Question 1

How long is the waiting list?

Accepted Answer

About seven weeks as of the first of September, and it is on the front page because that is where it should be. It moves in both directions. What I will not do is take you on now and give you an hour I cannot protect — an unreliable weekly session is worse than a wait, particularly for the things people come here with.

Question 2

Do you take insurance?

Accepted Answer

I am out of network, so payment is direct to me. I provide a superbill each month that you can submit to your insurer, and many plans reimburse a portion of an out-of-network session — how much is between you and them, and I cannot promise anything on their behalf. If the fee is the obstacle, ask about the sliding scale places rather than deciding not to come.

Question 3

What happens in a first session?

Accepted Answer

You talk and I ask questions. There is no intake form to work through and no expectation that you arrive with a tidy account of your life. Most people say afterwards that it was less exposing than they expected, largely because nobody is going to push you into the difficult part in the first hour.

Question 4

How many sessions will I need?

Accepted Answer

I do not know at the start, and anybody who gives you a number at the start is guessing. Some things take eight sessions and some take two years. What I will do is check in properly at about session four and then every couple of months, so that continuing is a decision rather than a habit.

Question 5

What do you not work with?

Accepted Answer

Crisis and immediate risk — I am one person with a diary and the wrong resource for that. Also couples, families, under-eighteens, formal assessments for things like ADHD, and anything to do with medication, since I am not a prescriber. In every one of those cases I would rather give you two names than take you on and do it badly.

Five, and none of the answers is “it depends”.

And if tonight is bad