Frequently Asked Questions

There are several ways to schedule an initial appointment. You can either contact us at (610) 529-1875 and leave a message. Someone will return your call in the next 1 to 2 business days, or sooner, if possible. Another option is to email us at ayoung@cbtcenterforanxiety.com. You can also send a message via our contact page.

Your initial session will last approximately 60-75 minutes, depending on the time agreed upon by you and your clinician. Your clinician will spend some time going over the initial paperwork and making sure you feel comfortable. The remainder of the session will be devoted to you and your clinician getting to know one another, discussing your treatment goals, further assessing symptoms, and providing additional information regarding the types of treatments available. When meeting with children or young adults, we find that it is helpful to have parents or family members involved in the initial sessions to provide additional information and learn about treatment planning. Comprehensive assessment and detailed treatment planning are vital to successful treatment and can take up to three sessions to complete. On occasion, parents may prefer to meet with the clinician prior to bringing their child to the session to review history and treatment goals without their child present. You are encouraged to set up your initial sessions in a way that feels most productive for you and/or your child.

As mentioned above, you can expect your first session to last 60-75 minutes. Subsequent sessions will last approximately 45-50 minutes, with longer (and shorter) session times available if determined to be necessary to address your treatment needs.

Most clients find that meeting with their clinician once weekly to be helpful at the start of treatment. More frequent (and longer) sessions may be recommended in order to address your treatment needs more quickly. As your symptoms start to improve, and you become more confident with your treatment approach, you will meet with your clinician less frequently in order to give you the opportunity to experience success with implementing your treatment strategies on your own! Our goal is to cut down sessions as quickly as possible and to help you become better equipped to be your own therapist. Given busy work and school schedules, it can be difficult for some clients to come in weekly. In this case, you and your clinician will collaborate on finding a session schedule that works best for you.

We have found that it is very helpful to involve family members and other important support systems in treatment, as oftentimes the environment can accidentally make anxiety and OCD worse. We often meet with parents in order to provide parent training in order to make sure that treatment is being implemented consistently at home, which can greatly speed up the course of treatment. We are also happy to work with school psychologists and guidance counselors, teachers, other treatment providers and other natural supports.

This is a very difficult question to answer. It depends on many factors, such as severity of symptoms, time available to devote to treatment, family accommodation of symptoms, life events and other stressors, etc. A fairly realistic expectation of treatment duration is around 16 sessions, with some people moving through treatment more quickly, and others more slowly. Treatment progress can be expedited with more frequent sessions of longer duration. This treatment approach is known as ‘intensive’ treatment, and it is available at the CBT Center for Anxiety & OCD.

We have several tiered options for treatment, each with it’s own rate. (1) Licensed Senior level Psychologists, (2) Postdoctoral Clinicians and (3) Associate Level Clinicians/Externs. All clinicians are able to offer a limited number of sliding scale appointments. Additionally, there are a number of session times available (e.g., 60, 45 and 30 minutes) to help you reduce the costs associated with treatment.

Your insurance policy may reimburse at ‘out-of-network’ rates for your sessions, meaning that part or all of your session costs may be covered. You may have deductibles to meet, co-payments/co-insurance payments, limitations on number of sessions covered, etc. that may affect your expected financial contribution during treatment. We have also found that insurance companies have been more willing to cover our services at the ‘in-network’ rates because of the specialized nature of our services. It is recommended that you contact your insurance company to verify your out-of-network benefits prior to entering into treatment.

Insurance companies can impose limitations on the type and duration of treatment, and these limitations can adversely affect treatment outcome. For example, many of the treatments offered at the CBT Center for Anxiety & OCD are more effective if they can be implemented through multiple sessions per week, and for multiple hours per session; this is referred to as ‘intensive treatment.’ Furthermore, treatment is more effective if treatment can be offered outside of the office setting (e.g., in the home, at school/work, public places, driving). Some insurance companies do not reimburse for intensive treatments or treatment provided outside of the office, and as a result, you may not benefit as quickly or as fully in treatment. By not contracting with insurance companies, our clinicians can make treatment decisions with your best interests in mind, thereby increasing your chances of reaching your treatment goals in a timely manner.

Payment is expected at the time of service. However, we do understand that initial frequent sessions can create financial stressors. If this is the case for you, you may speak with your clinician about arranging a payment plan that will allow you to pay an agreed-upon monthly amount until your balance is paid in full. In addition, we do not want cost to deter you from getting the effective help that you may need and are able to reduce fees for qualified patients.

All staff at our Center are trained as psychologists/counselors and as such, are not trained or licensed to prescribe medication. We are happy to make recommendations for providers who are able to prescribe medication should that be useful in the management of your symptoms.

Unlike other agencies, the clinician who does your intake will be the clinician you will see throughout treatment. We find that operating this way allows for better continuity of care for our clients.

Yes, we will see clients at their home or in the community. Depending on the specific presenting problems, sessions can be held where ever they are most useful. For example, for clients with a specific driving phobia, sessions may take place in your car or if you are experiencing social anxiety, some sessions may occur in public places so that are able to engage in evidenced-based treatment like in-vivo exposure.

Yes, we are able to provide teletherapy appointments. However, we are only able to provide this to residence of Pennsylvania. Sometimes teletherapy is offered to bring treatment to a client who would not otherwise have access to treatment due to location. We have also found that the use of teletherapy can be helpful in engaging in exposure therapy out in the community and that we are able to use it as a tool to coach clients through difficult exposures at home or in the community.

We accept cash, check, Apple Pay and Zelle.

We find that many of our clients return for ‘booster sessions’ following the ending of their treatment episode. Given the nature of our relationship with our clients, many clients come to see us as part of their overall wellness plan and look forward to staying in touch. Doing so allows our clients to stay mindful of their tools and sticking with their strategies long-term. Research indicates that maintenance sessions can be an important part of the overall recovery process.