1. If we decide to use health insurance for therapy or counseling you must receive a psychiatric diagnosis which is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and without exception, be considered mentally ill.

2. This is not to dissuade you from seeking treatment. Psychotherapy and counseling have been shown to be of great benefit to millions and millions of people. The purpose of this page, in part, is to help you make informed decisions about insurance use before moving forward.

3. I specialize in working with children and adolescents. Many times the issues that bring a child to counseling can be handled in a handful of sessions. It is for this reason that I recommend that parents pay out of pocket as long as their child is not under the care of a psychiatrist or prescribed medication. In paying out of pocket, the insurance companies are not involved and there is no paper trail carrying a psychiatric diagnosis.

4. Many people have looked into Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA’s) which allow for mental health payments to be made without using insurance.