FAQs

Do you work with children?
In the past we worked with children, however upon moving our offices to our home we began limiting our clientele to adults.  Our limited workspace does not allow for a play therapy room which can be very beneficial in working with young children.  Fortunately there are excellent therapists in our community that specialize in working with children to whom we can refer.

Do you ever work together as a co-therapy team?
Yes.  We love working together as a team in couple therapy, and as facilitators of topical presentations, workshops, seminars, and retreats.  In dealing with their relationship issues couples have found it beneficial to work with a married couple who are trained therapists.  It can sometimes be a scheduling challenge to get all four of us in the same office at the same time however we will make every effort to accommodate an expressed desire for co-therapy.

Do you work with substance abuse issues?
Many of our clients have struggled with issues around a dependency on drugs and/or alcohol.  Because we are not specifically trained (as are licensed chemical dependency counselors) to work with those persons still active in their dependency, we limit our work to those individuals that have at least a full year of successful sobriety, and who continue to actively work their program through support group meetings and sponsors.

How many sessions of therapy will it usually take?
Unfortunately, it is impossible to say.  There are just too many variables that can impact the speed and effectiveness of therapy for any given issue to provide a specific answer.  A major part of successful therapy is tied directly to how much work the client does on her/his own outside of the therapy session.  It is our responsibility as therapists to provide the client with the time, the place, and the tools with which to achieve a satisfactory resolution.

What is the difference between a marriage and family therapist and a psychologist?
The main difference between these two professions lies in the emphasis of the perspective upon which their training is based.  A traditionally trained psychologist will focus on the intra-personal aspects of a client whereas a marriage and family therapist, having been trained in a more systemic, inter-personal perspective will focus more on the relational aspects of a client's life experiences.  This difference, however, may not be easily determined depending on the actual perspectives and approaches of the individual professional.

As a marriage and family therapist are you only allowed to work with couples and families?
Absolutely not.  Our license as marriage and family therapists in Texas includes working with individuals as a recognized component of our scope of practice.

Can you prescribe medications?
No.  As marriage and family therapists we are not registered medical providers and therefore cannot prescribe medications.

Do you take insurance or Medicaid for payment?
Unfortunately, no.  Due, in part, to the increased demands of health insurance companies, and in an effort to maintain strict confidentiality of our clients' personal information, we no longer participate as providers of mentalhealth services for any insurance plan.

If you work with my partner and me in couple therapy will you also work with us as individual clients?
This situation is better approached on a case-by-case basis.  Our general position, however, is that this should be avoided if at all possible.  The risks lie in the rules of confidentiality which prohibit us from sharing information from one of the couple with the other member without written permission.  If permission is not granted it can create an uncomfortable situation for us in which we become the keeper of a secret from the other participant.  Without permission to share information with all participants, our preference is to refer the clients to separate therapists for individual therapy thus allowing us to continue serving as the couple therapist.