Frequently Asked Questions

I work by appointment. I’d love to talk to you or text to arrange an appointment. My number is (860) 538-3266. I’m usually in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Appointments are available generally between 9-5; however, other times may be made upon request.

A standard session is 45 minutes. Some people prefer an hour, and I can accommodate that.

Clients benefit the most from weekly sessions. It’s important to stay engaged and connected to making changes in your life. When the frequency of sessions (especially at the beginning of therapy) is less than once per week, I find that clients are not able to use therapy as well and it is less helpful. If you absolutely cannot come once per week, let’s talk about viable alternatives in your free consultation.

It seems like a lot of people wonder about this! It’s hard to know before you start. I try to move as quickly as possible in therapy, balancing the importance of being effective with the importance of being efficient. After we’ve met for a few times, I’ll have a much better idea of how long you can expect therapy to take.

I do not participate with any insurance companies, and I do not expect that this will change. I encourage you to check with your insurance company to see how much they will reimburse you for out-of-network therapy.

Insurance companies are structured to benefit by allowing you the least amount of treatment possible. Their interest is in their profit and not in your mental or physical health. Most insurance companies tightly control how much treatment they will pay for and what diagnoses they are willing to pay for.

Not only that, your privacy is lost when you use insurance. Because they require information about your diagnosis, and often the kind of progress you are making, to pay for therapy. Your right to keep these details private is gone once you choose to use insurance. This kind of information is then available to other companies. (For example, I once had a client who was denied life insurance based on a diagnosis that was given him by another doctor. The diagnosis was not accurate to begin with. It made him look far sicker than he was. But, it was a diagnosis for which the insurance company would pay for more treatment. Nightmare for this guy).

In addition, since I’m the one with the most training in your mental health services as compared with the decision makers at the insurance company, I know more than they do about what you need. I do not feel it is ethical to allow them to be in charge of your treatment instead of me. I have seen people be cut off from services when they are in the middle of a crisis or not quite recovered from severe problems, and it is brutal. I will not be party to that kind of poor planning.

I also will not give you a diagnosis that will guarantee payment by insurance unless you meet diagnostic criteria for that diagnosis.

At present, a 45-minute session is $175. At times, some feel they prefer a 60-minute session for $200.

My office accepts checks, cash, credit cards (Mastercard, Visa, American Express & Discover), and PayPal. Payment is expected at the time of service. HSA cards can also be used.

Similar to a lot of doctors’ offices, my policy is that any appointments that are missed without a 24-hour advance notice incur the regular charge for that appointment. I do make exceptions for when you are suddenly ill. I mean, it’s often hard to predict those things a day in advance. Also, I don’t stress about you coming in to see me if you have a cold. Come anyway if you feel up to it. I’m responsible for maintaining my own immune system.

I am a DBT practitioner (I have been doing Dialectical Behavior Therapy since 1996) which means I also do CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and Mindfulness. This includes behavioral treatment for panic, anxiety and phobias, treatment for OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), helping you handle your emotions, and treatment for self-harm, self-hatred, depression and suicidal ideation.

I specialize in working with trauma and highly sensitive individuals.

Most of my practice consists of individuals (about 2/3 adults and 1/3 adolescents). I don’t see children under the age where they can do a lot of cognitive and abstract processing (we can discuss individual cases, but the absolute lower limit is around 9 or 10 years old).

I love to see couples as well and am usually involved with a few couples.

I’m a clinical psychologist, and we do therapy, not medication. A psychiatrist is the kind of doctor that you see for medication. So, no, I do not prescribe medication. I also don’t require it and will never push you to take medication. Often medication can get in the way of successful treatment (particularly if you are overmedicated), but sometimes it can help treatment go better. You and I can make that decision together, looking carefully at all the facts.

I do what is called phone coaching. These are short (usually about five minutes) phone calls where I help coach you in what skills you can be using at that moment to help you through the crisis. I encourage all my clients to take advantage of this.

You’d think that people overuse it, but the reality is that it’s more common that clients don’t use this enough and end up getting in more trouble than they might have otherwise if they had simply texted or called me.

I’m not always available, and I don’t stay up all night waiting for people to call me. I maintain my own boundaries, so there is no worry about you “interrupting” me. That’s on me, not you. Your job is to call or text when you need extra help. If I can help you (and usually I can within a reasonable amount of time), then I will.

Well, life experience is indeed valuable and overestimated. We are all humans and can, to a good extent, imagine for ourselves what another person might be feeling in most circumstances.

However, one way in which I realized that this wasn’t quite true was my experience of being a single mother (I did that back during graduate school, and I’m telling you, I don’t recommend it!). Being a single mother is WAY harder than I ever imagined it would be!

I am married and have children. I also have a flock of chickens, and although they aren’t as cute as my kids and not very smart, they are *almost* as entertaining. I’m a musician. I like cooking and reading. I don’t watch much TV. I’m a total nerd, and I really like to read research articles. Like a lot.

But possibly my best talent other than getting excited about my clientele’s personal growth is making chocolate chip cookies. If that’s the measure by which we get into heaven (it’s not), I have a more than decent chance!

These are great questions, and I’ll refer you to my About Me page and my DBT page for the answers.

Yes. I usually work with you to create a homework assignment that makes sense and that helps you progress more quickly toward your goals. Sometimes this is an assignment that requires a lot of thinking and sometimes (more often) what I ask you to do is more behavioral.

For example, I’ll probably ask you to do some practice in mindfulness because mindfulness practice is critical to helping you figure out how to regulate difficult emotions and stop impulsive behaviors. You always can say no to homework assignments or find alternatives that work better for you.

Since this is a collaborative approach we’re taking, homework is NOT about being a success/failure or a good/bad client. Often what’s true is that the best value we get out of homework is when you try to do it and fail. That’s seriously valuable and informative, and it can really help us in doing the work.

Holistic therapy is about looking at the WHOLE of a person’s situation. Instead of just focusing on how a person thinks and what they are feeling, I look at as much of their situation as we can discover together.

For example, a person’s experience of depression or anxiety can be exacerbated by various illnesses, sleep patterns, medications, etc. It makes a lot of sense to me to work on multiple pathways instead of simply saying, “Well, how does that make you feel?” over and over (okay, okay, I’m mocking a therapy caricature, and this really isn’t how therapy goes).

So, holistic therapy isn’t about throwing out science and licking trees (like I’ve said). It’s about looking at ALL the data we can get our hands on. That’s what the word holistic means. Unfortunately, that word has been hijacked by a group of people who often use it to mean that they are anti-science or who do treatments that don’t have much in the way of evidence to support them. Note this, however, that there are a lot of “alternative” treatments that have some good data that support their use.

So, to that end, holistic therapy requires being open minded to what the data tell us.

Great question. I love to create a space where people can feel comfortable. If you want a cup of water, there’s a water machine available. If you want a hot cup of comforting herbal tea, I have a wide selection.

I try to keep some Teecinno in the office in case you want to try a really tasty alternative to coffee (because lots of caffeine can make an anxious person more anxious!). The water/herbal tea station is for YOU to enjoy. Please don’t feel that you need to ask. Cups that are upside down are clean, and cups that are used are right-side up and on the far edge of the table. Enjoy!

Oh, and I buy my tissue at Costco. Because Costco is awesome. Also, it gives me a great excuse to go there and buy their pesto, which rocks.

If you think of more questions that should be on this page, send me an email at alison@caldwellandrews.com.

Reach out now. Call or text me at (860) 538-3266.