You’ve made the phone call and you’ve scheduled an appointment. Now what? Here’s pretty much everything you need to know before your first appointment.
Locating Seattle Direct Counseling
Seattle Direct Counseling is located at
Grand Central Building
216 1st Avenue South Suite 390
Seattle, WA 98104
Important: If you received information from your third-party payor insurance, a referral service, or a community listing other than the address above, please disregard that information, and go to the address listed above. Occasionally clients encounter listings that have not been updated or removed.
Please note: my office is located just north of the stadiums. Whenever there is a game or big event there, traffic and parking will cause significant delays. Consider public transport to a Park and Ride and bus in, or park and take Light Link Rail to Pioneer Station.
Current office hours: Monday -Thursday 11 am -5:00 pm, evenings 6:30 – 7:30 pm. I also am temporarily offering phone and Skype appointments on Saturday mornings through late January 2012 to accomodate a recent change in schedule. The office will be closed the evening of Jan. 25 – Jan. 29, 2012.
Winter 2012: available hours fill quickly, especially between 4pm and 8:45 pm. The best way to reserve your most convenient hour is to call or email early. Due to inclement weather, available hours may be limited. Consider converting your appointment to a phone or Skype session. No more worries about a dicey commute.
Where do I Wait?
Before 6 pm, you can enter the building and wait in the lobby or Grand Central Bakery seating area (common area for the building). For clients arriving for appointments after 6 pm, please wait just outside the doors of the building on the 1st Avenue side, and I will escort you into the building. If the weather is bad, there are few coffee shops nearby: Cafe Umbria (Occidental), Zeitgeist Coffee, and Starbucks, all within one block.
Those with Internet-based appointments: please take a moment to read my blog post on how to conduct online sessions. You will be asked to “show up” about five minutes before the appointment time, and to cover additional issues regarding the communication and confidentiality (including an informed consent form regarding electronic transmission and confidentiality).
How do I pay for my visit? Do you accept credit cards?
If we haven’t discussed that over the phone with you before the visit, it will be covered during the beginning of the first session. You will fill out paperwork giving consent for treatment, and I will take the information from your health insurance card. Please provide a copy front and back of your card on one side of an 8.5×11 paper. Payment is due at the beginning of each session. I accept credit cards using credit card processing through Therapy Partner. By filling out an authorization form, your visit or co-pay can be billed by debit or credit card.
If your insurance fails to pay for your sessions, you will be alerted before your credit card is charged the full fee for each session. You may attempt to use a HCFA form (which I can fill out for you) to pursue an out-of-network reimbursement in some cases. Click on this link to read more details about how to pay for therapy sessions
Click on Forms, download and complete all forms, and bring them to your first session [Note: I am aware that some of the forms have lost their formatting when placed on Google Docs. Other than looking ugly, the information is correct].
How much does my visit cost?
Counseling sessions are $110 per 45-50-minute session, $125 for the first intake session. Couples sessions are $130 per session. I am Microsoft and Premera preferred. I accept Regence, Premera, United Medical Plan (UMP), and First Choice Health Network. I am moving my practice towards reducing the number of carriers, allowing you to self-pay and use the proper forms to receive a reimbursement from your insurance. If you have questions about this, please ask me in your free 30 minute consultation.
Update: I recently filled out an application for Group Health as a contracted provider. The application was declined, though I made it clear that services to the LBGT population and eating disordered clients were requesting whether they could use GH benefits. Here is what they had to say: “While we appreciate the services you provide, Group Health has determined we do no have an unmet business need for the specific services you provide. We will keep your name on file for consideration for one year from the date of this letter (Nov. 17,2011) should our requirements change.” If you have GH insurance, you may wish to contact the Group Health Provider Services Manager to request that I be instated as a contracted provider.
If you are uninsured or under-insured, I’ve provided an additional avenue for receiving timely counseling on a sliding scale through an associate, a licensing candidate with whom I’ll be supervising for her eventual LMHC license. Please request this in your free 30 minute consultation.
Please take a moment to understand how your insurance works, and my policies on couple’s counseling sessions, out-of-pocket payment, and my sliding scale. If this information is still confusing, take a moment to read my blog post on how to pay for therapy sessions.
Coaching sessions are intensive and require between-session assignments in a time-limited, personalized program. Please inquire about coaching costs in your free 30 minute consultation. Typically, coaching fees are $175 for 60 minutes.
Cancellation policy: your insurance does not cover sessions you are unable to keep. If you cancel within 24 hours before a session, you will be charged the full amount of your session, unless the cancellation is due to unusual hardship, sudden illness, or inclement weather. Remember, face-to-face sessions can be converted to phone and Internet sessions, so you can keep your session and sidestep a late-cancel charge.
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