How will I know that you have enough expertise to help me?
First of all, being published expert in emotion regulation, I have my education degrees from two countries: Russia and the USA. I not only do counseling, but I study counseling and conduct research on emotion regulation. Here are some of the research papers I published recently in peer-reviewed journals:
Motherhood Experiences and Expectations: A Qualitative Exploration of Mothers of Toddlers
Emotion Regulation for Counselors
Examining Parent Anger and Emotion Regulation in the Context of Intensive Parenting
You can find more articles in English and Russian in my Google Scholar profile
Additionally, I have been working as a therapist in Russia since 2001 before coming to the USA. In America, I have been intensively trained in crisis work, therapies for emotion regulation, and evidence-based treatments for children and families for the last five years.
Do you accept insurance?
Currently, I do not take insurance; however, I can make an invoice for your insurance company.
What is your cancellation policy?
I ask my clients to cancel appointments no later than 24 hours before their session so that I could pull in people from the waiting list. If you do not inform me about cancellation 24 hours in advance, I will charge for the session based on your rate. I will not charge, if you or your child got sick and you confirm it with a doctors’ note or some other evidence.
Will you recommend me seeing a psychiatrist?
I will assess your mental state, and if I consider it necessary, I may advise you to see a psychiatrist. I believe that medication on its own cannot solve our mental problems; however, at times, we need it. It will always be your choice whether you’d take it or not.
How long does therapy last?
The number of sessions you attend depends on what your needs are. My experience shows that you can achieve sustainable emotion regulation improvement in 12 sessions. However, it may take longer up to 6 months. It takes us some time to develop habits, for instance, maybe you have been yelling at your child from time to time for a year. Thus, it will be unrealistic to think that this habit can go away in three weeks. Typically, we will meet once a week. Most likely, I will be giving you homework and things to practice between sessions. Therefore, I will be guiding you in the process all the way, even when I won’t be around.
Will you tell anyone about me?
I will never say a word from what you’d say to me unless you ask me to. I have a document – release of information – that you can fill in if there is a person you’d like me to share your information. I teach ethics and abide by the ACA Code of Ethics, and I also follow the law, according to both, preserving clients’ confidentiality is crucial for our relationship. Even if I see you on the street, I won’t say “hi” first, rather I will wait for you to approach me. And it is perfectly fine not to say hi to me, as this is one of the measures to preserve your confidentiality. And it is another reason why I never publish my clients’ opinions about me and my services. Not only I see it as an exploitation of my clients, but also I don’t want to breach the confidentiality.
By law, I can only release information about you and about things you told me without your written consent in the following situations:
- I suspect there is past or present abuse or neglect of children, adults, or elders.
- I suspect my client is in danger of harming themselves or has threatened to harm another person.
- You plan to certify against me in court.
If you have any other questions, please, feel free to email me at my secure email at alenaprikhidko@hushmail.com or call me at 352-292-8544