How much does therapy cost?
We want to make high quality counseling accessible to more people in our community, and so have created a program that allows clients to work with a fully licensed counselor or psychologist, or with an experienced, talented intern or student therapists at reduced fees.
These clinicians have all completed at least some graduate coursework in counseling or psychology, and most have a masters degree and several years of experience. All are closely supervised by seasoned clinicians specially trained in clinical supervision. When you see an intern or student, you actually have several people working on how to help you achieve your goals quickly! The following fee structure applies to 50 minute sessions:
For fee schedules for our fully licensed counselors and our psychologists, please call the office or refer to the individual therapists’ paperwork. Fees vary slightly according to degree, credentials, and experience, but fall within the ranges of $125-$150 for individual therapy and $150-$200 for marriage and family therapy.
Practicum Student/Masters Intern (available during the academic year): $55
Post-Masters Intern: $78
Can I use my insurance?
Yes. We are in network with Aetna and United Healthcare. We are out of network providers for all other insurance companies, but, if you see a licensed clinician (not an intern or student), we can provide you with a claim form for you insurance company. They will then reimburse you any out of network benefits you might have.
Some people choose NOT to use their insurance for their therapy because they do not want records or diagnoses recorded or shared with insurance companies.
How can I pay?
You can use an HSA or Flex Spending card if your employer provides that. We also accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Checks, or plain old cash.
How does it work? What do I have to do in sessions?
Because each person has different issues and goals for therapy, therapy is tailored to each client’s specific needs. We believe that you are the leading expert in your life, and so we listen attentively to your goals, and help you structure a plan to meet them. You can expect to spend the first session helping your therapist understand why you have come to therapy and what you want to achieve. At the end of that time together, you will have some ideas about where you want to go and how you and your therapist will get there together.
How long will it take?
Everyone’s circumstances are unique to them and the length of time therapy can take to allow you to accomplish your goals depends on your desire for personal development, your commitment, and the factors that are driving you to seek therapy in the first place.
What can I do to help my child get the most out of therapy?
You’ve already done the best thing you could do – you provided your child a safe place to talk about their feelings. All of the clinicians at Houston’s Family Counseling believe parents are more influential than any therapist could ever be in a child’s life. We also know that we can never know your child as well as you do. When we work with young and school aged children, we usually meet with a parent alone during some of the first session, so that we can understand your concerns. We then familiarize your child with the therapy room and the process of counseling. Subsequent sessions will be spent mostly alone with your child, but we will let you know about homework we assign, progress toward goals, and anything we notice and are concerned about. We also may include you in some sessions, interacting with your child. With adolescent clients, we spend most of the first session with the teen and parent(s) together. We define goals and clarify problems together. Subsequent sessions are generally with just the teen and the therapist, but, as much as the teenage client feels comfortable, we include parent(s) in homework and progress. With either younger children or adolescents, you can help support their growth in therapy by bringing them, and by creating an open environment for them to talk with you about what they are doing in therapy.
My partner and I are having problems. Should we be in individual counseling or come together?
If you are concerned about your relationship, and you would both like to work with us, we would initially work with both of you together. After this work, if one of you would like to continue in individual sessions, we could work with only one of you. It is not helpful to move from individual into couple’s work with the same therapist because of potential trust issues.
