A question we’ve been getting a lot from new referrals at the practice is, “why go self-pay for therapy if you have health insurance that covers therapy”? This is a totally valid question and one we are happy to answer!

It is our belief that there are innumerable benefits to going self-pay over insurance. The biggest one is that insurance totally changes the dynamic between the therapist and the client as well as the entire process. When you seek therapy through your insurance that therapist will be forced to diagnose you within the first couple weeks of meeting you. Often this is not an accurate assessment or picture of a person’s total mental health nor does it describe the reason a person is the way that they are. For instance, unresolved trauma can often present in both children and adults as ADHD symptoms as a result of the brain chemistry of trauma. Clients are often not comfortable disclosing trauma in the first couple sessions so this would likely not be included in their diagnosis and the client would be given the label ADHD instead. Once a therapist renders this diagnosis she/he will submit it on a billing sheet to your insurance in order to get your insurance to cover a certain number of sessions. From this moment on your insurance company dictates the entire course of therapy from the amount of sessions you have to your treatment plan and even to the style of the therapist. We know that the great majority of therapists practice very ethically, but it is also commonplace for therapists to bump up a diagnosis and make it more severe in order to get more sessions covered. It feels like they are doing this for the benefit of the client who desperately needs therapy regardless of what their diagnosis is. Unfortunately, once a diagnosis is rendered to your insurance company it becomes part of your permanent medical record. Your doctor and any hospital you go to will have access to this information and potentially others like life insurance companies. At our practice, we collaborate with other professionals every day to ensure well-rounded care for our clients. It should be your decision (and your decision alone) who your information is given to and how it is used. When you sign our privacy forms, you know that it is within our practice only and it will not correspond to anyone else’s system.

At Holistic Therapy and Healing our first mission is just to build a relationship with our clients. We want them to feel completely safe and comfortable with us. We allow the process of therapy to unfold at whatever pace the client is comfortable working at and we work to meet them wherever they are in their process. Our approach is creative and eclectic. It is driven by a deep fundamental intention to help others heal rather than a bureaucratic paperwork process for coverage. In working outside of your insurance, your therapist has the freedom to use any technique or style that will help you to heal and grow. She can choose any goal or objective and is not limited to “a reduction in symptoms”. Sessions at our practice are longer and once you are comfortable, much deeper in content. This facilitates healing on your own schedule rather than someone else’s.

Operating outside the insurance model also creates a special type of accountability for our clients. Our clients are motivated, they are on time for sessions, they’ve completed any homework assignments, and they maximize every ounce of their session time to challenge themselves. Inherent in this dynamic is cost and value.

With our level of specialty and expertise, our rates are very competitive and keep the process accessible to most families. For those that are highly motivated and seeking a self-pay private practice feel yet don’t have the financial resources to do so, we have brought on a graduate student nearing the end of her program. She is licensed and under direct supervision of the practice owner. Her sessions are at a 40% rate of the postgraduate staff. If you’re interested in working with her please reach out to [email protected] and put “Intern” in your subject line.

Thanks for reading!