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SERVICES
Psychological Evaluations
A psychological evaluation examines an individual's behavior, emotional functioning, personality, cognitive functioning, and development.
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Psychological evaluations can help:
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Clarify or differentiate mental health diagnoses
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Offer a more indepth understanding of an individual's functioning and strengths
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Provide recommendations to assist with services and environmental supports.
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Facilitate pursuing academic supports such as an IEP (individualized education plan) or 504
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Inform treatment goals
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Assist with obtaining referrals for specialized services (e.g., ABA services for individuals with Autism).
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​Psychological evaluations are a valuable tool for understanding behavioral challenges and school problems in children and can help parents, providers, and educators better understand a child’s behaviors, learning style, unique strengths and needs, and what supports or accommodations may be needed.
Psychological evaluations can identify root causes to behaviors, offer solutions, and ultimately help a child be successful.
Evaluations are useful in the assessment of specific mental health diagnoses including
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ADHD
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Mood Disorders
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Intellectual Disability
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Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Developmental Disorders
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Trauma and PTSD
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Anxiety Disorders
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OCD and Impulse Control Disorders
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Behavioral Disorders
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Personality Disorders
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Psychosis
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A psychological evaluation looks at many factors because multiple components can contribute to an individual's behaviors. Each evaluation is tailored to the presenting concerns to assist with identifying unique strengths and challenges.
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Assessments can uncover developmental, neuropsychological, intellectual, emotional, personality and environmental factors contributing to how a child learns, experiences the world, feels, and behaves.
My assessments are solution-focused, working to identify an individual's strengths and the tools they need to achieve their potential. I currently provide psychological evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults.
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I currently accept insurance from Cigna and Tricare. If you have these insurance I can bill directly. These insurances tend to authorize coverage of evaluations. I also work with individuals on a sliding scale. The cost of an evaluation can vary based on purpose and time required. Please contact me for further details or with any questions you have.
Family Therapy
Family therapy can be provided in various ways. More traditional family therapy focuses on the family unit as the client. This means that no particular individual is considered the identified client. This type of therapy usually emphasizes systems theory and looks to explore the dynamics of family interrelationships and communication. Family therapy is typically recommended when addressing challenges or stressors affecting the whole family, with an emphasis on fostering increased awareness of emotional responses, validation of emotions, increased communication skills, and improved family relationships.
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When working with children and adolescents it is typically advised to include family therapy as part of the process. With young children it is much more routine, but may vary with older adolescents. These family sessions focus on the child or adolescent as the client and the family sessions tend to focus on addressing communication, gathering updates on behaviors seen in the home, discussing techniques and tools for parents to use, and review treatment goals and progress.
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These family sessions can be with caregivers and the youth all together or with caregivers only. The type of session and content of the session are determined on a case-by-case basis with increased sensitivity when working with adolescents to ensure privacy and confidentiality. Family sessions and focus can be discussed further at the time of your first session.
Individual Therapy
I provide individual therapy to teens, adults, and pre-teens (10-12). While I may provide individual skills training to children under the age of 10, I also encourage family therapy to assist caregivers with therapeutic tools and techniques to help coach their children and learn how to increase desired behaviors.
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Individual therapy typically starts out as once per week for 50 minute sessions. When clients feel they are close to finishing services, we will reduce the frequency of sessions until we determine a discharge date. Client always have opportunities to return for booster sessions.
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When it comes to individual therapy, we will work together (myself and the client or myself, the client, and caregivers) to determine what the client needs are, what treatment options are available, and how we would like to proceed. Individual therapy may be a time to learn coping skills, explore triggers and insights, or provide psychoeducation.
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Families of teens and children are always encouraged to take an active role in therapy. This will also be based off of the needs of the client and the family. See below for family therapy options.
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I currently work with individuals to find a sliding scale fee that works for them. I am paneled with Cigna and offer super bills to individuals who have an out-of-network benefit. This means you pay up front and then get reimbursed from insurance. Please reach out with additional questions.
FBT
Consulting
Family Behavior Therapy (FBT) is an evidence-based treatment which utilizes innovative, behavioral therapies to address substance use and associated problems within a family context.
FBT focuses on optimizing thoughts and behaviors through performance programming that typically consist of 12 to 16 outpatient sessions of approximately 60 to 90 minutes that are scheduled to occur across 4 to 6 month period.
FBT has been found to assist goal accomplishment in a wide array of areas, including mental health, family relationships, sobriety and effective management of substances, employment, sport performance, self-protection, home safety and beautification. FBT has been developed to treat both adolescents and adults.
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The development of FBT was originally funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) & National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). This approach is one of the only scientifically supported approaches to demonstrate improved outcomes in both adolescent and adult substance abuse. The approach is currently listed in various clearinghouses, including SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. FBT was listed as one of the several "evidence-based, developmentally sensitive approaches emerging for addressing alcohol, nicotine, and other drug use problems among adolescents." In a meta-analysis study, FBT was one of two intervention approaches found to demonstrate large effect sizes across substance abuse, internalizing, and externalizing problems in dually diagnosed youth.
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I earned my doctorate under the mentorship of Dr. Brad Donohue; a developer of FBT. During my time at UNLV, I worked closely on the NIDA funded controlled treatment trial examining FBT for use with adults involved in child welfare. I have found FBT to be an extremely useful and easy to implement treatment for individuals I have worked with in a variety of treatment settings. I have also utilized many of the interventions for individuals without substance use problems with great success. Please feel free to contact me via phone or email about any questions or interests in FBT workshops or certification. Please check out Dr Donohue's website for further information on FBT including research, training information, and free resources.
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If you are interested in any available services or have further questions, let's talk >>
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