"Do You Take Insurance?" A Straight Answer.
It's usually the first question I get. Fair. Therapy is an investment, and you deserve a real answer instead of a paragraph of fine print.
So here it is: I don't bill insurance directly. My rate is $185 per session, and I offer a sliding scale. Many of my clients use their out-of-network benefits to get a significant portion of their payments back, and I partner with a service called Mentaya that handles their claims.
That's the short version. The longer version matters, because how you pay for therapy shapes what therapy can be.
Insurance isn't the bad guy
Let's clear that up first. Insurance helps millions of people receive care, and if you use your out-of-network benefits with me, you're using your insurance. This isn't an anti-insurance post.
Here's the actual difference. When a therapist is in-network, the insurance company sets the terms: the rate, the documentation, often the number of sessions. In a private-pay practice, you and I set the terms. Not heroes and villains. Just two structures with different trade-offs.
What private pay gets you
Choice. You pick your therapist based on fit, not a directory. Decades of research prove the wonderful thing: the relationship between you and your therapist is one of the strongest predictors of whether therapy works. Fit isn't a luxury. It's the mechanism.
Flexibility. We decide together how often we meet, what we work on, and when we're done. No outside party deciding you or your teenager is "finished" at session twelve.
Privacy, held carefully. I take privacy seriously, especially for teenagers. In a straight private-pay arrangement, your records stay between us. If you choose reimbursement through your out-of-network benefits, a claim is sent to your insurer that includes a diagnosis. I have no problem providing an accurate one, and for many families, the money-back guarantee is well worth it. The point is that it's your call. Some families choose full privacy. Some choose reimbursement. Both are legitimate, and nobody makes that decision but you.
What you're actually paying for
Twenty-plus years of working with teenagers, in two different rooms. Before I was a therapist, I was a professional classical bassist and a public school orchestra director. I watched hundreds of kids navigate pressure, perfectionism, and burnout in real time, long before any of it had a name attached. Now I do that work as a clinician, with better tools.
I specialize in teens, couples, and neurodivergent clients. No fixing, no fluff. You know the drill.
How Mentaya works
Here's the part most therapy websites skip. Let's not.
You check your out-of-network benefits through Mentaya. Takes a few minutes.
You pay my full rate at each session.
After every session, Mentaya automatically submits a claim for you. No superbills, no phone trees.
Your insurance reimburses you directly. On average, Mentaya clients get back about 62%.
The honest fine print: Mentaya charges a 5% fee per claim ($9.25 on a $185 session); reimbursement can take 1-45 days; and if your insurer denies a claim, you're responsible for the session cost while Mentaya refunds its fee and handles the appeal. Using Mentaya is completely optional, and I don't benefit from it in any way. It exists to save you money. That's it.
About the sliding scale
I hold a limited number of sliding-scale spots because cost shouldn't be what keeps a teenager, a couple, or a brain that works differently from getting real help. If $185 isn't workable, ask. Details are on my pricing page.
Still not sure?
That's what the free 20-minute chat is for. We'll figure out what makes sense for your situation. No pressure, no pitch. Want to know your numbers first? Check your benefits here. More questions? The FAQ has you covered.
