FAQ
How do I choose the best therapist for me?
Choosing a mental health professional can be a difficult process and feeling nervous is a common experience. Opening up to a complete stranger about the deep, vulnerable areas of your life is challenging and may bring up a myriad of emotions. To some degree this is appropriate. It is stepping into the unknown of a new relationship with a professional and trying to determine if he or she holds the clinical skills and personal fit for your healing process. Finding the right therapist to meet your specific needs can be overwhelming. The right therapist should create a safe, compassionate experience, and effectively aid in getting to the roots of your challenges. It’s a fine balance of creating safety and holding the space, all the while, appropriately exploring and challenging each person in the unique way he or she needs to move towards counseling goals. This is our hope at Aspen Haus Associates.
What should I expect when I contact your office?
Our team endeavors to serve all inquiries with respect and dignity. There are times when our team is not the appropriate fit for services. In making these decisions, we are striving to honor the integrity of the counseling process. This includes providing referrals to the best of our ability.
The first step to our process is a free, brief phone consultation to get a sense of your counseling needs, provide further information about our practice, and answer any of your general questions. Not all counseling practices choose to complete this process. We have chosen to invest this time in hopes to serve all potential clients well.
After the phone consultation, if we determine that Aspen Haus Associates can meet your counseling needs, we will schedule an intake appointment. The intake appointment is an opportunity to further evaluate your needs, counseling goals, and for both the client and the therapist to determine if we are the best fit for your counseling experience.
What should I expect from an intake appointment?
The focus of the intake session is a continued conversation from the initial phone consultation and has three purposes. First, it is an opportunity for you to share your experiences and challenges in life. Second, it is an opportunity for your therapist to provide and gather information to ethically meet your goals for therapy. This includes discussing confidentiality, HIPAA compliance, fees, our service agreement, and the ways in which we seek to be aspirational in all we do, including protecting your confidentiality and safety. Lastly, it is an opportunity for both the client and counselor to determine therapeutic fit after a face-to-face experience. Though we may not cover every detail of the issue(s) presented in the first session, you should have a basic comprehension of the potential counseling experience with your therapist. Your therapist should remain committed to pursuing a clear understanding of your experience, needs, and goals in order to provide tailored and customized services for you.
What types of questions will I be asked during the intake appointment?
There are a few basic goals in order to serve you well. First, our goal is to convey an ethical understanding of how Aspen Haus Associates provides counseling services. This process should not be confusing. In the same breath, we do not expect clients to understand best practices, legal and ethical requirements of counseling, or our policies and procedures. We take joy in keeping you informed from the beginning. We will walk through initial paperwork and provide information about our processes at Aspen Haus Associates. Second, in order to provide an effective treatment plan, we will begin to conceptualize your situation in terms of current psychological research and treatment standards. This requires a counselor to ask specific questions pertaining to your current symptoms and your past counseling, psychiatric, and medical history. We also endeavor to listen to the nuances of your experience, as a unique individual. The more you are willing to share, the better informed your counselor will be. With that said, our counselors do not expect blind trust, and we are willing to be patient and create safety as you develop the trust and connection needed to do the deeper work you are pursuing. This part of the process is pivotal and necessary to forming an effective plan to meet your counseling goals.
Do you offer different types of therapy?
We offer several forms of therapy, each tailored to your needs and the needs of your relationship or family. We also have a diverse team of specialist, and each has a unique therapeutic style. We do our best to communicate our specialties, training, style, and personality in our bios. When you meet with a therapist, they should be able to clearly articulate the type of therapy they practice and his or her approach to growth and healing. Aspen Haus Associates offers several types of therapy for several populations including individual, marital, couples, pre-marital, sexual, trauma, EMDR, and adolescent counseling. We offer a comprehensive and, when appropriate, a team approach to address complex issues and meet the unique needs of each client. We endeavor to offer effective counseling that addresses each aspect of your life, relationship, and family. We believe in working ourselves out of a job, as our hope is that clients leave not only experience healing but also feeling equipped for future challenges.
What do you mean by a “team approach” to counseling?
We believe in the power of team. When you receive counseling from an Aspen Haus Associate, you have the unique opportunity to gain the insight, training, and specialty skill set of the entire Aspen Haus Associates team. At a minimum, when you have an Aspen Haus counselor, you get the team behind the counselor. We also specialize in customizing treatment approaches to meet your specific needs. Our team specializes in customizing treatment plans for complex individual and relationship needs, which can include the involvement of more than one counselor. Examples of customized treatment plans may include finding ways to meet your individual counseling needs while helping your marriage stay healthy, strong, and unified with a combination of individual and couples counseling. We may help your marriage while also helping your child learn to express their needs through play therapy.
In order to offer high-quality, comprehensive approach, our team meets weekly, and additionally if needed, to confidentially staff cases, stay in sync on shared cases, and identify areas of growth for our therapist. This helps us provide unique and effective counseling for our clients.
What if my therapist and I don’t agree on an issue or process for treatment?
We value transparency and congruence. This includes the invitation to our clients in sharing concerns regarding your treatment plan or counseling process. We want our clients to ask questions, seek clarity, and share how they experience the process. We value this information and feedback. It allows us to pursue an ongoing customization of the counseling process. Though counseling is a profession, it is a relationship, and we ask that our clients take ownership in sharing their concerns with their therapist. If you believe you have not been able to fully or effectively present an issue that brought you to your counseling process, then we encourage you to follow up with your therapist. Your therapist may need to access further information in order to effectively provide the best form of counseling treatment. We believe that therapy is a collaborative effort and want clients to engage fully as they are ready.
There are times when clients and therapists do not agree on a treatment plan. This is not unusual. We understand that our therapists cannot be the fit for every client and the process of finding the right therapist is an integral part of the counseling process. Poor fit can be due to training, wanting a specialty we do not offer, personality or style preference, scheduling conflicts, and other various components. Thus, you may need a second opinion or alternative referral. Though we believe in the quality of our expertise, our clients need to feel comfortable and safe with any professional with whom they work with in order for counseling to be successful. We will do everything we can to provide referrals or coaching for the best ways to find the counseling you need. Our office is honored and happy to serve you in this way.
How long are appointments, and how often will I meet with my therapist?
Appointments may vary and may be tailored to specific counseling needs and based on counselor style. The majority of counseling appointments are 50 minutes (hour). We often recommend weekly appointments initially to allow for progress and allow you to get to root issues most effectively. At times, it is necessary to pursue 80 (1.5 hour) appointments depending on the case and form of therapy. Our counselors will communicate and inform each client about his or her suggestion for appointment length and frequency while endeavoring to honor the client’s resources and schedule when possible.
Do you take my insurance?
Aspen Haus Associates does not currently participate as a provider with insurance plans and is a fee-for-service, or private pay, practice. This means clients pay the full fee for services at the time the services are provided. You may pay with cash, credit card, or check. We want to focus on client care and avoid cookie cutter processes that intrude on client confidentiality. We have carefully and thoughtfully explored the advantages of offering fee-for-service counseling. In many instances, utilizing insurance removes power from the client and clinician to decide on appropriate individualized treatment plans and at times requires inappropriate use of diagnoses. Because we offer specialized and individualized treatment plans, using insurance for many of our services would hinder our ability to collaborate with our clients and offer these specialty approaches to counseling. The Aspen Haus Associates team remains committed to being the best at what we do and seeks to be at the top of our respective areas of expertise. Thus, we choose the most individual and specialized path for our clients and currently do not accept insurance. Thus, by not participating with insurance plans, we are not obligated to follow insurance guidelines that require us to provide records or follow insurance guidelines that may not be helpful in client treatment and care.
Many of our clients use their medical reimbursement or HSA/FSA cards for their treatment. We specialize in fee for service counseling services that provide the highest standards in training, expertise, privacy and confidentiality. In some instances, Aspen Haus Associates can provide you with a billing statement that you may use to file an out of network claim with your insurance company. Some of our therapist can provide you with a super bill for you to file with your insurance company. It is up to the discretion of each therapist to provide such a statement. All therapists can provide a receipt for service at each session.
Do you offer educational or CEU events?
Yes, our clinicians are active in higher education arenas including teaching, writing, and presenting at various conferences and educational institutions. Aspen Haus Associates offers educational and continuing education events for clinicians and other professionals including Licensed Professional Counselors and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist believe in receiving and providing on-going education and training as it allows us to be the best clinicians for our clients.
HOW TO REQUEST YOUR RECORDS
Texas law requires that requests for mental health records be in writing. In order to obtain your records, or your minor’s records from your provider, you must contact your provider directly. Each provider is the guardian for client records. If you do not hav your provider’s direct contact, you can email our office to receive that information: services@aspenhausassociates.com
The following may be a part of each provider’s process:
Complete a written request of the records. Please be sure to include the records you want, and the name, address, and/or e-mail address of the intended recipient. Your provider may request a phone call in order to ensure clarity about what is being requested.
If the records are to be used in litigation, please include case information, such as the cause number, title, and court where the case is pending.
If you need a Business Records Affidavit, please let us know in your request for records. There is a $15 charge for providing a Business Records Affidavit. No Affidavit will be provided unless the fee is paid.
Each provider has the right to charge for providing records in this practice. We accept credit cards.
If you are requesting a copy of couples counseling records, family counseling records, or records for a person who is not yourself or your child, state and federal law require that you provide either a Court Order or an Authorization signed by the person (or parent of the person) whose records you are requesting. 45 C.F.R. §164.512(e); Texas Health & Safety Code §611.004, §611.0045, §611.008.
How to request records: Instructions for attorneys and document companies
A subpoena alone is not sufficient to compel the disclosure of confidential counseling and billing records or “Protected Health Information” (PHI) under the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act Privacy Rule (HIPAA), 45 C.F.R. Chapter 164.
For medical/hospital/mental health records or information that are requested or subpoenaed in litigation (including court testimony), HIPAA allows a covered entity (such as INSERT YOUR NAME OR NAME OF YOUR PRACTICE) to disclose PHI in the course of any judicial or administrative proceeding as follows:
(1) In response to an order of a court or administrative tribunal; or
(2) Where the individual (or parent) is a party to the proceeding, he/she knows that the request for his/her PHI has been made, and does not object.
45 C.F.R. §164.512(e). An Authorization from the individual or parent is the kind of document that will satisfy the second option.
NOTE: If the client or parent has indicated that they do not want their records released, a “Statement of Assurance” will not be accepted, and an Authorization or Court Order will be required.
How to file a complaint
While we would like the opportunity to resolve concerns if you have any, you have a right to have your complaints heard and resolved in a timely manner. If we cannot work things out to your satisfaction, you may file a complaint with my licensing board:
Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council
1801 Congress Avenue, Suite 7.300
Austin, TX 78701
Telephone: 1-800-821-3205
Link to Complaint Form: http://www.bhec.texas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BHEC-Complaint-Form.pdf.
If you have a complaint concerning the HIPAA Privacy Regulations, you may contact the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at: OCRMail@hhs.gov.
If you believe that you have a Consumer Complaint regarding the privacy and security of your health information, you may contact the Texas Office of the Attorney General and file a consumer complaint by clicking this link:
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/health-care/patient-privacy