These are my policies:

Fees policies and Collection policies
My normal fee is $100 for individual and $125 for couple session.
Group fees are established at the time of each group.
Sliding Scale fees are available based on your annual household income.

Please pay your bill in full at the beginning of each session.
I will carry-over fees - for one time only - in case of forgotten checkbook or cash shortage.
I will not begin the next session until the past-due amount is paid.
Unpaid bills will be sent to a collection agency 30 days after due date.

Insurance Reimbursement
I will provide you with the appropriate billing form to submit to your insurance company to have your reimbursement sent directly to you.

Session length and frequency
Individual sessions are 50-minute hour.
Couple sessions are 100-minute hour.
Group sessions are 1-1/2 hour.
For optimal results, sessions are held once a week.

Cancellations or late arrival
A full fee will be charged for appointments you have not canceled 24 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment.

As soon as you know that you will be late for your appointment, please give me a call. I am waiting for you. If there is time, you will still get a full session. If not, your session will end at the usual time.

Phone Contacts and Phone Sessions
I have my phone with me at all times. However, there are times when I cannot immediately answer or quickly respond. I will respond at my first available opportunity.

The most reliable and valuable psychotherapy is always conducted in a face-to-face setting to enable non-verbal communication by both you and I to be considered. However, there may be exceptions, times or circumstances where telephone contact is useful.

These may be brief, between-session contacts, or long-distance sessions to facilitate your therapy when either you or I am out-of-town or otherwise unavailable or if one of us re-locates. Please explain your situation, I may be able to accommodate you.

If the phone contact is brief, 5 minutes or less, discussing business or schedule, there is no fee.

If the phone contact becomes a therapeutic session, is longer than 5 minutes, and discussing situations requiring therapeutic response, there will be a fee based on your usual fee and the length of the session.

Confidentiality
All of my therapy sessions are confidential with the following legally-mandated exceptions:
I must report any serious suspicions of child abuse, elder abuse or vulnerable adult abuse.
I must report in the event that I hear you make serious threats of suicide, specific threats against another person or person’s property.
While not mandated, I may have to respond if you are entering into litigation and refer to your therapy in support of your case.
Your records are kept in a locked file in a locked building.

Privacy
My door is closed and “white noise” is turned on whenever there are other people in the building.

Comfort
Bottled drinking water is provided for your comfort.
There is a restroom available in this office suite for your use.

Emergencies and Messages
If I am not immediately available to talk with you, please leave me a detailed  message. l will return your message as soon as possible.

Therapist fault
It should never happen, but if I ever should fail to be at the office for your appointment, your next session will be at no charge to you.

Your Feedback
You are expected and encouraged to talk about both the positive and negative thoughts and feelings you encounter as they apply to your relationship with me. It may be that you are anticipating responses similar to someone in your past which are the furthest thing from my thoughts or intentions. It is also possible that I have not understood you clearly and need more input from you in order to appropriately and thoroughly address your concerns.

Special circumstances may alter any policy. Please feel free and encouraged to discuss any situation or circumstance which may be appropriate for a modification of any of the above.