Standard therapy sessions are presently only done online. I do offer face-to-face sessions by Walk-Talk Therapy.

Click here to learn more about Walk-Talk Therapy.

Online therapy, sometimes called "telehealth," is a convenient option for doing therapy in the comfort of your own home. It also allows us to work together if you are elsewhere in the state of Arkansas, such as a small town where there aren't any therapists or anyone you can trust with your problems.

Online therapy works just like it would in an office. We'll talk about the problems you're experiencing, the changes you'd like to make, the outcomes you want to work toward, and develop a plan for helping you get there. Whether face to face or online, my hope for you is the same - to not just feel better after a session but create lasting change to live better!

You'll need a private place where you know you won't be bothered by anyone during the session, a computer or phone with a webcam, and a good Internet connection. This is so you know your confidentiality is protected and you can feel secure and engaged in the session.

The platform I use, SimplePractice, also allows me to share my screen with you if we do any work where it is helpful to call things up online or view something I may lay out - such as any cards used in Therapeutic Tarot.

A Good Faith Estimate (GFE) is an estimate of expected charges when you schedule an appointment for health care when paying for health care bills yourself. For therapy, this may include requesting an estimate for how much it will cost to meet once a week for 52 weeks (one year).

A GFE is not a bill and is only an estimate based on services at the time. It is not a contract and may not account for changes your provider makes, such as any increase in the cost of services over the predicted time frame.

You can find out more about Good Faith Estimates by clicking this link.

Life can be unpredictable and I want to accommodate that reasonably. If anything comes up, please let me know 24 hours (one day) in advance. This is because a time commitment has been made to you by your therapist and is held exclusively for you unless otherwise notified.

Appointments that are canceled, no-shows, or rescheduled with less than 24 hours advance notice will be charged a late cancellation fee. No-shows are sessions in which the client does not show up without any advance notice to the therapist.

The first session typically involves a bit of getting to know each other, discussing some of the policies, answering questions you may have, and starting to get into what you're looking for in our work together. That will help lay the groundwork for what therapy will look like going forward.

That will depend on the nature of your problems and your schedule. Some people start out meeting once a week. That gives us lots of opportunity to really talk about what is going on and get ideas about how to address your problems. It gives you the support you need early on as you really start to look at how you've been living life and how you want to be living life.

Other people might want to meet once every two weeks to allow for more time to reflect on sessions and try out new ways of relating to thoughts, feelings, and patterns of living. They may also choose to meet every two weeks because it fits their schedule or budget better.

Often, there will come a time when we will meet less - maybe every three or four weeks or more. This often happens as you start to make changes and improvements and need the support of a therapist less and less but still want some sessions for check-ins or accountability.

That will depend a lot on you, the work you put in, and what you hope to get out of therapy. It generally isn't like physical medicine in which you often have a course of treatment that will take a certain number of weeks for recovery. Therapy is a process that often involves changing some of the fundamental ways you've been relating to your thoughts and feelings and living your life.

There will be times when you're making rapid progress and times when progress seems slow. There may even be times when you have setbacks and fall into your old patterns - but that's completely natural and doesn't mean you failed therapy. Change is hard! Even change you want to happen.

Some people only need a few sessions to deal with a recent crisis or short-term issue. Other people will take longer to work through more involved things such as childhood trauma or examining religious conditioning related to your gender or sexuality.

Many people start with a therapist with the idea that they will work on a specific problem for a short period of time then decide to continue work on other things. As one area of their life starts to improve and they see changes, they may notice other things they struggle with that they would like to address.

Ultimately, you most likely be the one to decide when you have reached a point at which you are satisfied with your work and want to end therapy.

While I won't tell you that you must do this or that for therapy, there are some things that you the client can do that help your work go better - which ultimately can mean less time and money spent on therapy that you'd like to be using for other things!

First, it helps to be fully engaged in your therapy in sessions. This means showing up for therapy ready to have those hard conversations you know you need to have rather than avoiding them. While not every session has to be a gut-wrenching experience, avoiding the discomfort of talking about the real issues you want to work on with your therapist ultimately undermines your therapy. Together, we will create the space to help you feel supported in talking about those difficult things.

Second, being actively involved in making changes outside of therapy goes a long way as well. While it may feel good to talk with a therapist and unburden yourself for a little while, that alone doesn't always lead to lasting change. Doing the work outside of therapy, such as applying grounding and mindfulness tools you learn, accepting the presence of some discomfort, and leaning into meaningful action aligned to your values will help you in the long run.

Going to therapy without working on change in your life outside of therapy is a bit like going to school and expecting to learn everything without ever doing homework.

Finally, being honest when something isn't working helps a lot! While it's natural to worry that your therapist may be disappointed to know you're struggling with something you've been working on for so long, or that something they're trying isn't really working for you, this is ultimately about you and your needs. A good therapist will be open to your feedback and either flexible enough to modify their approach to fit your needs or know when it is time to refer you to someone else who may have more expertise about your struggles or just be a better fit for your style.

Ideally, there will come a time when you feel like you are ready to take on life on your own and don't need our work anymore. When that time comes, it's often helpful to schedule one more session. The idea of this last session is to wrap up with a discussion about how far you've come, the things that helped you get there, and how you're going to keep those changes in place rather than falling back into old patterns. It may also involve talking about how you would know if you start to fall back into old habits and how you'll get yourself back on track if you do.