Frequently Asked Questions

Licensed Mental Health Counselors, or LMHC's, provide therapy and support for individuals and families trying to cope with emotional, psychological, and/or behavioral difficulties, including diagnosed mental health disorders. Mental health counseling helps people manage thoughts and emotions, set goals, and establish behaviors needed to meet those goals. Some mental health professionals specialize in one area, such as substance abuse and addictions, rehabilitation, educational or career issues, or marital and relationship issues. Others in the field of Mental Health Counseling are generalists, trained to treat a variety of disorders or difficulties. 

Those seeking the expertise of mental health counselors might simply feel overwhelmed with stressful jobs, jobs that often require individuals to spread themselves between work and family responsibilities. Likewise, many students may feel overwhelmed at times managing all of their responsibilities. Goal setting and revising is a part of everyone’s life, and sometimes the path one takes gets derailed, either in a career or in a relationship, due to a number of circumstances often beyond anyone’s control. From teens struggling with self-esteem issues, to adults with anger management issues, to those who feel anxious or depressed, to those who procrastinate or struggle to set and achieve goals, mental health counseling employs psychotherapy and other interventions to help and treat individuals from all age groups. Basically, mental health counseling helps all people struggling through any type of difficulty. Simply by listening and supporting individuals, or the process of psychotherapy, many individuals receive invaluable help. It often only takes a caring, sensitive person not directly related to a person to provide fresh ideas and objective, informed feedback. 

I typically do a full 60 minute session with adult clients, give or take a few minutes to allow for a natural stopping point. I don't like to cut people off mid-topic, so I allow some flexibility to allow for that. With child clients, the sessions may be shorter, 45-50 minutes, to allow for their shorter attention spans and/or clean up of toys, art materials, etc.

Yes, I work with both children and adolescents. All therapists, whether counselors, social workers, or psychologists, are trained as generalists. That means we all have the skills and training to work with adults ages 18 - 80+. Training to work with any special population, which includes children and adolescents, usually requires additional coursework and training. I selected my graduate training site to specifically provide the additional training I wanted to work with children, teens, parents and families. As a result, I have training and experience in working with not only adults, but also children, teens, couples and families.

Yes. As a New York state licensed mental health provider, your insurance should cover my services. Please see the insurance page of my website to determine whether I am an in-network provider for your specific insurer. It is highly recommended that you call your insurer to verify your benefits, so that you can know what your out-of-pocket cost will be. Some plans have a deductible which you will be required to meet before the insurance begins reimbursing, although any other medical costs you have during the year would typically also apply towards the deductible. Also, even if I am not "in-network"with your insurance plan, you may have out-of-network benefits that will cover some or most of the cost.