Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs
What is sex therapy?
Sex therapy addresses sexual health concerns through discussing sexual feelings, behaviors, and attitudes in a confidential and respectful setting. In relationship therapy, I help you explore your sexual concerns, understand underlying issues, and develop strategies to increase satisfaction. Common topics include erectile dysfunction, low desire, sexual trauma, communication difficulties, and sexual identity concerns. Through open dialogue, education, and exercises, sex therapy aims to enhance sexual satisfaction, intimacy, and overall well-being.
What is EMDR?
Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapeutic approach to reduce distress from traumatic memories and other adverse life experiences and reach a more adaptive state of being. EMDR improves information processing and creation of more adaptive associations which presents as reduced emotional distress and more cognitive insights about past events. Studies show that people can experience the benefits of years of psychotherapy through EMDR. Successful treatment includes a reduction in distress, improved mood, reformulated negative beliefs, and reduced physiological arousal to related stressors. The underlying assumption is that the brain naturally moves towards mental health and EMDR helps remove blocks to healing such as the impact of disturbing events.
EMDR is recognized as an effective form of treatment by the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, and the Department of Defense. For more information, visit the EMDR Institute.
What is the intake process like?
For all services, I start with an assessment of your symptoms, life experiences, relationship patterns, and socio-cultural dynamics to understand the context of your experience.
For individual, EMDR, and sex therapy, this process can take between 1 to 3 sessions.
For couple therapy, the first and second session are 90-minutes. In the first session, I meet with both partners to understand their relationship history, concerns, and goals for therapy. In the second session, I meet with each partner individually for 45 minutes to understand their background and perspectives. At the third session, we review your treatment plan and findings from the assessment process.
How long will this take?
There is no “one-size fits all” answer to this question. Length of therapy is dependent on client-therapist fit, session frequency, the client’s motivation and awareness, trauma history, and external stressors to name a few variables. Typically, clients may experience a measurable difference after 12 sessions.
Do you accept insurance?
I do not panel with any insurance companies. I can support you with providing you a superbill if you would like to use out-of-network benefits. Couple therapy and 90-minute sessions are rarely reimbursed. Please contact your insurance company directly to inquire about your benefits. There are benefits to not using insurance including being able to provide services to folks that don’t meet diagnostic criteria, as is often the case in couple and sex therapy, and allows for a wider variety of therapeutic approaches and greater confidentiality. Payment is collected the morning of your appointment and charged to the credit card on file.