Frequently Asked Questions
How do I book an appointment?
You can feel free to call our office at 305-792-8168 to book your first appointment or e-mail us at info@olivetreepsychology.com. To book an initial intake appointment, we require a deposit and a credit card on file to hold this appointment slot. The deposit is refundable if this initial intake appointment is cancelled with a 24-hour notice from the appointment time. Our office will also offer you to schedule a 15-minute complimentary phone consultation with Dr. Laura to assess whether she’d be a good fit for your family’s needs.
Do you take insurance?
We are currently not paneled with any insurance plans and are a fee for service practice. However, our office can help provide a superbill and/or claim of services with respective service codes for you to provide to your insurance company for reimbursement. Reimbursement is contingent on your out of network benefits, which are unique to each plan. For fee schedule information, please call our office at 305-792-8168.
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What can I expect for the first session?
Our intake process consists of a biopsychosocial assessment that lasts approximately 2 hours in length. In this biopsychosocial assessment, Dr. Laura will interview legal guardians/parents and the child with the purpose of gathering psychiatric, family, social, medical, educational, and developmental histories. A separate child interview will also be conducted integrating a risk assessment, mental health status examination, and trauma screening. This history helps Dr. Laura thoroughly conceptualize the issue at hand and provide recommendations specific to the child’s needs.
What can I expect for the second session?
Given each case is unique, this may look different for each child. Generally, Dr. Laura will engage the family in a check-in, collaboratively develop treatment goals and objectives, and then spend the remainder of session building rapport and a relationship with the child or teen.
All follow up visits consist of 45-60 minutes in length, where she can focus on checking in with the parents, building a relationship with the child, and providing coping skills and respective interventions. Some of these follow ups may require for the parents to come separately to provide you with strategies and skills to apply at home.
How frequent are sessions?
Each case is unique and requires different session frequencies. Most commonly, we see that weekly attendance is needed in the beginning to forge a good relationship with the child and provide them a solid foundation of coping skills and strategies. Dr. Laura may reduce frequency as deemed clinically appropriate with observed therapeutic gains over time.
Can I speak to Dr. Laura?
Yes! We encourage you to schedule a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation to assess if we are a good fit for your child’s needs. Dr. Laura understands not everyone will find her to be a good fit for their family and she is willing to provide you with referral resources in the community you can continue to seek services with if needed.
If you are an established patient, Dr. Laura attempts to return phone calls within a 24-hour window and is accessible.
What paperwork is required?
Once you have booked an appointment and paid your deposit, our office will supply you with an e-mail containing a link to create your very own confidential online portal. In this online portal, you can access all of our consent forms, an intake questionnaire, financial agreements, attendance policies, etc.
If the child’s parents are divorced, we require a copy of the Parenting Agreement to place on file. If the child is adopted or being fostered, we require copies of legal paperwork pertaining to this process.
If the child has any prior psychological testing, psychiatric admissions, or evaluations, a copy of these records would be ideally needed. Appropriate consents will be signed to access this information from a third party when indicated.
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As a parent or guardian, what is my role in therapy? How am I involved?
Each case is unique and different, but Dr. Laura is a huge proponent of family engagement and support. As a parent, you will be able to do a brief check-in with the child and Dr. Laura to update her on this week’s events, identify any good things the child has done this week, and raise any concerns. Depending on each case, Dr. Laura may request a separate session with the parents or guardians only to discuss strategies, concerns, and progress in more detail.
To keep a trusting relationship with the child or teen, Dr. Laura will not disclose to you everything they say in session. However, the child and parents will understand that confidentiality will be breached when there is a threat of harm to self or others, a report or witnessing of abuse, violence, or neglect, or if a judge were to lawfully request records or my presence as a factual witness.
Do you do psychological testing?
No, at this time we are not offering testing until Spring/Summer of 2020. Future testing offered will be specific to Autism and ADHD diagnostic evaluations only. For testing cases, Dr. Laura refers out to a testing psychologist or neuropsychologist depending on the case.
How long does therapy take to complete?
Because each child is unique in their presentation, this is very hard to determine. Dr. Laura has seen children improve and complete their treatment goals from a time frame within 2 months to 1 year or more. This varies on the child’s abilities to acquire this skill set and generalize these, consistent attendance, life events/stressors impacting their symptoms throughout therapy, or their practice of these skills outside of session. We also encourage parents who are taught various strategies to apply these skills consistently to achieve more optimal outcomes.