Frequently Asked Questions
Does your practice accept insurance?
Our practice does not accept insurance. We can, however, share with you, documentation of your services to be shared with your insurance provider for potential reimbursement for out-of-network services. This is not a guaranteed action that your insurance carrier will take. The best option is to check in with your insurance provider to see if they reimburse for out-of-network services before committing to this process.
Does your practice bill insurance for couples therapy?
Our practice does not bill insurance carriers for couples therapy. In many cases, to do this practice ethically, your therapist would have to diagnose one partner in the couple in order to get reimbursed for the service. This becomes a very complicated process and takes focus away from the fact that the couple is the client and not just one person. Overall, our practice does not accept insurance regardless of if it is for couples or individuals.
What theoretical approaches does your practice utilize to create change in the therapeutic process?
Our practice has therapists who practice from a variety of theoretical approaches. Each therapist integrates approaches that make sense for who they are and how they perceive the world and the work of growth and change as well as what works best for you, the client. Please feel free to ask your therapist about their approach in your first session or by opting into a brief consultation call before you begin services.
What methods of payment can be used to invest in therapeutic services?
Our practice is a cashless, self-pay entity. We utilize a HIPAA-compliant and encrypted online platform that takes care of the billing aspects of the business for us. All major credit cards can be used as well as HSA and FSA cards. Invoices are generated following each payment. These can be accessed by clients within their client portal.
Per HIPAA guidelines, you, as a client of our practice, have the right to a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) for services. A GFE is an estimate of the anticipated costs of services that you might receive from your clinician. Please let your clinician know if you would like to have this documentation; and please note that this is an estimate rather than a guarantee of what will be. The process of therapy will look different for each person based on their unique needs. If any shifts need to be made to this estimate once more information is collected and as you have sat with your clinician more and your clinician is able to hold more of your lived experience, then this documentation could change. Regardless, you have the right to this documentation and any shifts that would be made within it. We would be glad to help you with this!
What is the process for setting up the first appointment?
To set up a first appointment, please click on the "Contact Us" tab of our website. This will lead you to a contact form that will ask for some general information to help us get you scheduled. Additionally, you can call our practice at (901) 528-9863 or email the practice owner directly at dr.owens@thecollectivehealingspace.org to schedule. In any of these contacts, please let us know what days and times work best for a brief consultation call (if needed) or a session. This will help streamline the process.
What should I expect to happen in a first appointment?
The first appointment is a dedicated space meant to get to know you more holistically. Your therapist will ask about what is bringing you in, but will also ask about previous mental health services, about your family, about the impact of your cultural identities on how you perceive the world, and more. All our questions are intentional and will lead to establishing a strong foundation from which to begin our work. This time will also be spent developing the therapeutic relationship and creating the holding space needed to do the work of therapy. Though it can feel like a lot to share all at once, the first appointment is important to the therapeutic process and allows your therapist to be as equipped as possible to best help facilitate a space for growth and change.
What is therapy?
Therapy is simply a facilitated conversation with a purpose. Overall, the purpose is to facilitate transformation, growth, and change. It is to create choice, clarity, and greater awareness. We sincerely hope that it also allows you to be your best and most well self in every season of your life moving forward. Therapy is an equipping process for you to readily access your inherent capacity for self-healing. Your therapist is meant to facilitate this and be an active participant in co-creating the space needed to do this type of work. Therapy is not an easy process nor a quick fix for what is happening for you. However, it is a process that will have a long-lasting impact for you and, vicariously, for those who are impacted by you.
How often should I come in for therapy?
The frequency with which you come to therapy is dependent on multiple factors: your resources (mental, emotional, and financial) to engage in therapy; your presenting concerns or what's bringing you in for services; your sense of what you need; and your therapist's sense of what makes the most sense given your needs to name a few. This is a topic that will be discussed between you and your therapist. Typically, it could be helpful to see your therapist more frequently in the beginning of your course of therapy to establish the therapeutic relationship and to follow the momentum for engagement that usually comes with initiating services.
How would my therapist handle the need for medication management?
It is not uncommon that people need to take psychiatric medications alongside engaging in therapy for many reasons. If this becomes something that your therapist is considering during treatment, they will speak to you about it, outlining their thought process around what makes the medication something to be considered, what the advantages and disadvantages might be in this type of treatment, and hearing from you your thoughts, questions, and concerns. Adding medication to your treatment plan is not something that your therapist will decide on without engaging you in the process. Your voice matters just as much in this decision-making process as it does everywhere else in the process.