Oakland Cognitive Behavior Therapy Center
Getting Started
If you are interested in receiving treatment at our Center, please reach out to us by phone or e-mail. You can reach out to the Center’s general voicemail or e-mail box, or send a message to any of the therapists at the Center. We’re happy to answer any questions you have, and we’ll want to spend about 10 minutes on the telephone with you to learn a bit about your situation in order to determine whether meeting for a consultation session makes sense for you.
A Consultation Session
In a consultation session, you’ll sit down with a therapist to evaluate your situation in order to determine whether cognitive behavioral therapy is likely to meet your needs. Before the session, the therapist will ask you to complete a number of assessment tools that will help the therapist evaluate your situation. The therapist will offer some details about the treatment she is recommending to you, so you can determine whether their recommendations make sense to you and if you would like to go forward with treatment. The therapist will answer any questions you have. Usually these consultation goals can be accomplished in one session, but sometimes two or even three sessions are required to make a determination as to whether it makes sense to go forward with treatment. Under a new law you have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” for the total expected cost of any non-emergency healthcare services, including psychotherapy services. For more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises.
The Therapy Process
You and your therapist will begin the therapy by setting goals for your treatment and identifying strategies for assessing progress toward the goals. Weekly sessions are usually needed to make good progress. Your therapist will likely ask you to complete one or two assessment scales before each session that she’ll review with you in the session and use to monitor your progress. At the beginning of the session, you and your therapist together will set an agenda of topics to take up in the session. The therapist will help you develop a cognitive-behavioral understanding of your difficulties, and will teach you tools and strategies you can use to address thoughts (cognitions) and behaviors that may be contributing to your difficulties. You’ll be asked to practice what you learn in the sessions during the week and to give your therapist feedback about whether what you are learning in therapy is helping you accomplish your goals. A typical course of treatment lasts about 25 sessions, but sometimes goals can be accomplished in fewer sessions, and not infrequently more sessions are needed. Your therapist can offer you some estimate about the number of sessions you may need during the consultation.