• Assessment clarifies your diagnosis and helps you understand what's driving your symptoms—so you and your providers can work more efficiently. You'll walk away understanding not just what you're experiencing, but why, and what kinds of interventions are most likely to help.

    This is particularly valuable when standard treatments haven't worked, when you're struggling with relationship patterns or sense of self, or when your symptoms feel confusing or overlapping.

  • Fees vary based on the complexity of your presentation and which assessment measures are most appropriate. During your free consultation, we'll discuss your specific situation and I'll give you a clear cost estimate before we begin.

  • Some clients find providers elsewhere. Some continue therapy with me when their assessment reveals they would benefit from specialized treatments I offer.

  • Yes. Based on your results, I'll recommend:

    • Types of treatment that match your presentation (such as mentalization-based therapy for personality patterns, DBT for emotion regulation, trauma-focused treatment, or exposure-based interventions)

    • Specialists or programs to consider

    • Whether medication evaluation might help

    • Specific providers when I know someone who's a good fit

    Some clients find providers elsewhere. Some continue therapy with me when their assessment reveals they would benefit from specialized treatments I offer. The goal is to help you make informed decisions.

  • I use validated, evidence-based assessment instruments including diagnostic interviews, personality measures (including the PID-5, MMPI-3, SCID-5-PD, and SCID-5-AMPD for assessing personality functioning across identity, self-direction, empathy, and intimacy), cognitive tests, and symptom questionnaires. The specific tests I use depend on your presentation and what questions we're trying to answer.

    During the consultation, I can explain which measures would be most appropriate for your situation.

  • No. I provide diagnostic and personality assessment, but not comprehensive neuropsychological batteries. If you need extensive cognitive testing for things like dementia, learning disabilities, or traumatic brain injury, I can refer you to neuropsychologists who specialize in those evaluations.

  • I can assess for ADHD traits and neurodevelopmental patterns as part of a broader diagnostic picture, but I don't do the comprehensive ADHD, autism, or learning disability evaluations that require extensive cognitive testing and collateral information from multiple sources. If you need that level of specialized testing, I'll point you toward providers who do that work.

  • There are a few common reasons treatment doesn't work the way people hope:

    • Misdiagnosis: Treating anxiety when the real issue is trauma, mood instability, or personality functioning difficulties

    • Wrong approach: Using anxiety-focused interventions for trauma that needs additional specialized processing, or treating multiple more time-limited conditions when underlying personality functioning needs addressing

    • Unclear formulation: Working on symptoms without understanding what keeps them going

    • Missing factors: Not recognizing how personality functioning, cognition, or emotion dysregulation interact with other symptoms

    • Chronic patterns: When symptoms span years—often since adolescence or early adulthood—with only partial response to therapy and medication, it often indicates personality functioning is involved but hasn't been directly addressed

    Assessment helps identify these gaps so treatment can be more targeted.

  • The timeline varies depending on the complexity of your presentation and which tests are needed. We'll discuss the specific timeline during your consultation, but generally assessments involve:

    • Multiple testing sessions

    • Time for scoring and report writing

    • A comprehensive feedback session

    Total time from start to finish is typically several weeks.

  • I'm an out-of-network provider, so I don't bill insurance directly. But many insurance plans offer out-of-network benefits for psychological testing that will reimburse you for part of the cost.

    I use Mentaya to help make the reimbursement process seamless and painless for you. Go to my 'Fees & Policies' page, scroll down to the Mentaya widget, and plug in your insurance information to see how much you can plan on paying per hour to see me.

    How it works:

    1. Check your benefits using the Mentaya widget (takes 30 seconds)

    2. You'll see your deductible, copay, and expected reimbursement per session

    3. After sessions, I verify them and Mentaya automatically submits claims to your insurance

    4. You receive reimbursement via check or direct deposit in 2-6 weeks

    5. On average, clients get 62% back

    This makes using out-of-network benefits simple—no manual superbill hassles, transparent costs upfront, and automatic claim submission.

  • I completely understand—being out-of-network can sound intimidating. Here's why it's actually more straightforward than it seems:

    Transparency: With the Mentaya benefits checker on my Fees & Policies page, you know your exact costs before we even start. No surprises.

    Automatic reimbursement: Mentaya handles all the superbill submission automatically. You don't have to deal with insurance paperwork.

    Real savings: Most clients get 62% back on therapy. So if a session costs $200, you'd typically pay around $76 out of pocket after reimbursement.

    Example:

    • Session fee: $200

    • Insurance reimburses: 70% (this is your out-of-network benefit rate, which you'll see in the Mentaya checker)

    • You get back: $140

    • Your actual cost: $60 per session

    Check the Mentaya widget to see your specific numbers. During the free consultation, we'll also discuss whether the costs work for your situation.

  • You'll receive comprehensive treatment recommendations based on your results. This might include:

    • Specialists in your area who focus on your diagnosis

    • Programs or treatment modalities to consider (such as DBT programs, trauma treatment centers, or therapists trained in mentalization-based approaches)

    The goal is to help you make informed decisions about your next steps.

    For some clients, continuing therapy with me following assessment is clinically appropriate—particularly when results indicate they would benefit from specialized treatments I offer, including mentalization-based therapy for personality functioning, DBT-informed approaches, or trauma-focused interventions.