Parenting is hard and brings lots of questions.  Talking with our friends can be helpful and sometimes the difficulties our children/family are experiencing are more personal.  Maybe you want to protect your children’s information and not disclose all you/they are struggling with in the family.  Have you wanted to talk to a professional about parenting strategies?  Do you want to understand your children’s responses and behaviors better?  Are you interested in learning new and more effective parenting strategies? Maybe you’re getting lost in the system of mental health services and need someone to help guide you in the right direction?

If you don’t think therapy is really what you’re looking for, and instead, you’re looking for someone who can listen and guide, a parent consultation may be what you want.  A consultation can offer emotional support as well as physical resources while learning more ways to connect and communicate with your child.

Casie Fisher provides consultation services to parents and has a Master’s Degree in Marriage, Couple and Family Therapy. She works with individuals and couples to restore personal, emotional, and relational well-being. Combining her professional training with life experience, Casie provides children and families with attachment-focused, trauma-sensitive, and adoption informed care.  She integrates Trust Based Relational Interventions (TBRI) into therapy sessions and gives parents the tools to incorporate TBRI in the home as well as other effective parenting strategies and resources.

What do Parent Consultations Offer?

• Confidential service for anyone parenting a child with a professional for the purpose of working together to address a child’s and family’s comprehensive needs
• Parent consultations can be for any aged child; new born to young adult
• Information gathering on the child/family and specific needs of each
• Formulation of parenting strategies/resources
• Record review of any evaluations provided by other mental health providers, schools, treatment teams

How Consultation different from Therapy?

As a Mental Health Professional, Casie is qualified to provide both consultation and therapy services.  Casie works in a collaborative and strengths-based way with both consulting and therapy clients.  However, the goals of consulting and therapy are different.  The goal of therapy is to treat a diagnosable mental health condition.  The goal of consultation is to support parents by providing education, resources, and emotional support specific to their children’s developmental level and the specific needs of the family.  There are no diagnoses given for consulting services and the services are not reimbursable by insurance.  If, at any point during the consultation process therapy is recommended, Casie will help find an appropriate therapist for you and your children.  If you or your family members are already receiving therapy from another provider, Casie will consult with that provider to coordinate care.  Therapy and consultation complement each other.

How much does a Parent Consultation cost and can it be billed to my insurance company? 

Parent consultations have a minimum of two appointments with a total cost of $400.  The initial consultation session involves the completion of an intake packet as well as the submission of any outside evaluations (IEP, Psychological evaluation, Psychiatric evaluation, etc).  Casie will compile all the information provided prior to the first appointment and paperwork must be completed at least one week in advance of the appointment. The appointment can then focus on family dynamics, concerns, questions, and additional information gathering.  The initial consultation will last at least 90 minutes and is $250.   The second consultation is 60-70 minutes and is $150.  The second consultation is geared towards strategy development for parenting as well as following up on any additional suggestions from the first consultation.  After the two consultation appointments Casie will provide short written summary of the content of the session and a list of resources for further exploration which is included in the $400 fee.  In addition, Casie can provide a written assessment of the family dynamics and intervention recommendations at an additional fee to be agreed upon between Casie and the family.  Parent consultations are not intended as court reports nor do they include court appearances.

Additional parent consultations are $115 for 45-50 minutes.  Any phone calls/emails longer than 15 minutes are billed at $35.  Casie can be available to consult with other providers on an agreed upon rate plus mileage negotiated between Casie and the family.

You may explore utilizing Post Permanency funding to support your utilization of the Parent Consultation.  If you are not currently receiving post-perm services, please contact SWAN at 1-800-585- SWAN.  You may choose any agency for services and our practice will work closely with them.  We have a close working relationship with Pressley Ridge and will work with any other agencies as well.

To learn more please contact us through our website at www.mattersoftheheartcounselingllc.com or 717-282-2908