Why I finally Decided to Drop Insurance

A Diagnosis Follows You

When you use insurance, therapists are required to assign you a formal psychiatric diagnosis to justify treatment. That diagnosis doesn't stay locked away in a filing cabinet. It becomes part of your permanent insurance record — and it can follow you in ways you might not expect: higher life insurance premiums, complications with disability coverage, and in some cases, flags on certain employment or security clearance background checks. You deserve to know that before your first session.

Insurance Doesn't Just Pay — It Dictates

Many people assume that once insurance approves therapy, the process is hands-off. It isn't. Insurers routinely conduct post-treatment audits, reviewing your clinical notes long after sessions have ended to determine whether your care was "medically necessary" by their standards. If they decide it wasn't, they can demand repayment.

They can also deny claims mid-treatment, cutting off coverage without warning and leaving you to either pay out of pocket or stop therapy abruptly. And throughout your care, a claims reviewer who has never met you — who knows nothing about your history, your struggles, or your progress — has the authority to decide how many sessions you're allowed and whether your treatment should continue. Your care becomes a negotiation between your insurance company and therapist. That's not what therapy should be.

The Medical Model Doesn't Fit the Mind

Insurance operates on a medical model: identify the problem, treat it, resolve it, close the case. That works for a broken bone. It does not work for the human mind.

Emotional healing is not linear. Progress in therapy rarely looks like a straight line from point A to point B. People have breakthroughs, followed by hard weeks. They make peace with something painful, and then life hands them something new. Growth is layered, nonlinear, and deeply personal — and no insurance timeline can account for that. When insurers set session limits or require proof that you still meet criteria for a diagnosis, they are forcing therapy into a framework it was never designed to fit.

We Wouldn't Do This With Medication

We would never tell someone to stop taking their medication simply because they feel better. Feeling better is often because of the medication — and stopping it prematurely can undo everything.

Therapy works the same way. For many people, it is not a short-term fix — it is an ongoing, necessary support. A space to process life as it happens. A relationship that helps them stay grounded, navigate transitions, and continue growing. There is no expiration date on that kind of support, and there shouldn't be. Insurance companies disagree. They expect therapy to have a finish line, and they will push you toward it whether you are ready or not. The decision about when therapy ends should belong to you and your therapist — no one else.

What Private Pay Actually Gives You

Choosing to work outside of insurance isn't just about avoiding its limitations. It's about reclaiming something important: your autonomy over your own care.

I want the clinical freedom to treat you as a person — not a "disordered" being who must continuously prove they meet "medical necessity" just to step foot in my therapy room. You should never have to earn your place in therapy by fitting neatly into a diagnostic box that was designed for billing purposes — not you. Here, no diagnosis is required unless you want one. No one is auditing your records (unless you choose to use your out-of-network benefits, then you are opening yourself up to a possible audit). No one is approving or denying your sessions. Your treatment is not on a clock. And the work we do together stays between us — exactly where it belongs.

I have structured my rates to be genuinely accessible, with low-cost options available for those who need it. If cost is a concern, please reach out before you decide therapy isn't possible. I would rather find a way to make it work than have finances be the reason you don't get the support you deserve.