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Frequently Asked Questions

How long does therapy last?
 

Therapy is an individualized process, based on the unique needs and experiences of each person. Often times most people experience that they begin to feel worse before they begin to feel better. This is usually because they are able to see their pain clearly for the first time. Only then can we truly understand the scope of what they're wanting to work on. We believe that the client sets the pace for therapy and core issues should only be worked on when the time is right.

It is most common that new patients will meet weekly for therapy the first month, and depending on the severity of symptoms, may be able to move to biweekly sessions afterwards. Because we customize our clinical interventions to meet the unique needs of each client, everyone’s process will look different.  

What diagnoses do you treat?

We believe that most diagnoses are the result of undischarged fight/flight/freeze energy stored within the nervous system. Behaviors, cognitions, and emotions associated with a diagnosis are unconscious attempts to discharge such energy. For example, a person with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has an over activation in the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). The SNS is responsible for the gas pedal in our brain that allows us to wake up to an alarm and to perform our best in a basketball game. It also executes our fight/flight survival functions. When we get stuck with the gas pedal on "ON", we may experience symptoms of excessive worry, nightmares, racing thoughts, perfectionism, obsessions, hyperactivity, lack of concentration, panic, chest pains, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain, sore muscles, and so on. 

Persons experiencing Major Depressive Disorder, dissociative disorders, and symptoms of helplessness, apathy, boredom, and laziness have an over activated Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). The PNS is the brake pedal in the brain, allowing us to digest our food, rest when we're tired, and enjoy a relaxing day at the beach. It also executes our freeze response. When we get stuck on "OFF", we feel empty, unmotivated, worthless, and disconnected from ourselves and others.

Do you take insurance?

We do not participate with insurance agencies, as they do not cover intensive therapy sessions, coaching, substance use interventions, or monitoring. Some insurance plans will cover the cost of an out of network provider for therapy services. You can call your member services line on the back of your insurance card to see if your plan covers services with out of network providers, as well as what percentage of the agreeable fee they will reimburse.

 

We understand that our skillset and training rank as some of the highest in the whole state of VA. Because we work in a field that is grossly under compensated, we understand firsthand the difficulties in finding quality care for a price that is reasonable. We aim to create a pricing system that compensates us fairly for our advanced level of training, while remaining accessible to all walks of life. To this end, we utilize an income-based fee schedule for our services.

We offer three tiers, in addition to reduced fee slots. Folks who pay the middle tier are asking to support their community, while folks who pay the lowest tier are asking to be supported by their community. Folks who pay the highest tier are requesting to greatly subsidize the fees for members of our community who may not otherwise be able to afford such care. The tiers are used for guidance, however we trust the consumer to let us know what they can reasonably afford. Our average fee for a 90-minute session is approximately $215, which is roughly $144 an hour. This fee is slightly below the market value for other private pay practices, and moderately above the average insurance compensation rate.

Our time spent directly with you is only a small part of our dedication to your care. In addition to daily operating tasks, we engage in our own ongoing professional development that is time consuming and expensive. We pride ourselves in the amount of training we invest in each of our team members, allowing us to provide the most sound, evidence-based treatment to the individuals in our care. Furthermore, we also volunteer our time to provide trainings and other services within our community at little to no cost.  

What's the difference between coaching and therapy?

Coaching focuses on the here and now: What are the problem behaviors that are interfering with stepping into my future self? We focus on problem solving, developing more effective coping strategies, and staying in the present. 

At Seeking Depth to Recovery, we offer a variety of coaching services. Our Somatic Life Coach uses the stories in the body to lean into resistance instead of away from it. This curiosity settles the nervous system and allows individuals to access their natural creativity in overcoming obstacles without the shame, blame, or judgmental attitudes. This service is offered in a one to one setting much like individual therapy. Newly sober individuals or high functioning folks who feel like maybe they've hit a wall tend to be very successful with this approach.
 

Our Systemic Coaching is geared to support whole family systems who are experiencing drug and alcohol addiction or other form of major mental illness in the home. Because of the nature of this kind of work, families pay a retainer for the use of the service throughout the month. Often times we will speak regularly throughout the week via text, email, phone, and zoom meetings. We will move from a reactive state to a proactive state by exploring boundaries, effective communication, conflict resolution, and truth speaking. Often times this service is offerend in tandem with interventions.

Therapy, on the other hand, aims to dig deeper. When new behaviors are unable to be readily adopted, therapy can be used to explore how an individual has gotten stuck in their past and begin the process of becoming unstuck. A therapist has more intensive training that equips them to treat trauma and more significant underlying conditions. A relationship with a therapist is a bit more long term than that with a coach, due to the nature of the core issues that define the treatment goals.

What is included in the Recovery Monitoring Program?

Our Recovery Monitoring Program is heavily influenced by the CATOR studies, that showcase the correlation of long term sobriety with ongoing therapeutic engagement. Often times individuals stay sober easily in residential treatment, only to relapse when they return home. Our goal is to ease that transition so that sobriety can be maintained. Participants enrolled in the Recovery Monitoring Program work one to one with a Sober Coach to customize screening panels based on the history of substances used. The Sober Coach schedules all screens and makes results available in real time in the participant's client portal (available in an app or on the desktop). A point of contact is designated to receive notifications for any positive results, allowing families to breathe easily knowing their loved one's accountability is supported without the stress of having to do it themselves. The Sober Coach is available for check-ins as needed, however this does not replace the role or value of coaching services.

Why hire an Interventionist? Can't you just talk to my loved one?

 

The rules of addiction are "don't talk, don't trust, don't feel". By the time families even consider facilitating a formal intervention, they have often been living by these rules for many years, whether or not they realize it. These rules are designed to intentionally make family members second guess their perception of reality and avoid talking about things that could result in emotional blow ups. In order for the individual with a substance use disorder to accept the invitation to change, these rules must delicately be broken.

When you hire us for interventions, you're not hiring us to "fix" your loved one. You're hiring us to rewrite the rules within your household. We find that true success is embedded in changing family structure, addressing difficult dynamics, speaking one's truth, and enforcing boundaries in a proactive, rather than reactive, state. Getting a person to treatment is easy. Sustaining change is a family effort that takes place before, during, and after the loved one goes to treatment.

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