Do you take insurance, and how does that work?
I am an Out-Of-Network provider for most insurance companies. Payment is due at the time of our session. I can provide you with a monthly SuperBill which you can submit for reimbursement with your insurance company.
Different states and insurance companies vary in how they cover online psychotherapy. Illinois and New York both have parity coverage for online psychotherapy, meaning that most insurance companies should have an option to elect for tele-health coverage. To determine if you have mental health coverage through your insurance carrier, the first thing you should do is call them. Check your coverage carefully and make sure you understand their answers. Some helpful questions you can ask them:
- What are my mental health benefits?
- Do my benefits cover i-health or tele-health psychotherapy?
- What is the coverage amount per therapy session?
- How many therapy sessions does my plan cover?
- How much does my insurance pay for an out-of-network provider?
- Is approval required from my primary care physician?
Payment is processed before each session automatically
once you set up your account.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
Things come up in all of our busy lives. Psychotherapy Without Borders is meant to fit into your schedule and lifestyle, providing you support whenever and wherever works best for you. If you have to change your appointment, you can do this easily through your online account, no worries. If you cancel within 24-hours of our scheduled appointment time, you will automatically be charged for our session.
Need financial assistance to pay for psychotherapy?
Check out this new Cancer-Related Behavioral Health Fund from the Healthwell Foundation providing patient’s financial support for psychotherapy.
What is online psychotherapy with Catalina Lawsin, PhD going to be like?
STARTING OUT:
Once you set an appointment you will be asked to fill out payment information, a few forms and questionnaires. These forms will tell you your rights in psychotherapy and ask for your consent to work with me. Since I provide evidence-based psychotherapy, I ask you to complete objective measures of how you are feeling. I will ask you to complete these occasionally throughout our work together to provide both you and I objective feedback of how you are coping with your concerns. Our first session will be an opportunity for you to share what brings you to therapy and for us to get to know one another. It is important for you to have realistic goals and expectations about our work together, so we will discuss these right off the bat. Before the end of our first session, I will provide you a plan of how we can work together to meet goals.
DURING OUR WORK TOGETHER:
Everyone comes with unique concerns and goals for therapy. Therefore, therapy will be different depending on the individual. In general, you can expect us to discuss the current events happening in your life, your personal history relevant to your issue, and report progress (or any new insights gained) from the previous therapy session. Depending on your specific needs, therapy can be short-term, for a specific issue, or longer-term, to deal with more difficult patterns or your desire for more personal development. I will be building on your existing strengths to teach you new skills to better cope. For therapy to most successful, it works best if we meet regularly, typically weekly, at the start of our work together. As you get better at applying new skills towards coping more effectively we will meet less regularly.
The speed of therapy depends on the concerns bringing you to therapy as well as how much you work on integrating new skills in your day-to-day life during therapy. While therapy is an effective resource to promote growth, it is mere fraction of your life. The lessons learned in therapy must be practiced and integrated into your day-to-day life to see benefit. Therapy is a dynamic process and change does not come quick or easy. It’s important for you to manage your expectations and I’ll keep checking on these throughout our work together.
How would Couples or Family Therapy work Online?
Technology is great! Using your laptop, smart pad or cell phone, you can meet with me using the same device or multiple devices for each session. Each client in the couple/family can log on individually and we can all virtually meet together just as if we were sitting on the same couch. This means if you are in Chicago and your partner or family member is in London, we can all still meet together online! Psychotherapy Without Borders, has NO borders.
Why do people go to therapy and how do I know if it is right for me?
People have many different motivations for coming to psychotherapy. Some may be going through a major life transition (unemployment, divorce, new job, etc.), or are not handling stressful circumstances well. Some people need assistance managing a range of other issues such as low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, addictions, relationship problems, spiritual conflicts and creative blocks. Therapy can help provide some much needed encouragement and help with skills to get them through these periods. Others may be at a point where they are ready to learn more about themselves or want to be more effective with their goals in life. In short, people seeking psychotherapy are ready to meet the challenges in their lives and ready to make changes in their lives.
What about medication vs. psychotherapy?
It is well established that the long-term solution to mental and emotional problems and the pain they cause cannot be solved solely by medication. Instead of just treating the symptom, therapy addresses the cause of our distress and the behavior patterns that curb our progress. You can best achieve sustainable growth and a greater sense of well-being with an integrative approach to wellness. Working with your medical doctor you can determine what’s best for you, and in some cases a combination of medication and therapy is the right course of action.
Psychotherapy Without Borders 