Frequently Asked Questions

While secular counseling can provide insight into your personal situation, it can often fail to address the deeper issues that are causing pain in your life. Your behaviors flow from your beliefs (of which we are not always consciously aware), and Christian counseling can help you address the root of those beliefs. Christian counseling provides a unique blend of psychology to examine how your mind functions, along with theology to explain how God made us and how change can happen.

Yes! While our beliefs help form the foundation of how we approach counseling, we welcome people of all faiths, beliefs, and walks of life.

We know that taking the first step can feel intimidating, and you may have certain fears, expectations, or ideas of what to expect. If you’re unsure about what to talk about or where to start, here are few tips to help you make the most of your experience: 

• Take an active role in your session: Share the emotions or experiences you are currently having difficulty with. Consider what your goal(s) may be for counseling.
• Be open and honest with your counselor – it’s okay to talk about things that feel embarrassing or scary.
• Ask questions if there’s something you don’t understand or feel uncertain about.

Your information is kept confidential under HIPAA privacy rule standards, and will not be shared without your written consent. You can be confident in the privacy of what you share with your therapist, as well as in the confidentiality of any private information kept in our system. We are, however, mandated reporters, which legally and ethically requires us to report child or elderly abuse, and suicidal/homicidal threats. If a situation requires us to make a report, this will not be done without your knowledge.

Your therapist will want to get to know you and will spend much of the first session gathering background information and hearing what you hope to get out of counseling.  You will have a chance to share what difficulty you are facing and what your goal(s) may be. Your therapist may share their recommended frequency for you to meet with them, and you can decide together if you’d like to schedule additional sessions at that time.

Appointments are scheduled in 1-hour increments, and will last between 50 and 60 minutes. Your therapist may have recommended reading or homework between sessions for you to complete.

People come to counseling for a wide variety of reasons, so treatment length also varies significantly. Your counselor will work with you to discuss your treatment, set goals, and help you determine what you need depending on your situation. This isn’t something that needs to be determined at the start of your counseling, and there is no minimum requirement for how many sessions a person must complete. Meeting approximately every other week is the most typical frequency of meetings, but this can vary to meet the needs of each client.

Yes, we accept some insurances so please be sure to check with your insurance to ensure your therapist is in-network for you prior to your first appointment. Currently, we accept most Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tricare, Health Partners, Aetna, UMR, and United Healthcare plans.

If your therapist is not in-network for your insurance, some insurance plans still have “out of network” benefits, so if your therapist is not in-network for your insurance, this would be something to explore first. If this is not part of your insurance coverage, or you don’t have insurance, many of our clients choose to pay privately.

No, we do not accept any of these insurances. For a list of in-network providers in your area, you can call the number on your insurance card.

No, we do not currently have a prescribing provider on staff, so we do not write prescriptions for medications.

If you are wanting an immediate appointment with your therapist, you may reach out to our office or to your therapist, and we will offer the next soonest opening in your therapist’s schedule. We are not always able to accommodate emergency sessions, as your therapist may already be booked in the timeframe you are wanting. 

As an outpatient private practice, we are not available outside of office hours and we do not have an emergency line. If you are having suicidal thoughts, or if you have any other emergency, please call 911 or go to your local emergency room right away.

If you feel that the sessions aren’t helping you make the progress you are wanting, it is best to bring this up with your counselor. They may be able to help identify what’s hindering you or identify different approaches that may be able to help in your specific situation. If you still don’t feel comfortable or happy with your progress or feel as though your therapist is not the right fit, we will be glad to provide you with appropriate referral options to help you find the therapist that is right for you.

If we have a stressor and our brain and body perceives threat or danger, our survival brain kicks in to help the body stay safe and protected. If our survival instincts sense that we are powerless, helpless or lacking control, we may have a fight, flight or freeze response to the experience. When we perceive that we are unprepared for what is happening to us, our brains and bodies store this and can create a loop of stress-arousal when a cue connected to our senses reminds the nervous system of past experiences of threat or danger. We may be unable to access the higher levels of functioning in our brain’s cortex such as creativity, speech and language, abstract cognition, problem solving ability, and the ability to connect our values to the past and future when we remain in a state of hyperarousal. Chronic stress without recovery affects our ability to remain in the rest and recovery state that our mind and body need to maintain optimal functioning.