Office Hours:
Monday -Thursday
Sessions offered at: 1pm, 2pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm.
Fees:
Standard Session:
$130 per 50 minute session
Payment forms accepted:
Cash
Check
Insurance*
*If you would like to use insurance to pay for sessions, you are welcome to submit my receipt to your insurance company. Many insurance companies will reimburse their clients with a receipt of services rendered. I will be happy to work with you and your insurance company; however I do not guarantee reimbursement from any given company and do not bill insurance companies directly.
An interesting perspective on the costs of Marriage Counseling
by Willard F. Harley author of “His Needs Her Needs “ as seen on Marriage Builders website:
Cost varies widely among marriage counselors. But before we talk about cost, I strongly advise you against counselors that cannot see you soon and often. That rules out most Health Maintenance Organizations which are free or low cost because their overworked counselors are usually weeks away from taking new couples, and they tend to schedule follow-up appointments weeks apart. Furthermore, their counselors are not likely to talk to you on the telephone prior to an appointment.
Does INSURANCE cover couples/marital counseling?
Insurance generally will not pay for marriage counseling unless the counselor finds you or your spouse suffering from a mental disorder. Marriage counseling is covered as treatment for the disorder, but not otherwise. If you see a counselor who uses your insurance, you can be almost certain that you’ve been diagnosed to have a mental disorder. It’ll be on your record for years to come and may prevent you from obtaining certain jobs or qualifying for certain types of insurance. Furthermore, if you really do not have a mental disorder, but it’s been diagnosed just to collect insurance, your insurance company may challenge the diagnosis leaving you responsible for the bill. If you’re offered counseling for what your insurance pays with no other cost to you, it’s illegal. Call your insurance company or your state’s insurance commissioner to report the attempt to commit insurance fraud.
Out of pocket expenses.
It’s safe to assume that you may need to pay for therapy out of your pocket. So how much do marriage counselors charge? Rates vary from about $75 to $500 per session. The average is about $200. Since most marriage counselors see couples one session a week for the first three months, you can expect to pay about $2500 in that period of time if it’s at about $200/hr. Most of my clients have paid under that amount by the time they’ve completed therapy. But some counseling can continue weekly for as long as two years before the problems have been resolved. That might cost a couple $10,000 over two years. While it may seem like a fortune, the cost of divorce is often many times that figure.
To help put the cost of marriage counseling in perspective, there’s nothing you can buy for $10,000 that will give you the same quality of life that a healthy marriage provides. If you and your spouse love each other and meet each other’s important emotional needs, you’ll be able to do without many other things and still be happier in the end. Besides, I’ve found that people seem to earn more and save more after their marital problems are solved. The money you spend to resolve your marital problems is money well spent.
The reasons I choose not to bill insurance directly:
1. Lack of confidentiality: Insurance companies require diagnosis information and other treatment information in order to authorize treatment. Once this is provided therapist can no longer insure that the information will remain confidential.
2. Difficulty getting treatment approved: Sometimes there is a lengthy process involved in getting authorization for treatment. This can cause your treatment to be inconsistent, and incongruent, causing delays in getting the help that you need.
3. Dictating treatment: Insurance companies often will only cover specific methods of treatment, not necessarily the latest and most effective techniques.
4. Misdiagnosing and over-diagnosing in order to get treatment authorized: most insurance companies will not cover treatment unless it is “medically necessary.” This may mean the client has to “pretend” to have a diagnosis in order to receive benefits.
5. Most insurance companies do not cover marriage or couples counseling unless it is part of a treatment plan for a more serious mental disorder.
