Frequently asked questions about assessments & Therapy

Assessment FAQ’s

What is a psychological assessment?

We view assessments as collaborative interventions in their own right.
Assessments are not merely “testing.”
Partnering with students helps them see their skills accurately.
Often we do post-assessment follow-up with coaching or therapy.
Assessments may provide documentation to obtain test or school accommodations.

During & After Assessments

After assessments, we work with schools to identify supports students need.
We often follow up by attending school-staffing meetings to help put recommendations in place.
We purposefully follow-up with students to help them alter their academic habits.
We offer psychotherapy and coaching to address depression, anxieties, and executive or planning challenges.
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Assessment Cost

Comprehensive Assessments often take 20-28 hours [total time].
Fees usually range from $4500 – $6500 before insurance.
Our assessment rate is $285.00 per hour.
We require a credit card on file for at least the initial session fee of $450. (Refunded if your insurance pays for this)
You have no obligations beyond the first session fee unless deciding to move forward. You are in control.
If an assessment is required, we send a good-faith estimate for reasonably expected costs over the course of an entire assessment.
We do, as needed, craft less expensive partial or tiered assessments.

Brief or Comprehensive Assessment?

What makes brief assessment process less expensive? The brief assessment takes less time to complete, and includes less appointments, tests, and limited report.
Which process should is right for me? This becomes a collaborative conversation with your psychologist. At times, depending on the referral question, a brief assessment is sufficient. Yet, with complex referral questions, a comprehensive assessment is best. Sometimes your psychologist is ethically bound to conduct a more comprehensive assessment. When this is the case, and it is not feasible for you or your family, we provide you referrals to other clinics and discuss alternatives.
Can I start with the brief assessment and add additional testing if need be? This may be possible. For some patients in some situations, a brief assessment is sufficient. Depending on the need, additional assessment measures could be added later, using the initial findings as a guide. Please keep in mind that our assessments are not “cookie-cutter” or one-size-fits all.
Are brief assessments sufficient in determining academic accommodations or medication? Some physicians, psychiatrists, or nurse practitioners require brief assessments before prescribing medications. Others may require more comprehensive evaluation. Eligibility for school, college, or vocational accommodations are based solely on previous history, with or without a brief or comprehensive assessment. Schools and colleges take different approaches, but all are somewhat standardized, and should post requirements on their websites. Your psychologist will help you understand what is required.
For the next step, we schedule a brief call (~15 minute) to discuss questions, your goals, and outline clinic processes.

Insurance Billing

We bill your insurance carrier for testing or therapy as a courtesy.
You agree to pay your balance after insurance has paid their portion within 30 days via CC.
Most insurers DO NOT COVER more than 1/3 to 1/2 of total assessment costs.
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR TOTAL BILL if your insurer reimburses or not.
Pre–Authorization Some insurers require us to submit pre-assessment authorization requests. We submit information to their reviewer after initial sessions. Then, within 24-48 hours, the reviewer informs us how many testing hours they will pay for at their rates [which are always lower than our rates of $285.00 per hour].
Find out why your health insurer denied your claim by following this link: projects.propublica.org/claimfile/

Assessment Procedures & Steps

Your team includes you, one of our psychologists, and usually our psychometrist Jolene Heinrich.
Jolene does about half of the testing, and she contacts you to schedule with her.
Our initial sessions are about 90 to 120 minutes and we take a detailed patient history and ask about your goals.
Usually we schedule 3-6 test sessions of 60-180 minutes. Unless it is a brief assessment, we never complete all tests in a single day.
Comprehensive assessments include about 8-10 face-to-face hours to ensure rapport, and that patients can do their best, for valid findings.
When all tests & forms are completed, your psychologist spends another 8-10 hours scoring, interpreting, and report-writing.
Parent feedback sessions to review test findings and recommendations last 1-2 hours.
Child/teen feedback sessions are brief [<60m] and focus on moving forward via strengths.

What is psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy [talk therapy] ranges from parent training to ERP-CBT techniques to family therapy to Motivational Interviewing, and more. Psychotherapy is with individuals, or family members or groups. We ask questions to get to know a person’s strengths, and employ many different types of therapy skills.

During Psychotherapy

We work with you or family members, to identify change goals, understand your strengths, and your problems, and help guide you to making those changes you desire to make. We work with many problems often including entangled academic issues, discouragement, depression, anxieties, traumas, medical regimen issues, and behavioral and emotional challenges.

Therapy Costs

Unless you arranged for a special fee, therapy sessions are $285.00 per 50 minute hour.

Re-Authorization

Some insurers require us to submit re-authorization paperwork for ongoing therapy. We send standard forms for reviewers and they informs us in 24-48 hours how many sessions they might authorize, their rates of reimbursement [often less than our fees].

Therapy Steps

Initial Sessions are ~90-120 minutes usually with parents as we take a detailed patient history.
We work collaboratively with the patient to elicit their goals, values, and strengths.
We may meet weekly, or less to help you move toward your goals.
A meta-goal of all psychotherapy is to gain more awareness and psychological flexibility.
And no longer needing psychotherapy to live fully.