EMDR stands for eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing. It can be helpful for a variety of issues including anxiety, past trauma, poor self-esteem, etc. Visit the EMDR International Association to learn more.

Angela works with individual adults.

Clients must be located in DC, VA, TX, FL, or SC.

Clients in FL and SC may not use insurance.

Angela works primarily with clients who have challenges with interpersonal dynamics and/or have disturbing memories or thoughts or behavioral patterns that disrupt normal life. Most clients have symptoms of anxiety or PTSD.

Some clients have Angela as their only therapist, but many have a separate talk therapist.

Counseling appointments are 45-55 minutes in duration unless prior arrangements are made for an intensive (1.5 hours or 3 hours).

Intensives are not eligible for insurance billing.

New clients attend once a week or every other week. Once life is more stable, session frequency often decreases gradually to about once every 4-6 weeks for accountability and relapse prevention.

In general, if you are working with Angela, you are signing up for EMDR therapy. If you do not want EMDR therapy, Angela may refer you to another provider.

However, not every session will include memory processing.

This depends on the issue being discussed. For some clients the faith component is exploring the barriers that prevent the client from inviting God into a particular area of life. For other clients the focus is on developing spiritual disciplines such as Bible reading, prayer, and community involvement. For yet others, it is about developing or re-establishing trust in God after being betrayed by people or feeling angry that God did not intervene in a particular situation.

Watch this video to learn more.

We can still work together. Spiritual matters are often an important part of how we view and cope with challenges in our lives, but not every counselor will ask about or invite that type of discussion. I am open to talking about spiritual matters regardless of your faith background. Similarly, if you do not want to talk about your spiritual beliefs, we can focus on other topics.

If you have coverage with Aetna, Kaiser, or Carefirst BCBS, your plan probably covers services with Angela. If you have Athem or another BCBS plan, you may be covered for in-office sessions but not virtual sessions. Details vary by plan and location. Headway.co handles all insurance verification and billing for this practice. You can request a free consultation and insurance verification at Angela’s Headway page.

If you wish to do advanced research, contact your insurance company and ask the following questions:

• Do I have any out of network benefits for in-office mental health services?

• Do I have an out-of-network deductible? If so, how much is that deductible?

• What is the maximum allowable amount for CPT code 90834 when provided by an LPC or LMFT?

• What percentage of the allowed amount will I be reimbursed?

This information should help you figure out how much therapy will cost you. The average person needs 8-12 sessions and while you may need fewer or more sessions, this is a good place to start when estimating out of pocket costs.

You may use an HSA/FSA debit card to pay for counseling even if your insurance company does not provide reimbursement.

Download the Therapy Cost Calculator

If Angela is not in your insurance company’s network, she does not have any direct contact with that company. You may submit your invoices to your insurance company for potential out-of-network reimbursement.

Each state and district has a process for licensing therapists. The licensing rules dictate what courses are required and how many hours of supervised experience the therapist must have before practicing independently.

In theory the licensing boards also make sure that each therapist has the required number of continuing education units but since this is largely an honor system, it might be more relevant to simply ask the therapist what type of continuing education they have received in the past 2 years. Every therapist is required to take ethics training so if they don't mention ethics you should be wary. Any other continuing education topics will likely tell you what type of therapy or topics are of interest to that therapist.

A web search of the mental health licensing boards in your state should provide you with either an online license search or a way to contact the appropriate licensing board to verify that the professional holds an active license in good standing. Keep in mind that in most states there are separate licensing boards for each profession: marriage and family therapists, licensed professional counselors, social workers, addictions counselors, and psychologists.

Most certifications are managed by a national or international association. For example, the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) is the certifying body for EMDR therapists. A search of the certifying association's website should yield a list of currently certified therapists for that specialty.

While few therapists will give you free therapy time, you can usually ask a therapist in general terms how they work with people who have symptoms and concerns similar to yours and how often they work with those types of clients.

If you feel very comfortable with the therapist but have concerns about their lack of expertise on your issue, you might ask them how they would proceed if the therapy seems to be stuck. A good therapist will have a supervisor, mentor, or peer consultation group that can help them brainstorm how to proceed when therapy stalls.