Frequently Asked Questions
Do you see families from the Upper West Side?
Yes! My practice is located on the Upper West Side and I serve families throughout the neighborhood and surrounding areas of Manhattan. I can also see patients throughout NY State using telehealth.
How do you determine the best therapy for my child?
After our initial consultation call, the next meeting is the intake evaluation, which is conducted over two or three sessions. During the evaluation, I learn more about your child’s developmental, medical, family, educational, social, and mental health history. I also conduct a comprehensive review of their current mental health symptoms to ensure that I have a full understanding of their presenting concerns. At the end of the evaluation session, I provide a preliminary diagnosis.
Following the evaluation, I discuss treatment goals with parents and/or the youth and share my recommendations for the treatment approach that I think will be most helpful in achieving those goals. This is always a collaborative process. An approach that parents or patients don’t agree with will not work!
How do you involve parents in their child’s therapy?
It’s important for caregivers to be involved in their child’s therapy, especially for younger children. I include parents through a mix of parent-focused sessions, parent-child dyadic sessions, and parent check-ins at the start or end of child-focused sessions. Generally, the older the child the more time I spend working with them 1-on-1. For children under 7, I involve caregivers in all sessions.
Is telehealth right for my child?
Telehealth (virtual therapy) can be just as effective as in-person therapy, but it depends on the child and their presenting concern.
In my experience, telehealth is not suitable for children under 8 years old. I also do not recommend telehealth for individuals with unmedicated ADHD or youth who lack access to a private space and stable internet connection. That said, many kids and teens have benefitted from telehealth and find telehealth appointments easier to fit into busy schedules.
I offer both telehealth through HIPAA-compliant Zoom and in-person appointments. During our consultation call, we can discuss which is most appropriate for your child.
How Long Does Therapy Last?
Therapy for children and teens generally takes about 15-20 sessions of weekly therapy to meet initial goals. However, it is very common for therapy to take less or more time than the range above. More concerns and diagnoses mean more time is needed because there is more to address in therapy. In addition, since older teens often undergo multiple life transitions, they can prefer and benefit from an ongoing therapeutic relationship.
Other factors that can make therapy take longer: the patient is resistant to being in therapy, multiple missed sessions due to travel or emergencies, high distractibility in session due to ADHD, external stressors on the family.
My goal is to provide effective therapy that gets patients and families back to their regular routines in a reasonable timeframe.
How much does therapy cost?
I am an out-of-network (OON) provider for all insurances.
My private pay rate for new patients are as follows:
- Standard 50-minute session: $320
- 60-minute PCIT or family therapy session: $360
- First intake session (60 minutes): $400
I do not charge separately for brief phone calls, emails, communication with teachers and other care professionals, or attendance at IEP meetings.
What is a superbill, and can insurance reimburse me for therapy?
A superbill is an itemized receipt I provide after each session that you can submit to your insurance company for out-of-network reimbursement.
Many insurance plans reimburse a portion of the session fee, often 50-80% of the “allowed amount.” The “allowed amount” refers to the session fee that your insurance plan considers reasonable. (It’s unclear how they determine this number.) So, let’s say your insurance plan reimburses 50% of the allowed amount for therapy, and their allowed amount is $180. That means your plan would reimburse you $90 for each therapy session after you submit your superbill. They may require you to hit a deductible before reimbursing you.
To find out your specific reimbursement numbers, call the phone number on your insurance card and ask about your “out-of-network mental health benefits.” They may ask you for the CPT (service) code you would be using and the NPI (national identifier) for the provider. The CPT codes you should tell them about are 90791 (intake session), 90834 (50-minute individual therapy session), and 90846 (parent-only session), and my NPI is 1992428387.
If you have any questions about navigating OON benefits, do not hesitate to ask me.