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Everything you might want to know before you call.
How sessions work, what the first one is like, how confidentiality actually operates, and the practical matters people are often too polite to ask about.
Session length
50 minutes for individual work; 60–80 minutes for couples, depending on what we are doing.
Frequency
Usually weekly at first, moving to fortnightly or monthly as things settle.
Format
In person in Hollywood, Florida, or by secure telehealth anywhere in the state. Many people mix the two.
Cancellations
24 hours’ notice, please. Life happens — tell me as early as you can and we will work it out.
The first session
Mostly you talking, and me asking better questions than you expected.
You do not need to prepare anything. You do not need a tidy narrative of your childhood or a diagnosis you have researched in advance. If you have brought notes, that is fine too — plenty of people do.
The first fifty minutes are for understanding: what brought you here now rather than a year ago, what has already been tried, what the difficulty costs you in an ordinary week, and what “better” would actually look like if we got there. I will ask about your history, your health, your sleep, your relationships and your supports — not to be intrusive, but because those things are almost always part of the picture.
Towards the end we will talk about a plan: roughly how we would work, roughly how long, and what you might do before the next session. You are also free to use that time to ask me anything about how I work — a first session runs in both directions.
Nobody is committed to anything after one appointment. If you decide not to come back, you are welcome to say so, and welcome to say nothing at all.
What to bring
- Your completed intake form, if you have it — available here
- A list of any medications and supplements, including doses
- Names and contacts of other clinicians involved in your care
- Anything you have already tried, and how it went
- A question or two of your own, if you have them
Missing all of that? Come anyway. None of it is a requirement.
For telehealth appointments
- Somewhere private where you will not be overheard or interrupted
- Headphones, which help far more than people expect
- A stable connection — and a phone number as a backup if it drops
- Your physical location at the time of session, which I am required to note
- Something to write with, and tissues within reach
The practical part
Fees, insurance and paperwork.
Money is not an awkward question and you should never feel rude asking it. Please raise it on the free introductory call — it is one of the things that call is for.
Fees
Current fees for individual sessions, couples sessions and psychological evaluations are confirmed during the free introductory call and set out in writing in your intake paperwork before the first appointment. There are no hidden charges and no administrative fees for routine correspondence.
Insurance
Please ask about current insurance arrangements when you get in touch, as networks change. Where a plan is not accepted directly, a detailed receipt (a superbill) can be provided for you to submit to your insurer for out-of-network reimbursement, if your policy offers it.
Good Faith Estimate
Under the federal No Surprises Act, patients who are uninsured or not using insurance are entitled to a written Good Faith Estimate of expected costs before care begins. You will be given one automatically — you do not have to ask.
Evaluations
Psychological evaluations for bariatric surgery and for fertility treatment are billed separately from therapy, since they involve testing, interview and a written report. Turn- around times are agreed at the outset so your clinic is not left waiting.
Records & letters
You have the right to access your records. Requests for letters, reports or records for third parties are handled promptly; anything requiring substantial preparation is discussed with you first.
Between sessions
Brief practical contact between appointments — scheduling, a quick question — is normal and expected. Ongoing therapeutic work happens in session, where it can be given proper attention.
Confidentiality
What you say here stays here — with four narrow exceptions.
Confidentiality is the foundation of the whole enterprise, and it is protected by both Florida law and federal privacy rules. I will not confirm to anyone that you are a patient without your written permission.
Every psychologist in the United States has a small number of legally required exceptions, and you are entitled to know them before you start rather than discovering them later:
- Serious risk to your own life. If you are in immediate danger, I am obliged to act to keep you safe.
- Serious risk to someone else. A credible threat of harm to an identifiable person.
- Abuse or neglect of a child, an elderly person, or a vulnerable adult. Florida law requires reporting.
- A court order. Rare, and I would tell you and resist disclosure to the extent the law allows.
Beyond these, nothing leaves the room. Not to your employer, not to your family, not to your insurer beyond the minimum required for billing. If you would like me to speak with your physician or another clinician, that requires your written consent, and you can withdraw it at any time.
Couples and family work has its own arrangements about what is shared between participants. We agree those explicitly in the first session.
Common worries
Things people are nervous about asking.
Both happen constantly and neither is a problem. Silence in therapy is not wasted time — it is often where the useful thing is forming. Tissues are always within reach.
Then say so, and we will either fix it or I will help you find someone else. Therapist fit is one of the strongest predictors of whether therapy works, and no offence is taken. I would far rather you found the right person than politely endured the wrong one.
No. There is no threshold of suffering you must clear. “Other people have it worse” is true of almost everyone alive and has never once made anybody feel better.
Only where it is relevant to what you came for. Some work is almost entirely about the present. If your history matters to the difficulty, we will get there in a way that is paced by you.
No. That is not what a psychologist is for. I will help you see the situation clearly — including the parts you have been avoiding — so that whatever you decide is genuinely yours.
Psychologists in Florida do not prescribe. Where medication seems worth considering, I will discuss it openly and coordinate with your physician or a psychiatrist — with your consent. Many people do well with therapy alone; many do best with both.
Ready when you are
Start with fifteen minutes.
Free, no obligation, and often enough on its own to make the whole thing feel less daunting.