Where can I do my sessions?
What is your in-home services catchment area?
Where do I park?
If we meet in the office in Bloomfield, I will send you a detailed email about parking and how to find the office in the office park.
Is your office accessible?
What are your office hours?
How long is a typical session?
What do I do to get started?
What is the hourly fee?
How do I pay?
Do you accept insurance?
Can you help me file my insurance?
How do I make an appointment?
Are there other things I should know about your office?
Can I cancel an appointment? Do you have a cancellation policy?
What is a free initial phone consultation?
Who is your perfect client?
What is the trauma-focused treatment?
Trauma is the injury that occurs when circumstances overwhelm a person’s coping abilities. It can happen when a person feels they are in extreme danger or might die, or if they cannot escape a threat, or if those events occurred to someone close to them. It can manifest as recurring intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, irritability, angry outbursts, nightmares, forgetfulness, hypervigilance, or spacing out.
Trauma often requires a different approach to treatment and modalities that require additional training.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy and Ketamine-Assisted Therapy are specialized for treating trauma. I also used a trauma-informed approach throughout my practice.
What age range do you work with?
Do you work with men? Women? Couples? Adolescents?
Are you LGBTQIA-friendly?
Do you work with people from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions?
What can I expect in the first session?
While getting to know each other better, we will prioritize the issues you want to work on, develop goals and objectives for a treatment plan, and even jump into a session of Accelerated Resolution Therapy if there is a precise topic from the consultation we need to address.
Sometimes, people must build trust by talking; others are ready to jump right into the work. I’ll follow your lead.
What is therapy like with you?
How long will I be in therapy?
That depends on you and what you want. Services are voluntary and can end when you want them to. If you have an issue that can quickly be resolved in one or a few sessions of Accelerated Resolution Therapy, the length can be one or a few sessions.
Behavior change takes longer, but within six months, it is reasonable if you are doing the work outside of sessions. Some people like to stay on indefinitely for ongoing support because it can be beneficial for managing life. Rather than just dropping out, I would appreciate having a closing session if you are ready to end services. Closure is an essential part of the therapeutic process for both you and me.
Does anyone cry in front of you?
Do I have to tell you everything?
No. In fact, with Accelerated Resolution Therapy, I don’t even need to know what you are processing, and you do not have to share anything during the process if you choose. Having some information can help me better target the process for you.
You can decide what to share during talk therapy and keep to yourself. Keep in mind that not sharing essential aspects of an issue may mean that you are not genuinely processing everything that needs to be processed to come to some resolution with it. You’ll get out what you put in. Processing an issue with Accelerated Resolution Therapy first may make it easier to discuss.
Who benefits from therapy?
Is there anyone you will not see?
While I have experience with helping people with high acuity problems like substance use disorder, borderline personality disorder, bipolar, and other mental health issues, I won’t intake people in active substance use, mania, active suicidal ideation, or other severe states of mental illness. Those require a higher level of care than I offer.
I do not work with young children, issues related to geriatrics, or traumatic brain injury.
What can a therapist do?
What is Accelerated Resolution Therapy?
How is Accelerated Resolution Therapy different from EMDR?
The main difference is that Accelerated Resolution Therapy works more with visualizations. In contrast, EMDR works with thoughts or cognitions, and Accelerated Resolution Therapy processes physical sensations. At the same time, in EMDR, that is usually done at the end of the session.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy also leads to “positivity” in each session, replacing negative images with positive ones, which EMDR does not do. Accelerated Resolution Therapy is quite scripted and standardized, while EMDR relies more on the clinician’s experience.
Many clinicians trained in both modalities prefer to use Accelerated Resolution Therapy and find that clients experience fewer problems between sessions.
What is a Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy provider?
I participated in a nine-month advanced training program for licensed healthcare professionals through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute to specialize in working with psychedelic medicines in therapeutic settings.
I am trained in working with ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA. Working with non-ordinary states of consciousness requires different approaches and skills than traditional therapy. As the use of these substances becomes more prevalent, there is a need for clinicians with specialized training to support further research and appropriate use as a treatment and to reduce harm from underground use.
What is Ketamine-assisted therapy?
It uses the dissociative anesthetic ketamine to provide a highly effective antidepressant while also providing a dissociative psychedelic experience to facilitate rapid shifts in the psyche. It helps people break through psychological defenses and “get out of their story” to see things from a new perspective. The treatment is effective for about 70% of people who experience treatment-resistant depression and can also be used to reduce anxiety and symptoms of PTSD.
The gold standard of care is to have a psychedelic-trained therapist present during medicine administration. Ketamine therapy is legal in all 50 states and is generally considered an “off-label” use of pharmaceutical medicine. Spravato nasal spray is FDA-approved for use with treatment-resistant depression. I collaborate with prescribers to work with different modes of administration, including IV, intramuscular, oral, and nasal, in clinical settings or at home.
What is psychedelic preparation and integration?
There is a renaissance in the use of psychedelics for therapeutic reasons and personal growth, and more people are experimenting with psilocybin, MDMA, ayahuasca, LSD, DMT, and other psychedelic substances, either in ceremony or recreationally.
Some people are traveling to places where the use of these substances is legal, and others are using them in the underground. As harm reduction, I provide preparation for people who are planning to journey to reduce the risks of challenging trips and integration for people who have already experienced a psychedelic journey to help them integrate the experience.
I do not encourage the use of illegal substances, provide access to them, or facilitate their use.
Do you offer video or phone sessions?
Is our work confidential?
How long have you been in practice?
What are your strengths as a therapist?
What do you enjoy about being a therapist?
Have you been in therapy yourself?
What is your educational background?
What is the best way to get in touch with you?
You can reach me by phone (please leave a message!) or text. Email is a third option, but I’m not as responsive to emails because I only check my email occasionally throughout the day.
Do you prescribe medications?
Are you licensed?
Do you take notes?
Is your furniture comfortable?
Do I have to lie on a couch?
Should I wear waterproof mascara?
Am I allowed to ask personal questions?
What other jobs have you had?
My most important work has been raising my kids and caring for my husband and extended family.