QUICK START

I will be happy to work with you if our schedules and intentions align, and to speak with you before meeting. Until then, here are answers to the most common questions people ask:

You’re welcome to Click HERE to schedule an appointment but please take a moment learn basics of working with me from this FAQ.

Location: I am only meeting virtually. I am licensed to work with clients who are residents of and/or physically located in the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Florida, at the time we meet. If you are located elsewhere, please let me know that ahead of time so I can find out if your locality permits us to work together.

Insurance I take: Aetna (only employer-provided plans, not Medicaid or Medicare)

All other insurance: out-of network
I am happy to submit claims for you, so that your insurer will reimburse you directly. If you have out-of-network benefits (please check on this!), your insurer must reimburse you within 30 days of a claim being submitted. Insurers decide payment and reimbursement rates, so please call the number on your on your insurance card to ask how your mental health benefits work. Here’s a form to help.

FEES:
Private pay and any insurance other than Aetna:
$225 individual, couple or family sessions
$275 first session (it’s longer and more involved)

Missed appointments and late cancellations:
$96, unless there is a genuine (family or medical) emergency

Make an appointment (they last 45 minutes): here. I get busy, so you may not see many openings. Please check my calendar often, especially the day before you want to meet: that’s when new openings show up due to someone re-scheduling.

I only meet clients remotely. All you need is a quiet, private space to meet and computer with a working camera and microphone. For more information about that, see the TELEHEALTH page of this site.

HOURS: I am available to meet starting at these times:
TUES: first 11:00 am - last 6:30 pm
WEDS: first 10:00 am - last 6:30 pm
THURS: first 9:30 am - last 6:15 pm
FRI: first 9:00 am - last 4:15 pm

HANDLING EMERGENCIES

I am not able to provide crisis counseling. If you are in crisis, it’s better for you to have a team of people to work with, not just one. As an individual therapist in private practice I am very busy seeing patients and working to improve my skills as a therapist. I do my best to return communications within 24 hours.

So:
If you are in a crisis and need help right away please contact one of these places instead :

in New York City: NYC WELL ph: 888-692-9355 or text to 65173

in New York State: office of Mental Health 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text Got5 to 741741

Nationwide: SAMSHA, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), TTY: 1-800-487-4889

LEARN THE BASICS in MORE DETAIL

If, once you've covered these basics, you decide to work with me, feel free phone me at 929-484-0700 to confirm we're a good fit for each other. To learn more, read on:

Meetings are by appointment only. There are many more daytime than evening openings. Please consider coming in during the day. As a solution focused practitioner I am committed to making every single session count. For many issues, one or just a few sessions may well be all it takes to get the results you seek, provided you come to sessions prepared to work.

I am open to working with you at whatever frequency you would like. Weekly appointments and long term work are certainly options, I just don’t assume they are the only ones.

You can go to my online calendar and make an appointment or check to see what’s available. Since I allow you to change your appointment time up to 24 hours in advance and don’t require you to commit to a regular meeting time, my schedule changes quite frequently. If you don't see a time you want, keep checking the calendar - something is likely to open up.

Learn HOW FEES WORK

You can choose to pay privately, use your in-network benefits with Aetna (please note I am only in network with Aetna employer-provided plans, not Medicaid or Medicare) or check with on your out-of network benefits with another insurer. You can use this form to call your insurer to find out how your mental health benefits work.

Payment is due at the time of the session. My scheduling system is set up take payment cards, and you will need to enter one into the system to reserve an appointment.

Making an appointment means you have accepted your obligation to attend it. Not showing up deprives another person of the slot and me of income. I charge $95 for missed appointments, including first appointments

decide what's right for you

Insurers will not pay for purely sexual or couples' issues in the absence of another diagnosis. In my experience, most relationship or sexual issues don't need a long time to resolve. Sexual issues lend themselves very well to short term therapy (1-10 sessions). Couples issues, as well, do not require many sessions if you are willing to try and do new things between sessions and focus on making improvements.

I assume you want to succeed, and provide you with experiments to try resources to engage with and tools to support your success. It may be worth your while to pay privately and use your session time wisely.

You should be aware that using your mental health benefits requires you to have a diagnosis and will create a written record of your visit. Insurance companies are increasing the amount of scrutiny they subject psychotherapy to: reviewing patient records, interfering with how therapy is done, limiting patient’s access to treatment, denying claims.

The only way to completely protect your privacy is to pay privately

I spell this out so you can be aware of your options and choose what works best for you and your situation. Whatever that is, I encourage you to do what's right for you, and respect your decision.

IF YOU DECIDE to USE INSURANCE

Please check your mental health benefits before starting therapy.

As a solo practitioner, I am not able do that for you and still have time to provide the quality of service that is my top priority. I want you to have the best possible experience in therapy with no surprises, (like having to switch to to another provider because you didn't check ahead of time), so thanks for checking your benefits for yourself.

More and more therapists no longer accept insurance because it of the many difficulties and limitations involved. I still accept Aetna as a courtesy to my clients, but I may have to doing so altogether due to the high number of claims that go unpaid.

The company that covers your medical benefits may well not cover mental health benefits. So, please call the number on the back of your card. Here's that form, again. Please use it.

IN NETWORK INSURANCE

I accept Aetna. That’s it. I will charge you only what your contract with Aetna stipulates.

OUT-OF-NETWORK INSURANCE

I publish my fees so you can figure out ahead of time how your arrangement with your insurer works. I can either submit claims to your insurer for you (when that’s an option) or provide you with a properly-coded coded statement to submit to your insurance company to be reimbursed by them.

While your out-of-network insurer might reimburse you at a rate other than my full fee, I expect you to pay me my full fee, whether it’s by a combination of you and your insurer, if your insurer will pay me directly. (BCBS and CIgna don;t) or by you the day of the of the session.

TO DISCUSS WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE

If after having read about how I work in general, and/or how I work with relationships, how I work with sexual issues or how I work with stress you still have questions, feel free phone me at 929-484-0700, introduce yourself and let me know what you want to work on, so we can get a sense of how we might work together. Otherwise, feel free go ahead and to book a session.