Frequently Asked Questions.

Your emotions are too overwhelming to manage alone and you worry your relationships, mental and physical health are at risk. Think of starting therapy as putting on your oxygen mask first before helping your loved ones: if you aren’t here, you can’t help anyone. But thinking about going to therapy for the first time or maybe for the first time in a long time, is scary. Here are answers to some common questions about therapy that might ease your mind a bit.

What will the 15-minute consultation be like? 

The consultation is an opportunity for you to get a feel for my counseling style, and allow you a chance to see if I’m the right fit for you.

How do I know if you’re the right counselor for me? 

To make lasting progress in therapy, you should feel like you can trust your counselor. Trust doesn’t come overnight, so at the start of the counseling relationship, your counselor’s job is to earn your trust. From the start, you should have a clear understanding of what therapy will be like. You should feel like the counselor is someone who has the experience and personality that can help you.

As a counselor, how do you know when a client is a good fit for you?

The clients with which I typically work are those willing to look to the past as a tool for exploring what is happening in the present. Most of my work with clients is centered on what clients want in their lives today. Clients are willing to look at the parts of themselves that they like, and also the parts that they or others have rejected. Many of my clients are grieving and want a space in which to explore their grief that feels safe, open, and patient. I also work with caregivers struggling with guilt, shame, annoyance, anger, sadness, anxiety and isolation. They are open to learning skills to help them cope through emotional highs and lows.

What are the risks of therapy? 

In therapy you may find that talking about your painful experiences from the past and/or present brings up unresolved and unpleasant feelings. Sometimes you feel worse before you feel better. Because we’re talking about the human brain, results cannot be guaranteed.

What are the benefits of therapy?

Therapy can help you hone in on the strengths you already possess and teach you how to access those more readily in your daily life. Therapy can also offer you new ways of coping, education about what grief, depression and anxiety are doing in your brain and body, and a place in which you can tell the story about the losses you have experienced as many times and in as many different ways as you might need. Therapy can lead to improved self-confidence in your caregiving duties, your ability to move forward in your life, and enriched relationships with others.

What kind of results can I expect from therapy? 

The first few sessions are often spent gathering history and background information and establishing your goals for therapy.

The next few sessions are typically spent exploring what you are already doing to cope and identifying new, healthy short-term coping skills. If you are a grief counseling client, we may also spend many sessions just talking about the person you have lost. I will also offer some education about grief and for caregiver clients, education about compassion fatigue.

During the last part of therapy, we’ll spend time building up long-term coping skills and working to build your self-acceptance, perhaps self-forgiveness, and finding ways to move forward. This might include talking about new traditions or rituals to commemorate a lost loved or for caregivers, establishing a self-care plan that is sustainable. This also might include figuring out when the time is right to start going through a loved one’s possessions. It also might include taking time to grieve the expectations or hopes we had for a loved one that aren’t possible now due to illness or disability.

How long will I be in therapy? 

Many clients achieve what they wanted from therapy in 4-6 months with weekly sessions and some clients achieve their goals in 2 to 3 months with weekly sessions, while still others prefer to taper off from weekly to bi-weekly and then monthly sessions. While there is a lot of science to therapy, we are also talking about humans and not all humans are the same. I believe my role is to be with you through the healing process and to be there with you as you discover and build upon your strengths. You have already survived 100% of your worst days and that wasn’t by accident.

What if I need to cancel or reschedule my appointment?

I require 24-hours notice by text, phone or email for cancellations. A fee of $25 will be charged for late cancellations.

What is your availability?

I see clients between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Do you take insurance?

I am in-network with United Healthcare, Aetna, Oxford and Oscar Health. I also accept private pay clients paying with cash, check or any major credit card.

I’m ready to take the next step, what now?

Click here to book a free, 15-min initial consultation. If I’m the right counselor in Denver for you, we can then schedule a full session.