Katy Counseling for Men: Questions & Answers

 

The decision to see a men's therapist can sometimes come after experiencing consistent emotional or behavioral discomfort. It's not an easy decision to make to reach out to a therapist.

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This is one reason why Katy Counseling for Men has chosen to focus our practice on just men. Our therapists have made it a core part of their counseling career to help men overcome obstacles in their way of happiness. Our therapists understand how to make this as comfortable a process once you start.

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Prior to your first session, our Office Specialist will email you the initial session forms. These forms are our policies, agreements, and consent forms as well as some other forms. These forms will need to be complete prior to your first session.

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The first session the therapist is required to review a few of the forms that you have completed. This usually takes about 5 minutes or so.

 

Then, the therapist usually introduces themselves and provides a bit of their personal and professional background. And the rest of the session is spent talking about what brings you into therapy and what you would like to achieve.

 

Our therapists don't push. We won't ask questions that will push you far outside your comfort zone. We understand that this is a relationship of trust that is being built. As that trust is built, people usually feel more comfortable opening up. And we get and support this.

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After the first session, the next several sessions are spent talking about what may be driving your challenges. The therapist will need to gain a strong, clinical impression of what the drivers are to your depression, anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, anger, trauma, PTSD, etc. 

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Once the men's counselor and you have agreed on what the drivers are, the rest of the sessions are spent working on resolving what is driving your challenges through various approaches to therapy. 

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And at Katy Counseling for Men, we utilize both talk therapy and non-talk therapy approaches. 

 

In the process of working to help you achieve your desired outcomes in therapy, there are steps you will need to take outside of the therapy sessions. A lot of good work is done in the counseling sessions and where the rubber meets the road is what you put into action in between the sessions. This can be uncomfortable at times.

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In working towards resolving emotional or behavioral challenges that are impacting you, there will need to be emotional risks taken by talking about uncomfortable experiences, memories, or actions taken. This can be difficult. 

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In working towards resolving the emotional or behavioral challenges, sometimes we may need to explore the relationships in your life. This may bring discomfort and your relational changes may come about that may not be originally intended.

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We will work collaboratively throughout the counseling process towards helping you achieve the outcome that you are wanting. However, it is possible that you may not achieve the outcomes that you are wanting.

 

Our experience has been that those who do the work usually achieve what they set out to achieve. But not all men do.

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Talk Therapy for Men

Talk therapy sessions are one time weekly and the sessions last between 50-60 minutes. Weekly sessions are ideal but depending on the nature of the challenges you are experiencing and budget, session every other week may be appropriate. For talk therapy, the average length of counseling is roughly 5 months.

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Non-Talk Therapy - Neurofeedback for Men

If you are going the non-talk therapy route and are using neurofeedback as your therapy approach, the average number of neurofeedback sessions is right around 40. Neurofeedback also requires that you attend, at minimum, twice weekly. Neurofeedback is not talk therapy but brain training. In order for the brain to learn, having two neurofeedback sessions per week is the minimum needed. 

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Non-Talk Therapy - Accelerated Resolution Therapy for Men

If you are going another non-talk therapy route of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), ART usually takes between 5-6 sessions. ART counseling is usually once a week.

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Non-Talk Therapy - Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing for Men

If you are going yet another non-talk therapy route of Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), people usually see result on average in eight sessions of once a week EMDR therapy. 

 

We know that as men, you often fill the role of provider for your tribe. And many people have a 9-5 job Monday through Friday. You also have hobbies, exercise, time spent with others and fitting therapy for men in can feel like a stretch.

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We do offer evening and Saturday hours to help make it more convenient for you to start therapy for men. These tend to be the "prime" spots and fill up quickly. 

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If we do not have evening or Saturday availability because they have been taken, we can always start you at an earlier time during the day and move you to an evening or Saturday time when they become available. 

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Most people who schedule during the day do so on their lunch break. They may also schedule around their meetings and other important work obligations. 

 

At Katy Counseling for Men, the family system tends to be a vital part of a man's life. As men start working in therapy to help them achieve the results they are looking for, sometimes family therapy is a part of that journey.

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Katy Counseling for men, we have therapists trained and experienced in family therapy. If our men's counselors believe that it might be helpful, they will discuss this with you. 

 

Absolutely! Just like the role the family system can play in helping a man achieve the desired results, marriage counseling and couples therapy can also play a vital role.

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Outside of your children, your wife, girlfriend, or partner is often the other most important relationship you will have in your life. And usually, they want what is best for you. They will often support you seeing a therapist who specializes in counseling for men as they want you to be happy.

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And if that includes them in the therapy process, they are usually open to marriage counseling or couples therapy. The good thing about marriage counseling and couples therapy is that it is usually quicker than individual counseling.

 

Roughly 80%-85% of the therapists in the Katy, TX and Houston area are private pay and do not take insurance. And there are good reasons for this. Not only on how it affects them as therapists and their practices, but how not using insurance helps the client overall as well.

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Below are the reasons we do not take insurance and how it is more beneficial for you to not use insurance:

 

In order for the therapist to be reimbursed for the services they provide you, insurance companies require that the therapist add a psychiatric diagnosis or diagnoses to your medical record. Your medical record follows you for life. 

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And with the doctors and other health care providers being more and more linked through online portals, this diagnosis/diagnoses can follow you from provider to provider.

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A psychiatric diagnosis/diagnoses can also impact your ability to get and/or increase life insurance. It can possibly interfere with certain jobs and other settings.

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At Katy Counseling for Men, we are not comfortable labeling you with a specific diagnosis/diagnoses that may not apply months from now and that can impact your life in significant ways.

 

When you are using insurance, they require you to see only those therapists who are paneled with the insurance companies. This limits your ability to choose a therapist.

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When you go the private pay route, the options for therapists open up significantly. As roughly 80%-85% of therapists in the Katy, TX and Houston area do not take insurance, going the private pay route opens you up to a wider variety of therapists to choose from.

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Using insurance results in choosing from roughly 15%-20% of the therapists in the area. Therapists who take insurance often have a long wait list as well. They do not have to "earn" your "business". They generally have waitlists that can create a revolving door.

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Private pay therapists generally have a reputation of providing higher quality care. They also have a reputation in demonstrating a greater commitment and devotion to your care.

 

Valuing the relationship between the therapist and the client not only is essential in providing high quality care, it's essential to the therapeutic process.

 

Insurance companies require therapists to justify why the client may need continued treatment. In doing so, they often request records pertaining to your therapy.

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At Katy Counseling for Men, we feel this is a violation of your confidentiality and privacy. We do not work with any 3rd parties and therefore have no one to release confidential information to. This ensures your private health information remains private.

 

Insurance companies can dictate and limit how many sessions they will cover. They also will not reimburse the therapists for certain things like family therapy and sometimes couples therapy and marriage counseling.

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Often when using insurance, a person is required to meet their out of pocket deductible first then the insurance company will start to cover. If this is the case, going the private pay route may make more sense due to the above reasons.

 

At Katy Counseling for Men, we have been and will continue to be very intentional on the therapists that we hire. Your therapist will be a counselor who specializes in counseling for men. 

 

We also want to help you avoid "therapist shopping" by hiring counselors who specialize in therapy for men. This way, we can increase your chances of a one stop shop where you are able to achieve the outcomes that you are looking for.

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Below are the rates at Katy Counseling for Men:

 

Our rate for talk therapy is $200 for the first session and $175 for all other sessions. This includes individual men's counseling, marriage counseling, couples therapy, and/or family counseling. 

 

At Katy Counseling for Men, we have 2 neurofeedback therapists. Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN is Board Certified in Neurofeedback. Amy Galpin, LPC-S has been providing neurofeedback since 2013.

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Neurofeedback is a non-talk therapy approach to helping you see the results you are wanting. For both Amy and Jason, they seen a 90%-95% success rate in neurofeedback seeing moderate to significant gains. 

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The rate for both Jason and Amy for neurofeedback is $215 for the first session and $185 for each session after. With neurofeedback, because it is brain training, it requires you to have 2 sessions a week at minimum. And on average, it usually takes around 40 sessions of neurofeedback to help you achieve the outcomes you are looking for.

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Jason also incorporates brain maps into his neurofeedback approach. He uses both 2-D and 3-D brain maps to identify the regions of the brain where your symptoms are originating from. From this, he can create a training protocol specific to your brain's performance.

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Jason will create 3 brain maps that are $500 each:

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• 1st brain map at the start of neurofeedback for a baseline and to help create the training protocol.

• 2nd brain map around the mid-point session which is around session 20.

• 3rd and final brain map at the last session for a before and after to examine the progress made and suggestions for continued progress.​

 

At Katy Counseling for Men, we have a counselor who has been trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART). This is a specialization in therapy that helps people see results in as few as 1-5 sessions.

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Jami Edwards, LMSW, is our ART counselor. Her rate is $180 for the first session and $150 for the remaining sessions.

 

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) is a very effective approach in helping people meet their goals. EMDR is not talk therapy and utilizes the brains natural way or processing information.

 

This helps unresolved emotional information to be processed through an adaptive, or healthy brain network. As this occurs, the negative emotion is drained from the experience freeing you up to access your full potential.

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People often see results in as few as 8-12 sessions of EMDR. And, after resolving one area and meeting those goals, people will often move onto other areas where if improvement was made, would provide further emotional and life benefits.

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We have 2 therapists who provide EMDR:

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Hary Mergel, LMFT, LPC: Harry's rate is $200 for the first session and $175 for the other sessions.

 

Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN: Jason's rate is $215 for the first session and $185 for the other sessions.

 

Early on in my marriage, my wife and I agreed that we value her staying at home with the boys. In today's world, this was a challenging thing to do. I often worked two jobs as a therapist to ensure that we could meet this value. And while it wasn't easy, we have been successful.

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For a long time, I carried with me a thorn in my side struggling with anxiety. I was able to progress as a therapist and because of my work ethic, we did fine. However, I always felt capped in reaching my full potential.

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It took me hitting an emotional bottom of having not only one panic attack, but 3. Two of the panic attacks were when I was presenting and one shooting a video:

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1. My first panic attack was when I was presenting to our Chairman of the Board, Board Members, CEO, President, and Senior Leadership Team. It was not awesome.

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2. My second panic attack was when I was on a panel at the Texas State Capitol in front of legislative aids and other invested stake holders.

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3. My third was when we were trying to film a video of the work we had done at the Residential Treatment Center where I was the Executive Director.

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I got in to see a therapist as soon as possible after the 3rd panic attack. I was concerned that these would continue and it would affect my ability to do my job and provide for my family.

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I found a therapist who specialized in counseling for men who experience panic attacks. Through this therapist and her skill in using EMDR, I was able to be freed from panic attacks.

 

Once I was free from what was driving the panic attacks, the thorn in my side that I carried around was removed and it allowed me to have access to my full potential.

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I was promoted in the same company from Executive Director to Regional Executive Director, I provide expert coaching to residential treatment centers around the country, and I have opened two group practices.

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Therapy wasn't cheap for me. But it was probably the best investment in me being able to build a stronger future for me and my family. It has paid off in huge dividends in my career, business, family, and other relationships. And I want that for you too and it is fully within your grasp!

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Let us walk with you and help you build your stronger future together!

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