Frequently Asked Questions
Where is your office located?
My office is located on Park Street at the cross street of Encinal Street.
1242 Park St., Suite C Alameda, CA 94501
Our building is hard to miss; it’s a bright yellow Victorian building next to High Wire Coffee (buzz buzz).
What are your hours?
How long are the sessions?
How often do I come to therapy?
I recommend that clients come once per week for the first few months. If you want to stay in therapy but reduce the frequency, we can move to therapy every other week.
Alternatively, if at any time, once a week therapy feels insufficient, then we can increase therapy to twice a week. We will discuss these changes together and make the right decision for you.
How much do you charge?
Please get in touch with me for current fees. You can find more specific pricing when you call me directly at (510) 600-3734. I accept payments through my online credit card payment method, cash, check, or HSA account. We can work out a payment schedule that works for both of us – either weekly or monthly invoices.
Do you take insurance?
I do not take insurance directly. However, your insurance may provide out-of-network reimbursement, in which case I am more than happy to provide you with the necessary paperwork.
Your health care insurance or employee benefits may partially cover your therapy. You can check your coverage by calling the customer service phone number on your insurance card.
Here are some good questions to ask your insurance provider.
Do I have any mental health insurance benefits? Does my plan offer out of -network reimbursement? What is my deductible? And has it been met?
How many sessions per year does my plan cover? How much of each session is covered?
Do I need to be approved for mental health services by my primary care physician?
How do I set up an initial session?
I offer a free 15-minute telephone consultation. We can schedule your initial appointment at the end of the phone consultation.
The easiest way to reach me is to call my office number at (510) 600-3734. If I am in session, don’t hang up! Please leave a message with your name, phone number, and a few good times to catch you. I will call you back within 48 hours.
What is your cancellation policy?
What should I expect before my first session?
What is therapy like with you?
It takes time to get to know one another and feel comfortable. In the first few sessions, I will be asking you questions.
What brought you into therapy at this time? Have you had therapy in the past, and if so, was it helpful? What symptoms or difficulties are you experiencing now? Do you believe that any triggering events motivated you to seek therapy?
I will ask many introductory questions to get to know you as a person. Where are you from originally? What are your interests? What do you do for work or what are you studying?
We will build a comfortable and safe rapport before diving into more vulnerable material. I will follow your lead with how much or how little you are comfortable discussing past or present emotional pain.
What types of modalities do you use in your clinical work?
I consider myself a psychodynamic psychotherapist. What does that mean? It means we will explore together and uncover some of the origins of symptoms and emotional patterns in your life.
We will do this by linking your early childhood and significant events in your life. If the link or connection that we have drawn resonates within you, you might experience an “a-ha moment” in which you can feel deeply understood. This experience, in turn, can allow for a release of energy and make you feel better.
Of course, not every moment of our time together will be spent in deep exploration. I will meet you where you are. Sometimes we will discuss appropriate coping strategies or Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy suggestions to target complex thoughts or symptoms. We can also practice them together through guided meditation and bringing awareness to the mind-body connection.
I will support and aid you as you build a “toolbox” for yourself to draw from during internal struggle and stress.
What is your professional training and experience?
I began my graduate school training with families experiencing grief and loss, working with children and adults. I then trained with school-aged children in the Oakland Public School system. This experience led me to dyadic therapy with caregivers and babies or toddlers through University of California at San Francisco Infant-Parent Program.
Eventually, I did my postgraduate year at Kaiser Martinez/Walnut Creek to experience the breadth of clients that Kaiser Permanente has to offer. This experience ranged from children to late adulthood and everything in between.
After finishing my dissertation and acquiring all the hours of training one needs to hold a license in California, I graduated from The Wright Institute (in Berkeley) and passed my licensing exam.
Can you provide an estimate of my total costs?
If you are paying privately or using “Out-of-Network” benefits for your therapy, I will provide you with a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your care will cost. Under the federal “No Surprises Act,” health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency services. You will be provided with a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least one business day before your first appointment. If you receive a bill at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
Is therapy what it looks like on TV or in the movies?
The short answer is no. We don’t usually have major mob bosses as our clients or get embroiled in secret love affairs or unprofessional client relationships. We have strict confidentiality rules, and it is not just unethical for a therapist to sleep with their client – it is illegal.
I will say that podcasts like Esther Perel and the showtime series “Couples Therapy” are good examples of how an experienced and thoughtful therapist works. This series provides a rare peek at what it’s like to witness deeply personal and conflictual struggles that we all experience in one way or another.
Another of the many reasons I love my work so much is that if I can be helpful to someone through their struggle, then I can also attest to the joy and relief that you can experience.