Consultation

Outpatient Psychotherapy Intensives

Intensives involve psychological assessment, psychoeducation, treatment planning and short- term therapy components for individuals diagnosed with Non-Epileptic Seizures, Functional Neurological symptoms or Conversion Disorder. Intensives are designed to be conducted over a span of several days up to two weeks to provide intervention aimed at educating clients and their families about the client’s symptoms.

Outpatient psychotherapy is best conducted in sessions over time, often weeks to months. In certain circumstances an individual or child may need to be seen more frequently (more than once per week), or if the family is traveling a great distance, they may need to be seen daily for an intensive visit. This is not a Day Treatment program, but instead a series of outpatient or family therapy sessions that will be conducted over a short period of time. The information, education and psychotherapy provided in these intensive sessions is meant to help patients and their families become quickly more knowledgeable about the illness and provide short and long- term treatment planning to assist in faster recovery from disruptive symptoms. In most cases, the symptoms that the patient is experiencing will not resolve only with these intensive sessions.

Session Format

Psychotherapy intensive sessions are conducted with the patient alone, with the parents/caregivers alone, with the family as a whole or as a combination of these various formats based on specific needs of the patient.

For individuals who are concerned about cognitive functioning, neuropsychological assessment can be arranged in conjunction with their Intensive.

Cost and Insurance Coverage

Patients who are referred for psychotherapy for Conversion Disorder may be able to access their insurance benefits to help off-set the cost of this intensive treatment. I suggest that you speak with your insurance provider about out-of-network benefits. Due to this being my area of specific expertise, some families have been able to utilize insurance benefits for specialty providers. I am happy to assist you with accessing your available benefits

Consultation and Training

Consultation is provided to mental health professionals to strengthen existing skills and integrate strategies into their practice. Consultation may also be provided to medical professionals seeking information and education about specific psychological disorders. Consultation may be provided about assessment and treatment of specific disorders (i.e. conversion disorders) in an office appointment, by phone or with skype. Consultation is not meant to be a substitute for individual psychotherapy on this topic, and therefore consultation will only be conducted with licensed mental health professionals, school organizations or licensed medical providers. Consultation does not entail supervision for specific clients of the contacting mental health provider. The information provided is educational and while specific case examples and de-identified client information may be discussed, the information and education provided is not meant to be a substitute for individuals wanting supervision of their client’s cases.

Supervision/Teaching

I have been the training director for the Pediatric Psychology Fellowship with the Minnesota Epilepsy Group for the past 7 years. I enjoy teaching and supervising pediatric and child clinical psychology post-doctoral fellows, especially those interested in treating medically complex youth and youth with functional disorders. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in supervision.