FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

Why Should I Consider Therapy?

Are you experiencing distress and needing a safe environment to work through it?

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 challenges 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 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, and empowers them to make the necessary choices and adjustments in their lives. In addition to being a safe place to discuss difficult or meaningful topics, a clinically trained therapist has knowledge about how to address various difficulties in a way that maximizes your chances of success.

What’s the Difference Between Therapy and…? 

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 many other relationships in a person’s life.

…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 decisions in various ways. Those we live with are invested in our choices about personal hygiene or finances. Those we spend time with are invested in our mood because it may impact their own experience. These are natural and often positive, but they may limit their ability to objectively assess our thoughts, goals, and plans.

The difference with a therapeutic relationship is that it exists in a defined space and time, with specific limitations around confidentiality. A therapist, while caring deeply about your well-being, is not personally invested in your decisions about work or relationships in the same way — allowing for 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: the goals of therapy are set in collaboration with the client and generally oriented toward decreasing distress or increasing functioning.

While sex is often a topic of discussion in therapy (just like many other important areas of our holistic lives), talking with a therapist offers the opportunity to discuss sex in a non-sexualized context — to explore meaning, importance, desire, and more without expectation. 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, discuss arrangements like punishments and consequences, hold power over you, and to whom you wish to submit, you may want to seek that kind of arrangement with a dominant (professional or otherwise).

In therapy, there is no question of a client being punished or shamed. The focus is on building skills and resources to help you achieve goals set together. Should you wish to explore your interest in kink/submission, how to approach getting this need met in your relationships, or personal growth and development, our practice does provide that — though it would be very different from a submissive relationship.

As a practice that works with many kinksters, we suggest learning about consent and boundary conversations before entering any consensual power exchange relationship. The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) is a useful resource.

“A Friend of My Partner’s Metamour Knows You…”

Also known as: how do we handle confidentiality and dual relationships?

As therapists working and living in marginalized communities, we recognize that our paths may sometimes cross with clients. This is normal and does not have to be scary — but we want you to know what to expect.

If you bump into your clinician at the grocery store or a community event, they will not greet you. This is because their job is always to protect your confidentiality. Whether you choose to say hello is entirely up to you — your privacy is yours.

In cases where you and your clinician both know you are likely to be at the same event, you can discuss this ahead of time. We are happy to help you think through how it feels and what plan works best for you. We are never upset when clients choose to maintain their privacy.

We also know that due to our robust referral network, you may be assigned a therapist who shares overlapping social circles with you. If this happens, we will talk with you about it and figure out the best plan. Sometimes there are enough degrees of separation that working together is fine; in other cases, a different clinician may be the better fit. We also have great colleagues we are happy to connect you with if a referral is the right call.

How Long Are Sessions?

Therapy sessions run approximately 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 adjust so that you receive the full session time.

Is There Paperwork?

Yes, but not too much — and it can all be done virtually. We use an electronic health record (EHR), Ensora Mental Health, to maintain client records and stay current with legal confidentiality requirements. Ensora also provides a secure client portal for safe communications between clients and clinicians.

Once we enter your contact information, you will receive an email inviting you to log in to the client portal. From there you can complete your initial paperwork, send secure messages to your clinician, request appointments, and more.

Note: If you are using insurance benefits through Headway, you may also need to complete additional paperwork to set up billing through that platform.

How Much Do Sessions Cost?

Our standard hourly fee is $250–$350 per 45–55 minute session. We also offer a sliding fee scale for private pay clients, based on availability (each clinician keeps space open for reduced-cost clients). The sliding scale fee is determined collaboratively based on what you determine you are able to pay and how frequently you plan to be seen.

Extended sessions are billed by time used, as a multiplier of the hourly rate.

All cancellations without at least 24 hours’ notice (including no-shows) are billed at $50.

If you need a fee lower than our sliding scale, please ask us about our Low-Cost Therapy program.

Do You Take Insurance?

Our practice is too small to employ a dedicated billing specialist, and we have made a deliberate choice to keep our operational costs low — which allows us to maintain a sliding fee scale and low-cost programs rather than pass billing expenses on to clients.

We can always provide you with a receipt (superbill) listing all the information your insurance company needs to file a claim for out-of-network reimbursement. You can request these after each session or as a summary every few months.

We are not directly paneled with any insurance companies. However, through Headway, several of our clinicians are able to accept in-network benefits for some insurers.  You can find the insurers each clinican works with listed on their Meet Us page.  

Copayments for insurance sessions are processed through Headway rather than our usual payment process.

What Should I Know About Using My Insurance Benefits?

When therapists communicate with insurance companies, they are bound by laws including HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and the HITECH Act. These protect patient privacy, but insurance companies do require certain information to authorize reimbursement.

The most common information requested includes:

•       Your name and address

•       Your diagnosis

•       Type of services received

Our policy is to practice parsimonious, empirically supported diagnostic methods — limited to clinicians with extensive training — and with sensitivity to the cultural limitations of the diagnostic models used. We will share diagnostic considerations with you following your initial assessment, including how they may impact your care.

Periodically, insurance companies may request a review of client files to assess treatment progress. These reviews only include access to information in the “medical record,” not the “psychotherapy notes” a clinician keeps as a personal memory aid. Our practice keeps these separate. The medical record at StorieBrook includes the intake report, session dates and times, and periodic treatment updates provided only upon request.

Do You Offer Low-Cost Therapy?

Yes! Our Low-Cost Therapy program extends services to clients who may not otherwise have access, offering care at well below our customary rates.

Like all of our services, availability is based on clinician openings. If there are no immediate spots, you can be placed on our waiting list and will be contacted as soon as an opening arises. We are committed to keeping this list short and getting clients seen as quickly as possible, and are happy to provide referrals in the meantime.

Our Low-Cost Therapy program is available to clients whose income is within 300% of the federal poverty guidelines, and/or who have marginalized identities that may impact their financial privilege. Other clients are welcome to ask about our Sliding Fee Scale.

To get started, fill out the Contact form on our Contact page and someone will follow up with you about your needs.

Where Are You Located? Can You Do Sessions Remotely?

That depends on what you need!

Our office is located in Marietta, GA (in the Marietta/Woodstock area, outside Atlanta). We offer in-person sessions at our office, which is co-located with Saving Throw Massage in a converted house — a great opportunity for self-care multitasking.

We also offer teletherapy (video sessions) via a HIPAA-compliant video platform integrated into our Ensora EHR.

All of our clinicians can provide teletherapy services to anyone in the state of Georgia.

In addition, Dr. Kieran is a PsyPact-licensed psychologist and can provide services to clients in any of the 40+ states that participate in the PsyPact Interjurisdictional Compact. Please ask us or visit the PsyPact website for an updated map of participating states.