About Appointments and Scheduling
What to Expect
If you are interested in setting up an appointment, please call or email us to determine your needs, whether we work with your insurance, and your available times for appointments. We will then schedule you with a therapist appropriate for your situation.
The first appointment is an evaluation and treatment planning session, during which your therapist will get background information, make an initial diagnosis (if indicated), and provide the client and/or family with a plan for working together. Please note: we are offering in-person sessions and telehealth sessions, but some therapists will only have telehealth availability. Please ask for more information when you call.
Sessions are generally 45-60 minutes. Clients should plan to meet weekly for the first several sessions. Cognitive behavioral therapy and other evidence-based approaches are designed as short-term, focused therapies, and usually lasts between 10 and 20 sessions.
Please note: After your initial call, you will be scheduled for a time as soon as possible. You will receive a link via email to our electronic consent forms. Those forms must be completed and electronically signed within 48 hours after your appointment was set up in order to hold your appointment. If we do not have forms completed by then, we will have to cancel your appointment and you will have to reschedule. This ensures our legal obligations for consent are received before treatment begins as well as to allow your therapist adequate time to review your background information before meeting you and/or your family member.
If You Need Help Now, or are Having an Emergency
If you are calling as a new client, we will not be able to help you immediately. We are an outpatient practice and it is common to wait several weeks or longer for an appointment. We do not offer walk-in or crisis services. Please call 988, Crisis Intervention at (717) 274-3363, or visit your nearest Emergency Department in the event that you are having a crisis and cannot wait for an appointment.
Considerations Regarding Client Age
If your child is under age 8, a parent will attend most or all of sessions and the main focus will be on giving parents strategies for supporting the child and managing problem behaviors. After about age 8, children can benefit more from individual meetings, although your therapist will spend some time in each session checking in with the parent. After age 14, teens can consent to treatment and have some choice over how involved they would like parents to be.
If the client is 18 or older, he/she must initiate the appointment and complete the consent forms, even if a parent is paying for therapy or otherwise financially assisting the client. If you are the parent or family member of an adult client, please be aware that we must first meet with the client to get written permission to speak with family members about therapy. You may come along for the first session but the therapist must first meet alone with the client to determine how much family involvement is desired. If you contact the therapist of your adult relative by phone or email, the therapist must share any communication with the client, as we cannot keep that information from clients.