Common Questions

Generally, all therapy sessions are confidential, and anything you discuss with your therapist will remain between you two unless you request otherwise. No information from the session can be disclosed without prior written consent from you. There are exceptions to this, and your therapist can disclose information from the session to appropriate authorities for some of the following reasons; if your therapist suspects abuse or neglect to a child, a dependent adult, or an elder; if your therapist suspects an individual has caused or is threatening to cause severe bodily harm to another person; if your  therapist has reason to believe an individual intends to harm themselves, such as expressing to your therapist plans for suicide. While your therapist should attempt to work through this in the therapy session with you, if it appears to be unresolved, additional action may need to be taken to ensure the safety of the client. Your therapist may disclose your information if instructed to do so by law court orders and legally issued subpoenas.

To be "trauma-informed" means that a practice and its therapists recognize the pervasiveness of trauma in the world and seek to appropriately and effectively respond. It means a practice and its therapist are aware of trauma's personal and societal consequences. A trauma-informed therapist does their due diligence to avoid causing further harm to their clients. Trauma-informed practice and its therapists strive to create a world that can foster growth, resiliency, healing, and transformation. A trauma-informed practice and clinician focus on several core values Safety; Trustworthiness and Transparency; Collaboration and Mutuality; Empowerment; Voice, and Choice; Peer Support; and Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues. More on Trauma Informed Care

Types of evidenced-based therapy proven to be effective in working with trauma include but are not limited to the following;  Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), Polyvagal Theory Approach, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Internal Family System, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Somatic Therapy, and Psychodynamic Therapy

Every insurance company varies in its mental health coverage.  The easiest way to find out if your provider covers mental health care is to contact them to make sure you understand their options.  At Aligned Therapeutics LLC, I use Headway to manage my billing and admin work so I can place all of my focus on our work together. Headway manages everything related to payments and insurance to make things as easy as possible for you. The Headway team will email you to help set up your account and add your insurance and payment details. You’ll see your cost/session ahead of time and can check your benefits anytime here. You can reach the Headway team directly through their contact form. They can help with any insurance, billing, or account questions.

When a disturbing event occurs it can get locked in the brain with the original picture, sounds, thoughts, feelings and body sensations. EMDR procedures seem to stimulate the information and allow the brain to reprocess the experience. EMDR therapy uses a technique called bilateral stimulation (BLS). This repeatedly activates opposite sides of the brain. EMDR therapists often use eye movements to help with bilateral stimulation. These eye movements mimic the period of sleep referred to as rapid eye movement or REM sleep. This portion of sleep is considered to be the time when the mind processes the recent events in a person’s life. EMDR therapy seems to help the brain reprocess the trapped memories.  The eye movement is the most notable aspect of EMDR but is one of a complex approach of various forms of stimulation.