Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
We are happy to work with you to set up an arrangement that works for you. Below please find answers to some common questions:
Why should I consider therapy?
Are you experiencing distress?
Needing a safe environment in which to work through this?
Everyone experiences some distress at one time or another, and everyone has different needs in dealing with problems in their life. Sometimes these problems are in specific areas, such as problems in a relationship, grieving a loss, problematic behaviors, or concern about what others think of you. Other times problems can be broader, such as general dissatisfaction with one’s self or one’s life.
Most people can benefit from the support and expertise of a caring professional. Our commitment is to help you identify your strengths and use them to more effectively manage your emotional health.
A relationship with a therapist can become a safe place in which to address concerns freely because your therapist is not invested in your life in the same way as friends and family. This gives clients room to discuss and explore what is important to them more completely and empowers them to make the necessary choices and adjustments in their lives. In addition to being a safe place to discuss difficult and/or meaningful topics, a clinically trained therapist has knowledge about how you can address various difficulties in a way that maximizes your chances of success.
What's the difference between therapy &...
Therapeutic relationships are based on an egalitarian model of helping that works to reduce or eliminate power differentials between therapist and client as much as possible. This makes therapy different from a lot of other relationships in a person's life
So what's the difference between a therapist and...
...my best friend?
Friends, family members, mentors and partners are important parts of our support system. But they are also invested in our lives and our decisions in various ways. Those we share living space with are invested in what we decide to do about our personal hygiene or whether we pay bills. Those we spend all day with are invested in our mood because it may impact their own experience of the day. These are all natural and often positive, but may mean that these investment impact their ability to objectively assess our thoughts, goals and plans. The difference between this and a therapeutic relationship is that the latter exists in a defined space and time, with specific limitations around confidentiality. This means that a therapist, while caring deeply about your well-being, might not be personally invested in your decisions about work, relationships, etc, in the same way, allowing for some therapeutic objectivity in feedback.
...a sex worker?
Sex work is any type of labor where the explicit goal is to produce a sexual or erotic response in the client (SWOPusa.org). Therapists provide different services, as the goals of therapy are set in collaboration with the client, and generally oriented to some decrease in distress or increase in functioning. While sex is often a topic of discussion in therapy (just like the many other important areas of our holistic lives), talking with a therapist offers the opportunity to talk about sex in a non-sexualized context - to talk about meaning, importance, desire and more without expectation. This allows exploration away from socialized pressures and expectations, and the goal is to increase understanding and insight.
...a pro-dom ?
Therapists do not provide these services. If you are hoping for someone who will set rules with you and discuss arrangements like punishments and consequences, who will hold power over you, and to whom you wish to submit, you may want to consider seeking that kind of arrangement (with a dominant, professional or otherwise). In therapy, there would be no question of a client being punished or shamed, but rather the focus would be on working to build skills and resources to help you achieve whatever goals were set together. Should you wish to consider individual therapy to discuss your interest in kink/submission, how to approach getting this need met in your relationships, or personal growth and development, that is something that ourpractice provides, however that would be very different from a submissive relationship.
As a practice that works with many kinksters, we suggest that you learn about how to approach consent and boundary conversations when entering into any consensual power exchange relationship before entering a relationship (or even a scene) with any dominant. The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a useful resource for this,
"A friend of my partner's metamor knows you/met you/went to your class..."
aka - How do you deal with confidentiality and dual relationships?
aka - How do you deal with confidentiality and dual relationships?
As therapists working and living in marginalized communities, we recognize that sometimes our paths may cross with our clients. This is normal, and does not have to be scary, but we like you to have an idea of what to expect. If you bump into your clinician at the gas station, they will not greet you. This is because their job is to protect your confidentiality, always. Whether you say hello or not is ultimately up to you – Your privacy is yours to do with what you will.
In cases where there is an event or situation at which you and your clinician know you are both likely to be present, you can discuss this ahead of time with them. We like helping people make plans for this, talk about how it feels, and understand how each of our experiences of this is different. But we are not upset when people choose to maintain their privacy and not say hello to us!
We also know, thanks to our robust referral network, that it may happen that you get assigned to a therapist who has an overlapping friend, romantic, hobby, interest, etc. circle with you. If this happens, we want to talk to you about this, and figure out the best plan. Sometimes there are enough degrees of separation that working together seems possible. At others, it may work best for you to be assigned to a different clinician. We are always happy to work with you on this. And we know that sometimes a good referral is the best thing that we can do for a prospective client. We have some great colleagues that we are happy to connect you with.
How long are sessions?
Therapy hours run approx. 45-50 minutes. This allows clinicians time to reflect, write notes, update your file, and attend to their own needs between sessions. If we are running late (which should rarely happen), we will attempt to adjust the hour so you get the full 45-50 minutes.
Is there paperwork?
Yes, but not too much, and it can all be done virtually. We use an electronic health record, TheraNest, to maintain client records and keep current with the requirements of legal confidentiality in the era of telecommunications. This system also has the benefit of providing a platform for secure communications between clients and clinicians, by creating a client portal. In an era where more and more clients want to communicate not only scheduling needs, but also other concerns by e-mail, doing so on a secure platform gives peace of mind that this information will remain secure in transmission.
You can even request a login directly from our StorieBrook Client Portal
To learn more about the client experience of TheraNest, you can visit their Client Support Site
Once we enter your contact information in the client portal you will receive an e-mail asking you to login. Then you will be able to complete your initial paperwork, also send secure messages to your clinician, request appointments, and more.
Also note that if you are using insurance benefits with Dr. Kieran, you may need to complete additional paperwork through Headway to set up your billing.
How much do sessions cost?
Our standard hourly fee is $200-250 (per 45-50 minute clinical hour). We also offer a sliding fee scale for private pay clients, which can slide as low as $90 per hour. The arrangements for this sliding scale are based on what you determine you are able to pay, the frequency of sessions you need, and your consultation with your therapist - for more information on this, just ask. Extended sessions will be billed by the time used, based on a multiplier of the hourly rate. All cancellations without at least 24 hours notice (including no-shows) will be billed at $50.
If you need a fee lower than these, please see information on our new Low-Cost Therapy program.
In preparation for some new services we hare rolling out in Fall 2023, we have created a new Guide to Sliding Fee Scales for therapy. This is specific to our practice, but also gives some ideas about how these work generally. If you are in the process of determining rates with your clinician, this may also be useful.
Sliding Scale Suggestions - StorieBrook.pdf
Do you take insurance? Which ones?
Our practice is too small to employ an additional expert to navigate the paperwork and hours that it would take to accept all insurance. We have made a deliberate choice to keep our costs low to allow for a sliding fee-scale and low-cost programs accessible to all clients, rather than pass the expense of additional billing staff on to clients.
We always have the ability to provide you with a receipt listing all the information that your insurance company needs in order for you to file a claim for reimbursement. You can ask for these after each session, or for a summary receipt every few months.
We are not directly paneled with any insurance companies. However, through a service called Headway, Dr. Kieran is able to accept in-network benefits for a small number of insurance companies (Aetna, United & Anthem/BCBS).
The image here illustrates the setup process with Headway. For more information, please feel free to ask us.
Fees for co-payments work slightly different when you are using insurance - these are also paid through Headway, rather than through our usual payment processing process.
Do you offer Low-Cost Therapy for clients without insurance or with limited ability to pay?
We are excited to announce our new Low Cost Therapy program, which will allow StorieBrook to further extend our services to clients who may not otherwise have access, by offering services at well below customary rates.
Like all of our services, our Low Cost Therapy program availability is determined by how many openings our clinicians have. In a situation in which there are no immediate openings, you can choose to be placed on our waiting list for the program, and will be contact as soon as there is an available opening. We are committed to keeping this list short and getting clients seen as soon as possible, and are also happy to offer alternative referrals as needed.
Once you are connected with your clinician, they will help walk you though the initial paperwork for therapy, as well as talking with you about what you can afford in fees. Our Low Cost Therapy program uses a similar model to our sliding fee scale, and there is information on the attached page about what to expect, but as always, the final fee will be determined in collaboration between the client and our office.
Our Low Cost Therapy Program is limited to those whose income is within 300% of the federal poverty guidelines, and/or have marginalized identities that may impact their financial privilege. Other clients are welcome to ask about our Sliding Fee Scale
To get started or enroll in our Low-Cost Therapy Program, just fill in the Contact form on the Contact SB page and someone will respond to you about what you are needing.
Low Cost Therapy Pogram - StorieBrook.pdfWhat should I know about using my insurance benefits?
Clients are often curious about using insurance and what that means about their privacy and confidentiality. When therapists communicate with insurance companies they are bound by the limitations of laws including the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act (HIPPA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. These work to protect patient privacy, however insurance companies ask for certain information about client treatment in order to provide reimbursement.
The most common information requested by insurance are name and address, diagnosis, and type of services received. These pieces of information are submitted along with a request for reimburse after each session (just the same way as when you see a medical provider, the dentist, etc).
Our policy is to practice parsimonious and empirically supported diagnostic practices, limited to those clinicians who have extensive training in these procedures, and with sensitivity to the cultural limitations of the models used. We will share with clients the diagnostic considerations at play following their initial assessments, and how this may impact them.
Periodically, insurance companies will request a review of client files to assess treatment progress, however these reviews only include access to information that is considered part of the "medical record," not the "psychotherapy notes" that a clinician might keep as an aid to their memory between each session. Our practice at Storiebrook is to keep psychotherapy notes separate, and to keep in the medical record an intake report, records of the time and date of each session, and to periodically provide treatment updates to insurance companies only when requested.
For more information, here is an article from the American Psychological Association on Insurance & Mental Health Coverage
Where are you located/can you do sessions?
That depends on what you need!
Our office is co-located with Massage Geeks, in a converted house in Marietta, GA - LINK TO MAPS. We offer in-person sessions, which are a great opportunity for self-care multitasking - you can do therapy, get a massage, and even shop at the Geek Apothecary & Mercantile store in the lobby.
We also offer services via telepsychology, AKA Video Sessions.
For this we we use a proprietary, HIPPA-compliant video platform that is included in our TheraNest EHR.
All of our clinicians can provide telepsychology services to anyone in the state of Georgia.
In addition, Dr. Kieran is a PsyPact licensed psychologist, who can provide services to anyone in any of the 31 (and growing) states that participate in the PsyPact Interjurisdictional Compact. For a map of those states, click here.
Can you just keep my card on file so I don't have to enter it after each session?
Session payments are processed via TheraNest and their partner Stripe. After each session you will be send an invoice whichn you can pay via an e-mail link, or in your Client Portal. You can pay your balance by credit, debit or transfer from your bank account. This process collects and transmits encoded credit card information electronically, with industry standard security measures. While TheraNest/Stripe will inform StorieBrook that your account has been paid, we do not have access to any of your banking information in this process.
These invoices will be also be used for all session cancellation fees, and overdue balances .
In TheraNest, you do have the option to save banking information for further use, and to authorize us to charge a card you have on file for each subsequent session. In order to do this you will have to complete a Credit Card Authorization Form, which your clinician can provide for you through the client portal. This form does not give us all your banking information, but enough to identify the card you are authorizing us to use, and to show the processor that we have your permission to process your balances.
Feel free to ask us if you have any questions. You can e-mail admin@storiebrook.com with questions.