What are our standing fee’s?
We have a limited sliding scale at our center, with our standard fee set at $350 for individual sessions and $375 for couple sessions. Your actual fee is determined by your financial need and your insurance. Your rate may also vary according to who on staff you may be seeing. Give our office a call (631-696-2896) to speak with our office manager to determine your specific fee. We are also proud accepters of Lyra health care insurance. Please leave a message with a good time to reach you, if you miss our office manager.
What Insurance do we accept?
We are happy to provide you with a receipt to submit to your insurance for “out of network” reimbursement. You need to call your insurance to determine what if any out of network reimbursement you have, it may vary from 0% to 100% reimbursement. Typically out of network insurance covers about 80% of your fee.
- Does your employer offer Lyra Health?
- Can I see you with Lyra coverage?
- How does Lyra Health reimbursement work for out-of-network therapy?
We support clients with Lyra Health Care benefits, Lyra is one of the insurance providers we are in network providers for, therefore you should be 100% covered for your sessions.
What is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) ?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an action-oriented therapy, which requires participation and collaboration of both the therapist and patient. Other hallmarks of CBT include; setting tangible gradual goals – based on an ongoing exploration of your values, session agendas, pragmatic oriented problem solving, practicing flexible perspective taking, mindful distancing from your thoughts & assumptions, an emphasis on here and now and between session homework. Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), a modern version of CBT, which emphasizes opening up to difficult emotional experience if it leads to valued actions and growth, noticing your urges to avoid and replacing it other mindful practices. It changes not the content of our thoughts, but how we relate to our thinking.
How long will therapy take?
For most issues, CBT is short-term, lasting approximately twenty-four sessions to 48 sesseions (six months to a year). A moderate number of our patients choose to do longer term work to address underlying personality characteristics or more chronic, long lasting and/or complex disorders. CBT & ACT have become the most thoroughly researched and most often recommended type of psychotherapy for depression, anxiety disorders and a wide range of other psychological issues. The vast majority of our patients report that they have improved after a course of therapy, and that they can better manage their lives and relationships.
How does CBT work?
The primary focus of modern CBT & ACT is to help patients notice and decrease their reliance on self-defeating habits (e.g. avoidance patterns, compulsions, passivity, impulsiveness, aggressiveness, etc). Rather than avoid we cultivate a more opening or willing relationship with difficult sensations, if it leads to a life of value, we re-learn and replace our practice of more adaptive, life-enhancing ways to cope (e.g. gradual activity scheduling, pleasure planning, conflict resolution, assertiveness, active listening skills, mindfulness, behavioral experiments, distress tolerance, value based exposure, attention retraining, breathing retraining, etc). Cognitive and behavioral strategies complement each other, so when an impasse in therapy is reached, change in one area can stimulate change in the other. Because our thoughts can contribute to rigid and ineffective behavior, new ways of reacting to and/or relating to our thinking is an essential part of CBT. Experiential methods such as “behavioral experiments” may be used to see how adaptive our thinking and behavior actually is. “Mindfulness” may be used to see thoughts for more of what they actually are and to help us practice living in the present. Perhaps most difficult of all, a commitment to action (traditionally called exposure or desensitization) is based on each patient’s individual values and is an essential part of CBT.
What is the outcome research for CBT?
An impressive amount of scientific research has repeatedly documented the powerful effectiveness of CBT. CBT has been shown to be as effective as medication for the treatment of some forms of depression and anxiety. Furthermore, long-term relapse rates are lower for individuals treated with CBT than by medication alone.
Can medication be used with CBT?
For more severe, complex or long standing symptoms, CBT can make a very powerful combination with medication. In some circumstances, starting or continuing psychiatric medication and simultaneously starting CBT, is an effective approach to gain quick momentum and make breakthroughs where there might otherwise have been an impasse. We are Phd’s not MD’s (all psychologists are PhDs) and medication must be monitored by an MD. This could be your primary GP or an MD who specializes in psychiatric symptoms, i.e., a psychiatrist. We are happy to collaborate with you MD or refer you to one of our colleagues.
As a parent can I participate in my child or adolescent’s therapy session?
Parent participation is available on a case-by-case basis. Some degree of parent participation is typical of working with children and younger adolescents, and more frequent with young elementary & middle school children.
Why is homework important?
Working between sessions is a hallmark of modern therapies. If the only commitment we make is to show up in the therapy office once per week, the pace of change in therapy may be exceedingly slow, if effective at all. Learning to experiment, to think and act in flexible and new ways in our home and work environments is the key to transforming ourselves in therapy. Homework is initially suggested by your therapist, but is increasingly creatively and mutually constructed for each individual.
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) & why is this type of experiential therapy important in CBT?
ACT is a newer branch on the family of therapies known as a new or third generation of CBT’s. (DBT, ACT, FAP, MBSR, mindfulness based cognitive therapies, MBCT). These newer versions of CBT emphasize change through action. It emphasizes not the elimination of sensations and thoughts, but the building and broadening of attention, our skills, our strengths and valued actions. Altering our thinking is done through experimenting with our actions, courageous action, stepping outside our comfort zones emotionally in the name of growth. This is done in both practical ways (gradually facing situations which are difficult as in typical exposure therapy), but also through “experiential” and behavioral experiments. Such experiential exercises are individually constructed, flex our over-reliance on our rational problem solving. Over-control is often paradoxically the source of our problems, not the solution. Experiential’s can an even seem bizarre and counterintuitive, and therefore are paradoxical ways of learning to be more flexible in life, expanding our sense of ourselves and who we are.
Do we work with LGBTQ+ community?
Our staff is personally and professionally committed to representing and serving a diverse community. We want every client who comes to our center to feel safe, respected, and understood. We provide a supportive environment where you or your family can explore your mental health needs without fear of judgment or prejudice. We have received specialized training to understand the unique challenges, stressors, and experiences that impact the LGBTQ+ community. Our goal is to offer care that is research informed, competent and effective, while also genuine and compassionalte. We approach relationships creatively, and from an individual point of view. Finding out what works for you is our constant goal, be that monogamous, consensually non-monogamous, polyamorous, asexual, or heterosexual, trans or queer. Our staff has personal and professional experience living in or alongside all of these communities.