Fees & Insurance

Change22, LLC understands that many professional cultures have held onto unfavorables stigmas and stereotypes regarding professional counseling. Though we work hard to fight against the stigmas and stereotypes to dispel them, we also understand that it is because of them that many people avoid seeking professional counseling and when they do seek counseling have significant concerns about it being on their permanent medical records. For this reason, Change22, LLC attempts to help people understand the differences between self-paying versus using health insurance for professional counseling services. Below is a list of some of the differences for people to know:

Insurance (whether using in-network or out-of-network benefits)
To pay for professional counseling services, insurance companies:

• Require the person be diagnosed with a mental illness and for that diagnosis to be reported to them.
• Require other certain information and treatment records that otherwise would be confidential to be submitted to them.
• Use the information submitted to determine the number of sessions they will pay for and which treatment options they will and will not pay for. This places limits on how many sessions the person can have with the provider and often limits the treatment options the provider and person can chose from, which can limit the person's accessibility to the best research-supported treatment options for their situation.

Self-Pay
When a person pays for their services in full out-of-pocket:

• The person maintains the right to decide what protected information is shared to third parties, except for situations in which disclosure of information is required by law regardless of payment source.
• There are no requirements that the person be given a diagnosis that classifies as a "mental illness" to engage in services. This allows people to seek counseling for overwhelming life events and other stressors without having to be worried about being labeled (or mislabeled) with a mental illness. Per codes and regulations, all licensed mental health professionals are required to diagnose appropriately and the provider could still give the person such a diagnosis if it is relevant.
• A person can be proactive instead of reactive with their mental health. Being proactive with building mental fitness helps a person build resiliency against the causes of overwhelming emotional distress. This is often referred to as "coaching," whereas when a person is seeking services as a reaction to emotional distress it is referred to with terms such as "counseling," "psychotherapy," "therapy," etc.
• There is not a set limit to the number of sessions a person may meet with their provider imposed by an insurance company.
• A person is able to chose the provider they think is best for them without being limited to only those who are in-network with a specific insurance company.
• The person and the provider are able to work collaboratively to chose which research-supported treatment options are best to use for that person's case without any limitations set by the insurance company. Regardless of the payment source, laws and professional ethics codes do state that providers may only provide a person services that are research-supported as appropriate, that are within the provider's scope-of-practice, and that the provider has received proper training and competency with.