Starting therapy can come with a lot of questions.

The first session is a chance for us to start getting to know each other and understand what brought you to therapy. You do not need to arrive with a perfectly organized explanation of your life.

That is okay. Sometimes it is more like, “I don’t really know. I just know something isn’t working.” We can start there.

You do not have to wait until your life is falling apart. Something does not have to become a crisis before it is worth understanding.

No. You do not need to diagnose yourself before coming to therapy. If you use insurance, a mental health diagnosis is generally required for billing.

My approach is collaborative, conversational, and active. We may process difficult feelings, look at patterns and beliefs, consider another perspective, learn a practical skill, or challenge an assumption.

Yes. I offer telehealth for clients located in Missouri, in addition to in-person appointments at my St. Charles office.

The initial session is $135. Ongoing sessions are $125.

Generally, yes. There are circumstances in which therapists are legally or ethically required to disclose information, including certain safety and mandated-reporting situations.

We’ll talk about what you’re looking for and whether it fits the work I do. Fit also develops through working together, and therapy should be collaborative enough that we can talk honestly about the therapy itself. If another provider or type of treatment would be more appropriate, we can discuss that, too.

I am in-network with Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, and UMR. My billing service verifies benefits for clients who plan to use insurance, but verification may not be completed before the first appointment and is not a guarantee of claim payment.

Frequency depends on what you’re working on, what is clinically appropriate, and what is realistic for you. It can change as your needs change.

There is no single answer. It depends on what brings you in, what you want to change, how longstanding the patterns are, what is happening in your life, and how therapy progresses. Therapy should be helping you move toward something rather than continuing indefinitely simply because you started.