Many people begin the search for a therapist by asking “Will my insurance cover this?” A better question is “Which therapist can I trust to give me the best care for my money?” There are several advantages to self-pay vs using insurance:

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• More Privacy/ confidentiality: I am required to provide information about your diagnosis, treatment plan, and progress. Once this information gets communicated to the insurance company it is quite literally out of my hands. We will never know exactly who has access to this information or how it is protected. This undermines the basic premise of therapy.

• More freedom and control: Using insurance means that we are allowing a 3rd party to intrude and to be the deciders of, for example, frequency and duration of visits. The insurance company imposes very strict, rigid parameters on how often we can meet and for how long. It is nice when we can create a treatment that makes sense for your unique needs—not your insurance plan.

• No Diagnosis Necessary: Insurance will only cover your sessions if I diagnose you with a “medically necessary” condition. It is an advantage to seek help from a provider who is not mandated to provide you with a stigmatizing and somewhat arbitrary label and to instead focus on what you truly need to heal and make positive changes in your life.