In an ideal world, it is best to seek therapy when you feel “something doesn’t quite feel right.” When you notice that a change or before things feel to intense. The sooner that you begin therapy the easier it can be to work through challenges. If you begin therapy when you feel like you are in crisis then “therapy” can’t begin until you have been emotionally stabilized. Stabilization is addressing the symptoms to assist with treating the core issue, but without treating the core issue the symptoms may come back again. Therapy seeks to avoid this vicious cycle.

Psychotherapy is a very useful tool that can support anyone. The question that is most important when starting therapy is “what do I need?” Sometimes therapy isn’t going to be your first line of defense.

There are many ways of obtaining emotional support, achieving balance, and establishing healthy boundaries. Treatment of any kind should feel supportive and not burdensome. Make sure to seek treatment based upon what you feel you need. Need more clarity? More support? Therapy can be a great resource for you.

No, Being APC does not have a psychiatrist on staff at this time. At this time (in California) only MDs and NP’s (and some PA’s) have prescribing rights. Some psychologists (a very small few) in Lousiana, New Mexico, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, and Colorado can prescribe medication.

At Being APC, if we feel that medication may be a good idea we will make a recommendation for you to connect with a prescribing physician, generally a psychiatrist, to discuss your medication options.

While we do not prescribe medication, we will provide monitoring of your medications so that we can better understand and assist you in understanding how medication use may be helping your treatment.

The best way to answer this question is to have an open and honest discussion with your therapist. Therapy can provide support for a broad range of issues, but therapy is not about giving advice. If you feel like you have a single issue that you would like to solve and need more hands on engagement, frequent calls or texts to fix the problem or achieve a goal, then coaching may be a better fit.

Psychotherapy is about working through challenges, uncovering patterns, and understanding how you navigate the world. Creating a better self- understanding will allow you to make decisions easier, set healthy boundaries with others, and build a healthy sense of self. This does not come about with simply being told what to do. Therapy is about developing a different experience than one you’ve had before so that perspective can be built. This allows for growth and understanding, making you a better person in the long run while also providing the skills to address short term goals too.

Your therapist will work with you to set up goals and expectations for treatment. For many, there is a belief that once you begin therapy that all of the problems go away. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Progress is based on your goals and looks different based on what you are looking for. Progress for some may be not being available to those that cross boundaries, while for someone else just showing up to therapy is progress because they are prioritizing their health. Many of our clients report noticing when therapy is working when they notice themselves being more present in a situation or with others.

Therapy always starts out as weekly. We believe therapy take place in three phases:

1. Identification: Coming to fully understand the problem that is holding a person back. This may or may not be what the individual came to therapy for.

2. Working Through: This is where the magic happens. Working through the challenges and exploring new methods of engaging allow for progress and growth to take place. As a neuropsychologist I ascribe the research, neurons that fire together wire together.” So we create many opportunities to create new ways of being.

3. Termination: This is where we reflect, practice and continue. Therapy at this phase is all about independence and confidence in mastery. Termination allows for healthy relational ends and celebrates the hard work that has been done.

Confidentiality is at the heart of psychotherapy. Everything that is shared between you and your therapist remains confidential. No one has access to the information that you provide to us.

In any scenario, if we are required to provide any information it is the least amount of information necessary for the other person/organization to do their job.

There are only 3 limits to confidentiality and they are:

1. If you tell us that you want to hurt or kill yourself

2. If you tell us that you want to hurt or kill someone else.

3. If we suspect Child or Elder Abuse.

In any scenario, if we are required to provide any information it is the least amount of information necessary for the other person/organization to do their job. We take confidentiality very seriously. If the patient wishes to share any information with another they will be required to provide that request to us in writing or sign a Release of Information form.

Information shared with us in maintained in a progress note that is stored in locked file. Should the client wish to inspect it, it can be made available to them for review, but it cannot be altered.