For Therapists:
Assure Your Clients are Well Supported
When You're Out of the Office
When you take a vacation, short leave of absence, or other time away from the office, I can offer as-needed, interim support to your clients until you return. Enjoy peace of mind and feel more comfortable taking the time off that you need, knowing your clients have timely access to professional support while you’re away. I make it easy to refer your clients to me and it costs you nothing...and your clients will pay a discounted fee for their sessions with me. Because I do short-term and periodic work only, I always have availability to get people in quickly, usually within a couple days. My goal is to help therapists feel more comfortable taking time off, knowing their clients are well-supported in their absence.
How It Works
You would copy and paste my provided service description (‘blurb’) below in an email to your clients before your time away from the office. They can then schedule appointments with me on short notice, usually within a few days. This ensures they have access to professional support for matters they prefer not to wait to discuss. They can choose to do one session or a few in a row, depending on how long you're away, and they can choose the length of the session. You could also email me to let me know you'll be away and how long, so that I'll have a heads-up that your clients might be contacting me.
Although Consultations aren't a replacement for therapy, they’re similar enough to bridge the gap and can serve as an interim, non-clinical version of counseling until their next appointment with you. The people I work with think of it like coaching, except offered by an experienced counselor instead of a life coach. Although Consultations are not a replacement for therapy, they can help keep clients supported and engaged until you're back in the office.
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Please note that Consultations aren't for emergencies or crises, as I'm not available 24/7. Instead, think of my Consultations as the Quick Care of therapeutic support, so to speak, rather than the Emergency Department. Or you can think of me as the substitute teacher of therapy...it won’t be the same as meeting with you, but will provide reliable support while you’re away.​​
How I'm Able to Provide Access to Appointments on Short Notice
In order to be able to provide interim services and sessions scheduled easily and quickly, I’ve designed my current practice so that I’m not working with clients long-term and I’m not carrying an ongoing caseload, but instead schedule standalone sessions as needed, either one-time, a few in a row on a short-term basis, or periodically. I don’t schedule sessions in advance nor do I reserve regular/recurring spots for clients. This enables me to have a highly flexible schedule with plenty of availability to get people in (usually) within a few days.
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I call my sessions Consultations to differentiate them from therapy, and I'm lightheartedly calling them Therapy-ish. I am still licensed and follow the board rules and ethics guidelines for the counseling profession. But I am clear with clients that we will not be entering into a Client-Counselor relationship, and our Client-Consultant relationship lasts the length of a single standalone session. As mentioned, Consultations can serve as a version of non-clinical counseling, somewhat like coaching, as I don’t give diagnoses and no longer operate by the medical model of treatment for disorders. So while I wouldn’t work with clients directly on depression or anxiety, for example, they could still get support and talk through problems and challenges in any area of their life, like relationships, work, health, general stress, and overall well-being, with a focus on strategies, skills and tools they can apply in their life right away.
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You can find a brief description followed by more details about Consultations here.
Fees
Because my Consultations don’t meet the criteria for medical necessity, (i.e., not treatment for a diagnosed mental disorder) they are not eligible for insurance reimbursement or payment through HSAs. However, for people referred to me by other counselors, I offer up to 3 sessions at half of my regular fee and they can choose the length of their session—30-minute, 45-minute, 60-minute, or 75-minute sessions at different price points. Ex: a 45-minute session is normally $90, but for people you refer to me it would be $45. While this model won't be helpful to people who have to use their insurance to cover the cost of many sessions over a longer period of time, my sessions are one-time, short-term, or periodic, and not a recurring, ongoing expense. Also, I can help people find resources and a counselor who takes their insurance for longer-term work. You can find more information about my pricing here, and keep in mind that anyone you refer will pay half of the prices listed.
Blurbs to Copy & Paste into Emails to Your Clients
Of course you can feel free to edit these to your liking, but I like to give some wording you can use to describe my services.
As you know, I’ll be out of the office from (date) to (date). I want to let you know about someone you could make an appointment with during that time, if something should come up that you'd prefer not to wait to talk about. A colleague of mine, Dawn Ascanio, offers consultation sessions that can be scheduled as-needed and usually within a couple days. The consultations she offers aren’t a replacement for therapy, but are similar enough to therapy to bridge the gap until we have our next appointment. You can think of them more like coaching, except offered by an experienced counselor instead of a life coach. Consultations can be scheduled one-time or a few-in-a-row on a short-term basis. While they’re not designed to directly address issues like depression or anxiety, you can still receive support and guidance for various challenges in your life, such as problems in relationships, work, health, and overall stress. Insurance doesn't cover Consultations, but Dawn offers sessions to my clients at half the regular cost while I'm away. You can find a summary about Consultations and Dawn’s contact information on the Contact Info & FAQ page of her website at: dawnascanio.com/Contact. You'll also find a page on her site with pricing information, and keep in mind you would pay half of the fees listed if you let her know you're a client of mine. I've notified Dawn of the dates that I'll be out of the office and that my clients might be getting in touch, so don’t hesitate to reach out!
I welcome your comments and questions, so please be in touch!
See this page for a summary of what Consultations are, Frequently Asked Questions, and my contact information,
including my new business phone number for both calls and texts.