STATEMENT OF PRACTICE POLICIES

APPOINTMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

Please remember to cancel or reschedule 24 hours in advance. You will be responsible for the entire fee if cancellation is less than 24 hours.

A $10.00 service charge will be charged for any checks returned for any reason for special handling.

Cancellations and re-scheduled session will be subject to a full charge if NOT RECEIVED AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE. This is necessary because a time commitment is made to you and is held exclusively for you. If you are late for a session, you may lose some of that session time.

PROFESSIONAL FEES

My fees are $150 for my standard 60-minute individual session and $210 for my standard 90-minute couples session.  I may adjust these fees annually.

I do not accept insurance. Why? Because: (1) using self-pay ensures greater confidentiality. for you and (2) insurance companies require a mental health diagnosis that you may not want in your permanent medical record for a variety of reasons.

You are expected to pay for each session at the time it is held by Zelle, Venmo or credit card.

At your request, I will give you an invoice at year end if it will help you with tax preparation.

TELEPHONE ACCESSIBILITY

If you need to contact me between sessions, please leave a message on my voice mail at (941) 306 1235.

I am often not immediately available; however, I will attempt to return your call within 24 hours.

Please note that face- to-face sessions via Zoom are highly preferable to phone sessions.

However, in the event that you unabke to use Zoom (e.g., are out of town with no availale internet connection, or are sick or need additional support), phone sessions are available.

If a true emergency situation arises, please call 911 or go to the closest local emergency room.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATION

Due to the importance of your confidentiality and the importance of minimizing dual relationships, I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc).

I believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy.

It may also blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship.

If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

I cannot ensure the confidentiality of any form of communication through electronic media, including text messages. If you prefer to communicate via email or text messaging for issues regarding scheduling or cancellations, I will do so.

While I may try to return messages in a timely manner, I cannot guarantee immediate response and request that you do not use these methods of communication to discuss therapeutic content and/or request assistance for emergencies.

TERMINATION

Ending relationships can be difficult. Therefore, it is important to have a termination process in order to achieve some closure. The appropriate length of the termination depends on the length and intensity of the treatment. I may terminate treatment after appropriate discussion with you and a termination process if I determine that the psychotherapy is not being effectively used or if you are in default on payment. I will not terminate the therapeutic relationship without first discussing and exploring the reasons and purpose of terminating. If therapy is terminated for any reason or you request another therapist, I will provide you with a list of qualified psychotherapists to treat you. You may also choose someone on your own or from another referral source (e.g., psychologytoday.com or goodtherapy.com)