The counseling practice of Jessica A. Carlson, MA, NCC, LMHC offers the following services:

Individual Counseling for Adults and Children

Counseling with Families

Group Counseling

Career Counseling

Consultation

Individual Counseling 

All sessions are 45-50 minutes in length.  The frequency that a client attends counseling depends upon the situation and availability of the therapist and client.  Most clients attend therapy once a week or 2 times per month.

The initial or assessment session consists of completing paperwork, discussing the situation for which the client is seeking counseling, and developing a plan through which the therapist and client will alleviate distress and help the client achieve emotional tranquility and peace of mind.  Ms. Carlson utilizes various approaches and perspectives when working with clients in therapy.  Though she uses a Cognitive-Behavioral approach the majority of the time, she may integrate other techniques and tools such as EMDR, play therapy, art as a method of therapy, and coping skills training.

Counseling Sevices for Children

When working with children and teens, Ms. Carlson will require that a parent or parents attend the initial session before she meets and works with the child/teen.  At that session, a thorough history is developed and the questions of the parents are discussed and answered.  Parents/caregivers are incorporated into the treatment plan whereever possible.  Ms. Carlson talks with parents during part of each session and may require separate sessions with parents as needed.  Confidentiality is explained fully to parents and children, and this confidentiality is maintained throughout the counseling regimen.


Counseling with Families

This involves two or more family members working together in the session to achieve a healthier and more functional family life. 


Group Counseling

Periodically, Ms. Carlson's practice offers specific therapy groups to help with a particular issue or topic; examples include groups that focus on coping with anxiety, social skills training, and women's issues.  Information is posted while groups are forming.  Groups are closed once they begin and are usually for 8 sessions on a weekly basis.


Career Counseling

A variety of individuals can benefit from career counseling services:
-  Students in college or graduate school who may be unsure in what to major in or what type of career to pursue.  
- People who find themselves experiencing low job satisfaction.
- Individuals who are in a transition time in their lives, such as relocation, family changes, re-entering the workforce, post-trauma, etc.
- Persons wanting to further their careers or work on career goal achievement.

This type of counseling includes assements and inventories, goal setting, determining and eliminating blocks to goal achievement, resume writing guidance, motivation enhancement, and support for stress management.

 
Insurance and Payment Information

The practice of Jessica Carlson accepts some insurances.  Ms. Carlson's office can bill directly to some insurance plans for counseling, or a receipt can be provided for the patient to submit to their insurance company for reimbursement.

The practice accepts major credit cards such as Visa and Master Card.
 

Currently, Ms. Carlson bills direct to:

Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, BeachStreet Networks, APS, Aetna, PHCS, First Health, CorpHealth, and the Victim's Compensation Fund.

If you would like to access your health plan benefits to pay for counseling services, please read the following before making your decision.  An important part of treatment is informed consent.

Reasons why you may not want to use Managed Care reimbursement for mental health services (and why many psychotherapists do not accept insurance):

1.  Lack of confidentiality:

• All managed care plans involve direct clinical management by the plan's case managers.  This makes it necessary for a therapist to disclose anything and everything related to your case to them.
• This information is used by the managed care plan for allocating and determing benefits and benefits determination for future plans and is stored in a computer data base.
• The FBI and law enforcement officials can access your insurance information--could be problematic should a legal matter arise.
• This lack of confidentiality could impact the ablility to get or apply for jobs, especially with the military and law enforcement.

2.  Difficulty getting treatment authorized:

• Obtaining authorizations for sessions is cumbersome and time consuming for therapists and clients.
• Some authorizations may be denied.
• Managed care plans only allow for a certain number of sessions to be used in a calendar year and many times only authorize 3 sessions at a time, making people wait long periods between appointments.
• Some managed care plans will dictate what type of treatment can be used -- this can be anti-therapeutic or not what the client wants to work on or talk about in their therapy.
• Some plans will terminate treatment despite the fact that the patient may still be in distress or that the issues have not been adequately resolved.

3.  Mis-diagnosing and/or over-diagnosing in order to get treatment authorized:

• Some managed care plans will not cover treatment unless it is a medical necessity -- meaning that clients have to pretend to be sick or worse off than they really are.
• Most managed care plans do not cover marriage counseling, family counseling, adjustment counseling or career counseling.
• Often insurance companies require the therapist to make a diagnosis after the first 45 minute session -- this may not be a sufficient amount of time to make an accurate diagnosis and puts the client and therapist in a negative situation.
• Clients should not be given a mental illness diagnosis that is incorrect or more serious than what is true simply to get treatment paid by the managed care plan.