Is therapy confidential?

In general, the law protects the confidentiality of all communications between a client and psychotherapist. Information about what you have shared with me cannot be shared without written permission from you.

However, there are some legal and ethical limits to confidentiality that you should be aware of and that I will go over in detail in our first meeting. Those limits are suspected child abuse or dependent adult or elder abuse, or threats to seriously harm yourself or others.

The purpose for these exceptions relate to our responsibilities to ensure your safety and the safety of others, to the best of our abilities. For information about exceptions to confidentiality related to insurance, please refer to the Fees and Policies tab.

How frequently do clients go to therapy?

It has been my experience that weekly meetings, particularly in the beginning of a new therapeutic relationship have the best outcomes for successful therapy. Many clients would prefer to come every other week, largely due to financial concerns, which is very understandable as therapy is often an unplanned-for expense.

However that approach may actually impede one’s progress during a very difficult time and may end up backfiring. For this reason, I recommend that clients beginning therapy come once a week. Scheduling can be revisited over time as therapeutic goals and our relationship evolve.

How long does therapy last?

The answer to this question is entirely dependent on the person who is seeking therapy and what their goals for therapy are. As a therapist, I do not hold to the belief that therapy must go on for years and years in order to be successful. I can apply short-term, issue-specific therapeutic techniques for clients who are wanting to focus on a specific, less complex issue or I can work with clients on life-long issues that have significantly impacted every aspect of their lives.

In either case, the most successful therapeutic outcomes are had when the client is an active and engaged participant, in session and especially during the week when we are not meeting.

A note on the cost of therapy.

To gain the most powerful benefits from therapy it can be useful to see it as an investment in your ‘self’, which is your most important asset in this life. What I have seen time and time again is that the people who are most in need of therapy are often those who do not value themselves or their own needs and as a result, they find it very difficult to spend money on something they believe will only benefit themselves.

However, I have also observed how entire families can be positively benefited, even when only one of its members begins therapy. In this way, this critical investment in yourself can actually result in widely felt changes within your entire community.

When you see your own personal therapy as an investment in your life, as well as the lives of your loved ones, you come to sessions fully invested in the need to be present and open, and consequently, you will be able to extract the most that therapy has to offer.