Couples Counseling
Do you feel like your relationship is at a standstill? Are you and your partner stuck in the same argument loop every night? Do you feel like you and your partner are drifting away? Do you desire more intimacy between you and your partner?
All things can be improved, changed and bettered, with just a little support, no matter how big or small. With couples therapy, you’ll learn how to communicate your feelings and needs, and get what you want out of your relationship.
Some issues that bring couples to therapy are:
- Addiction/Partner Addiction Support
- Balance (Work/Life/Family)
- Blended Families
- Chronic Illness
- Divorce
- Extended Family
- Infidelity/Cheating
- Intimacy
Steve, Hillary and Doug work with couples in therapy sessions to help develop the necessary skills needed to maintain sustaining love and increase communication. Hillary and Doug focus their couples session with those who have addiction in their family. Our therapy model offers couples an extended session as most find the typical 45-50 minutes is not long enough to work through difficult topics. Our couples sessions are 75 minutes in length allowing for further depth and movement in sessions.
Can we use insurance for couples therapy?
Under the Affordable Care Act, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, and other federal laws, insurers must provide equitable coverage for mental health conditions. This means they must treat mental health conditions like physical health conditions, must not exclude them from coverage, and must not charge higher co-pays for these conditions.
Insurance equity laws do not usually apply to couples counseling. The reason for this is because mental health parity laws treat mental health conditions as a medical diagnosis. The need for couples counseling is not a medical diagnosis, it is not analogous to a physical health issue. Health insurance coverage is intended to address costs associated with managing the symptoms of a condition, illness, or disorder, one person must meet criteria for a diagnosis in the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by all credentialed mental health practitioners.
If we identify one person in the couple as the identified client and that person has an identified mental health diagnosis, we are also essentially referring to this person as "the problem." When we are providing marriage and couples counseling, we work with the relationship as the "problem", not one person. Additionally, if we identify a client with a mental health diagnosis which is medically necessary for treatment, all our goals in therapy, and therefore our discussion in session, will reflect those goals. The information then belongs only to the "identified client" and the other partner will not have access to the files for any purpose.
The diagnosis most consistent with relationship improvement is Z63.0 or Relationship Distress with Spouse or Intimate Partner. By having both partners as clients there are two sets of notes and each person is entitled to his/her notes should they want them in the future for any reason.
If you choose to work with us for Couples Counseling the following is what you can expect to pay:
§ Couples Intake $175 for 1 hour; $200 for 90 minutes
§ Couples Session 53-60 minutes $155
§ Couples session 61-90 minutes $185
§ After 90 minutes $35 for every 10 minutes
*A word about 45–50-minute sessions: Most people find this amount of time is not enough to getting into the issues at hand and work on them any amount of depth. Often it doesn’t allow couple to find resolution in session and often leave session feeling more disconnected then when they come in. We rarely recommend this length of time for a session.
We are not a practice who will manipulate the insurance system or do work arounds so insurances can be utilized as insurances do request and have a right to review records. When this happens, insurances have the right to redact funds previously paid and report us for insurance fraud. We will not put our practice, our license, and our own livelihoods at risk to do a work around.