The Nuts and Bolts

For clients coming from out of town, the protocol differs. If you are  considering seeing me and you are from out of town, call me to discuss block therapy (longer session lasting between 2 and 5 hours).

In order to help you decide whether or not it’s a good fit, I offer a free 30-minute consultation, a meet-and-greet where you get to ask me anything you want and feel out whether or not you would like to begin treatment with me. This is not for therapy, but just a chance to get a feel for who I am and ask me about my approach or anything else that may be important to you. The way to set up this free consult is to email me and request an intake form, fill it out, and email the intake form back to me.

If after this meeting you decide that you want to receive treatment from me, and if I think that I can help you, the next step is to set up the first session. The first individual session is 3 hours long, though you can stop the session whenever you want and you only pay for what you use. So if you terminate the session after 15 minutes you pay only for those 15 minutes. For all other sessions you pay for the scheduled time, not use of time.

Initial couples and family therapy sessions are often 2-3 hours.

There are a couple of reasons for the longer first session. People that are good at it can stay on their best behavior for the first hour or so. Extending the initial therapy session creates an opportunity for more meaningful work to take place, in that we are more likely to get below the surface. We will be able to accomplish more by condensing 3 hours of work into the first session rather than spreading the 3 hours out over 3 weeks. Another reason that we set aside 3 hours in the first session is that it will let us know whether or not we will be able to do effective work together. I aim to do effective work and we will have a clear sense after the first 3 hour meeting whether or not I will be able to really help you. I am not the best fit for everyone and the extended first session should let us know whether or not continuing makes sense. This is not the kind of work where after 6 months you will say, “I think this is helping a little, but I am not sure.”

Ongoing sessions are between 45 and 55 minutes, though the option of having longer ongoing sessions is available. I charge $150 per “hour,” though this “hour” is anywhere between 45 and 55 minutes. Payment is due at the end of each session.

Video/electronic therapy sessions are available if you live far from Tucson, AZ, though face-to-face sessions are strongly encouraged, especially for the initial session.