicare in 2024. If you are still unsure please contact me and we can verify before your initial appointment.

How do I know what my insurance coverage is for mental health?

Call your insurance. The best way to know is to call them and verify what your policy covers. It will be your responsibility to find out and know this information. Common billing codes that you can verify with your insurance are 90837, 90834, 90832.

I don’t have insurance and am worried I won’t be able to afford counseling…

Let’s talk about that. I am able to work with most people by offering a self-pay rate and am able to accommodate different payment plans.

What if I need to cancel an appointment?

That’s okay, life happens! Please try to cancel 24hrs in advance. Not doing so, or not showing will result in a $75 fee.

What if I don’t like your style of counseling?

Tell me.

Please, please tell me. The foundation of counseling and mental health is a good fit between client and provider. If this is the case, I would like to either correct my approach, or help you find you someone who would be a good fit for you. What is important is that your mental health needs are met, regardless if I am the provider or not.

Did you know otters keep a favorite rock to play with and crack open food?

Yes. Yes I did.

Frequently Asked Questions