Frequently Asked Questions

My fee is $275 per session

I am considered an "Out-Of-Network" (OON) provider, which means I would receive full payment directly from you and then provide you with the precise documentation — a paid invoice that includes my license and tax information — that you need to submit for out-of-network reimbursement from your insurance providers.

My office is located in Hillsmere Shores, Annapolis. It is unmarked as a professional office and there is always free parking.

Yes, I offer teletherapy through an online platform that is safe and very easy to use.

I keep regular working hours (9-5, M-F) except for one day a week when I work into the evening.

Sessions are forty-five minutes long and I reserve fifteen minutes before or after for reviewing and writing notes.

You can contact me via email through this site and I’ll get back to you within twenty-four hours, often much sooner.

You would be responsible for the full fee if cancellation is less than two business days before the scheduled session. In such cases, I make a reasonable attempt to find an alternative opening within the same week.

Very little.

In the first session, I’ll ask you to tell me about the experiences that led to your decision to seek help, and about the aims you have for therapy. Listening closely to you, I’ll then offer my own initial sense of your experience, and my thoughts on how we might proceed. I’ll tell you about how I work and answer any questions that are on your mind. Importantly, in this first session, you begin to get a feel for what it would be like to work together.

I work with adult men and women, and anyone who identifies otherwise. Individuals who benefit most from our work are motivated to heal and so able and willing to risk a therapeutic relationship, be fully honest with themselves and me, and look deeply into their thoughts and emotions.

My approach is psychodynamic. It stresses the healing qualities of the therapeutic relationship which offers new relational experiences that stand in contrast to past ones. It strives for insight and honest self-exploration, and we work in collaboration rather than a hierarchical, doctor-patient relationship. In other words, I give you my best expertise and knowledge without imposing an imbalance of power. In addition to the “top-down” psychodynamic approach, I integrate other approaches, including aspects of mindful practice and “bottom-up” forms of treatment such as neurofeedback, EMDR, and yoga, as these seem appropriate and desirable for you.

Therapy can last anywhere from one session to several years. It really depends on what you want and need. At the beginning, we confirm the aims of your therapy. I help you to consider the possibilities, clarify your aims, and get clear on how we'll know when you've attained them. People sometimes come to therapy with certain aims clearly in mind, such as "to see my way past a difficult divorce," "to find better ways of relating to my partner," "to feel less anxiety and sadness," "to make an important career choice," "to recover from my devastating loss of a loved one," "to deal with strained relations with my parents" . . . . If therapy moves too far afield from your aim for it, we work to get it back on track. Specific aims have to do with specific problems, and allow for clear measures of attainment. In other words, it's usually clear when a specific problem has been resolved. And at that point the therapy may well be complete. However . . . 
It often happens that in the course of working on a particular problem, one discovers that it is connected to deeper and long-standing issues. You might come to recognize that the problem that brought you into therapy has been emerging in various forms for many years. You might also recognize that it will continue to re-emerge unless you get to the root of it.

Our work occurs in the sessions and you carry and develop its influence into your life outside of the consultation room. Occasionally, I make suggestions of specific things to do and think about, and you choose whether to follow through. I do not “assign.”

Once a week is the minimum for effectiveness. Twice is recommended. For longer term analytical work, we meet three-to-four times a week.