FAQs

Why I Don’t Work Directly With Insurance

You may wonder why I, and many other therapists, don’t take insurance. Choosing not to work directly with insurance companies is a thoughtful decision I’ve carefully made to reflect the most effective, efficient, and optimal care and treatment for my clients. My main goal is always to provide competent, ethical care that feels safe, supportive, and fully focused on your needs—not on what an insurance company deems to be appropriate, or not.

Why I Don’t Take Insurance

  • Privacy and confidentiality: Insurance companies require a diagnosis, and often other private treatment details, in order to “approve” sessions. By working outside of insurance, your personal information stays between you and me—not a third party.

  • Flexibility in treatment: Insurance companies, while not having the experience or knowledge on mental health treatment approaches, will often dictate the way a therapist can practice. Typically in ways that don’t align with competent, effective care—like, restricting the number of sessions or requiring “reasoning” or “proof” of necessity. Private pay allows us to work at your pace, using approaches that are best for you, without outside limitations. Your care is determined by evidenced-based treatment methods—not the insurance company.

  • Freedom from labels: Not everyone who seeks therapy needs or wants a mental health diagnosis on their permanent health record. Private pay means you can get support without carrying a label you don’t need or may not actually be true.

  • A simpler process: Insurance billing can be complicated and time-consuming. With private pay, payment is straightforward and predictable, so we can focus on therapy—not paperwork.

The Benefits of Private Pay

  • Your therapy is personalized to your goals and is based upon effective, ethical, and evidenced-based practices, rather than insurance restrictions and/or requirements.

  • You decide how often and how long you’d like to be in therapy.

  • Sessions remain completely confidential.

  • The process is transparent.

If you’d like to use your out-of-network insurance benefits, I can provide a superbill (a receipt with the info your insurance needs) for you to submit to your insurance — or you can use Thrizer.

Using Your Out-of-Network Benefits

I am an out-of-network provider, which means clients pay for sessions upfront, at the time of service. Many insurance companies can be really great to work with and will reimburse you for a portion, if not all, of your fee! Others can be a bit challenging. To check if your insurance policy has benefits for out-of-network mental health services, you can start by calling the number on the back of your card — or, you can use Thrizer!

I know it can be confusing and unfamiliar to access your out-of-network benefits, so I’ve searched high and low for a reputable, effective way to make this process easier for my clients (read more below on why I'm not in-network). Thrizer is a third-party resource that acts as the middle-man between you and your insurance company to help you:

  • Check your benefits: Instantly see what your insurance will reimburse for therapy sessions.

  • File claims automatically: Thrizer submits the paperwork for you, saving time and stress.

  • Get reimbursed: Reimbursements are deposited directly into your bank account.

How It Works

  1. Pay for your session upfront, at the time of service.

  2. Use Thrizer to confirm your out-of-network benefits.

  3. Upload your statements to Thrizer.

  4. Thrizer files claims on your behalf, and you receive reimbursement directly.

Why Thrizer?

Not only is Thrizer super user-friendly, it simplifies the reimbursement process by removing any “admin” work your insurance might ask you to do!

Learn more and create an account here: Thrizer for Clients