Practice Policies

The below is intended to provide a clear outline of my practice policies around scheduling and cancellations, expectations pertaining to session attendance, and communication outside of session. Every therapist has different preferences and limits within which they work; my hope is that perspective clients can review my preferences and limits in advance to make sure that working together would be a good fit. Current clients can also access the version they signed at intake via the client portal.

Scheduling and Cancellations

Sessions are available both in office in San Diego and via telehealth through the Zoom platform.

Therapy sessions are typically scheduled weekly or biweekly depending upon the nature of the presenting issues. It is difficult to initially predict how many sessions will be needed to meet your treatment goals. We will periodically discuss progress made towards your goals and collaboratively determine any changes needed to session frequency.

If you cannot keep a scheduled appointment, you must notify me at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time to cancel or reschedule in order to avoid being charged the full session fee. This is necessary because a time commitment has been made to you and that session spot has been held exclusively for you.

I reserve the right to terminate the counseling relationship if more than three sessions are missed without proper notification.

If I ever need to cancel a session, I will make every effort to notify clients as soon as possible.

Session Attendance: Telehealth Therapy

For all telehealth sessions I will send you a fresh Zoom link the morning of your appointment. You must be physically located in either California or Washington state for telehealth sessions. I will confirm your physical location every week at the start of your appointment.

It is important to me that telehealth therapy sessions be treated with equal consideration as in-person appointments. This means using the same discretion as if you were attending an in office appointment: I expect that you are available at our scheduled time and are prepared, focused, and engaged in the session. I recommend to all clients that your ‘Do Not Disturb’ device feature is turned on for the duration of session so that any incoming notifications are silenced. If you attend telehealth appointments from your phone, you are responsible for joining on time from a private and confidential space, free from distractions. In order to have my full focus and attention (i.e. to help me avoid motion sickness!) please keep the phone camera in a stable spot and refrain from moving around. If you join session in the middle of another task or are otherwise preoccupied, I will ask that you put your device down or turn off your video, and will wait to start session until you are stationary and engaged. Please note that attending virtual therapy while driving is never permitted.

You are responsible for attending each appointment and coming to session at the time that has been scheduled. If you are late to join session and notify me in advance or within the first 15 minutes of your session start time, the remaining portion of the session time is yours and the session will end on time and not run over into the next person's appointment time. If you are more than 15 minutes late and do not notify me, I will assume you are not coming to the appointment, the session will be considered a No-Show, and you will forfeit the remaining session time and be charged the full session fee.

Holding a dedicated weekly or biweekly day and time to meet is reserved for clients that demonstrate consistent attendance. Please note that I will no longer hold a consistent day and time for your weekly or biweekly sessions when either of the below conditions are met:

  • Two sessions are missed without proper notification

  • Three weekly sessions or two biweekly sessions are canceled or rescheduled, unless other arrangements have been made in advance

  • In these circumstances you will be moved to scheduling on a session-to-session basis as my availability allows

Session Attendance: In-person Therapy

I am able to offer a limited number of in-person therapy sessions per week. Due to the additional resources required to provide in-person treatment, I can only offer in-person services to clients who are consistent in weekly in-person attendance. If you remain consistent in weekly in-person attendance, I will hold a weekly day and time to meet with me in-person. I do understand that life can be unpredictable, so attendance is considered inconsistent only if:

  • More than one in-person session is missed per month or

  • One in-person session per month is missed three months in a row

  • In these circumstances you will be moved to telehealth sessions and the appointment slot will be made available for the next person on my waitlist. If you prefer accommodation other than telehealth sessions, I can provide referrals to other in-person therapists in the area.

You are responsible for attending each appointment and coming to session at the time that has been scheduled. If you are late to session and notify me in advance or within the first 15 minutes of your session start time, the remaining portion of the session time is yours and the session will end on time and not run over into the next person's appointment time. If you are more than 15 minutes late and do not notify me, I will assume you are not coming to the appointment, the session will be considered a No-Show, you will forfeit the remaining session time and be charged the full session fee, and I reserve the right to leave my office.

Non-Attendance

Should you 1) fail to schedule an appointment for three consecutive weeks and/or 2) fail to attend an appointment for four consecutive weeks, unless other arrangements have been made in advance, for legal and ethical reasons, I must consider the professional relationship discontinued and you will be discharged from my care.

Communication Outside of Session

Email is my primary means of communication with clients outside of session. If you need to contact me, please email and I will return your message within two business days (Monday-Thursday). If you would like to communicate anything therapeutic in nature please use the messaging function in your Client Portal or wait until your next session to discuss the matter at hand.

Please note I am unable to provide 24-hour crisis service. If you believe that more contact is needed between your current session scheduling cadence due to crisis, we can discuss the possibility of temporarily increasing your session frequency or scheduling a crisis appointment if it supports your current treatment needs. Please note I do not utilize text messaging as a form of communication with clients.

Crises & Emergencies: In case of an emergency please access emergency assistance by calling 911 or the San Diego Access & Crisis Line at 1-888-724-7240. Additionally the Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 988.

Therapist Availability

My office is open Monday through Thursday.

My office is closed Fridays and weekends.

My office is closed for Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day holidays. It is also closed the week of Thanksgiving, the last week of December, and the first week of January.

I may periodically take time off for vacation, clinical trainings, and/or become ill. Every attempt will be made to give adequate notice of these events and provide accommodation as needed.

Policies revised March 2025.