Individual Counseling
If you are struggling with anxiety (e.g., worry, panic attacks, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disruption), I can help bring relief. See Anxiety page for more details. My focus is on creating an individually tailored experience to help meet your goals through listening to understand, providing support, challenging you to think and act in different ways to resolve issues, and being a compassionate and supportive presence in your life. See About for more information on my treatment approach.
This page provides information to commonly asked questions about the process of individual counseling treatment with Dr. White. The intent of this information is to communicate expectations and provide information to maximize treatment impact and decrease the potential for misunderstandings or miscommunications.
FAQs
What Can I expect from Counseling sessions?
You can expect to experience a safe and trustworthy relationship with Dr. White so that you are able to address difficult topics, express distressing emotions, and explore issues for the purposes of learning more about yourself, understand how past experiences impact you present day, and to explore various strategies to help you achieve your goals. Much like one experiences physical pain or discomfort while exercising, psychological treatment often involves emotional or psychological pain. While it is not comfortable for most people, being able to tolerate, experience, and understand this type of pain is highly beneficial for treatment success. Sessions are scheduled for 1 hour.
How do I know if my issues are appropriate for treatment?
Even though Dr. White focuses on treating anxiety conditions and symptoms, other presenting concerns are appropriate for treatment including depression, relationship problems, grief/bereavement, traumatic experiences, etc. Despite the stigmatizing myth that psychological treatment is only for ‘crazy’ or ‘insane’ people; most clients who attend treatment are high functioning and are seeking help dealing with specific concerns.
Dr. White does not prescribe medications as a part of the treatment process. If you have questions, feel free to call for more information based on your specific situation and goals.
How Can I make the most out of this Treatment Experience?
Therapy is an active process that takes commitment and effort from each client. Dr. White allows clients the freedom to explore whatever topics that are relevant at that time. Most clients start with a focus on the distress that led to the initial appointment, but it is common for the focus to shift to other topics as therapy continues and life happens. Dr. White directs therapy conversations in the interest of client’s goals via listening, questions, suggestions, and providing different perspectives. Treatment is most effective when clients feel both supported and challenged to make change happen. Clients are always free to use or not use any suggestions or strategies discussed in sessions. Dr. White will explain his treatment approach in more detail during the first session.
WIll Dr. White provide suggestions/Advice?
At times it is appropriate for Dr. White to provide suggestions and this can be tricky as people generally have an aversion to being told what to do by someone else, especially at times that the individual is looking for empathic support and/or not feeling ready to explore potential solutions. It is common for some clients to interpret suggestions as criticism (depending on their life history and past experiences). Any advice given by Dr. White is intended to be helpful towards client goals, and Dr. White does his best to make good decisions about the timing and delivery of suggestions and to ask permission prior to giving more direct advice.
Why is it IMportant to pay for missed sessions in the case of a client no-show or late cancellation?
Psychological treatment works differently than other professional services (e.g., medical care, dentistry, etc.) in that clients are scheduled for a 1-hour session with no other client scheduled during that time. This is significant portion of a typical workday. Also, Dr. White often has other clients waiting for an appointment. When clients no-show or cancel a session without adequate notice, it creates a financial hardship that is different than the services of a physician (who is allowed to charge more for much less contact time). Late cancellations, frequent cancellations, and no-shows also disrupt the treatment process and reduce the trust in the therapeutic relationship which is the most important factor for client success. Dr. White will waive the late cancellation or no-show fees in certain cases.
Why is it important to arrive on time for sessions and to attend consistently?
Psychologists have limitations in how insurance claims are billed including specific time restraints. Arriving late impacts how much Dr. White can charge insurance companies as well as interfering with the treatment process. For many clients, momentum of progress is key to avoid relapse of symptoms and conditions. Attending consistently and having the full hour each session are the most effective ways to make and maintain therapeutic progress.
Why are client expectations important to discuss?
One potential interference factor in the treatment process involves clients having expectations of Dr. White that are unreasonable or unexpressed. This is a common cause of misunderstanding, miscommunications, and disagreements in any type of relationship. The key to managing this occurrence is communication. Dr. White values acting professionally which involves abiding by legal and ethical standards, many of which the general public are unaware of. If you have any questions, please ask. If you have expectations that are not being met, please discuss with Dr. White. This might lead to a change in treatment approach or an explanation about why a particular request could not be granted for legal, ethical, or treatment reasons.
What are my options if I am not making progress? WHat are some potential reasons for this to happen?
Lack of progress occurs sometimes for some clients and can be an opportunity to understand what might be occurring on a deeper and more meaningful level. Working with Dr. White to understand the reasons for not making progress can thus lead to progress. The most common reason for lack of progress involves symptoms of a condition serving as barriers to change (e.g., low energy and low motivation as common depressive symptoms that interfere with living a more active and engaged life). Other potential reasons for lack progress include times when clients are not ready for change, dismiss treatment suggestions, attend inconsistently, focus on others making changes (rather than focusing on changing one’s self), deflecting responsibility for their own part in situations, and/or not making adequate effort. Therapy is an active process on the client’s part and takes a lot of ‘work’ to make progress. Dr. White is present to guide this ‘work’. And, it is ABSOLUTELY worth the effort!
The therapeutic relationship is the most important part of the change process, and it happens sometimes that clients are not a good fit with Dr. White’s treatment approach. In these instances, Dr. White can help refer clients to another provider who might be a better match. If this is your experience, please discuss with Dr. White for referral options.
What does it mean to be ‘triggered’ and how does this impact treatment? How can I handle distressing emotions that occur during a session?
When working with clients with trauma and abuse histories, it sometimes happens that Dr. White will remind a client of someone from their past based on similarities, appearance, and/or what is being discussed. It can feel as if the past trauma is happening in that moment during a session. A natural instinct when this occurs is to leave, which would disrupt the treatment process. This is a normal response with one’s nervous system sounding the ‘alarm bell’ in the interest of self-protection. Dr. White has strategies to help clients recognize when this happens and how to manage it. Learning how to predict triggers or trigging situations, manage them when they occur, and to understand what is happening psychologically and why are all important parts of trauma and abuse recovery work.
With or without a trauma or abuse history, all clients are likely to be dealing with emotions that are uncomfortable and distressing, which is often a part of treatment sessions. Dr. White has strategies for helping clients manage and express these emotions while becoming more aware of themselves, their physiological states (e.g., physical tension), and how to manage so that they can be processed in healthy ways.
Why does Dr. WHite avoid communication with family members?
Although family members such as a spouse or a parent often have the best intentions of becoming involved in a client’s treatment process, it is important that the client themselves take the initiative to make initial contact and for appointment scheduling. Most of the time when others make initial contact, the client themselves does not follow through on attending treatment sessions.
Additionally, Dr. White has legal and ethical restrictions that many people are unaware of. Psychological treatment has more restrictions in terms of confidentiality, which is key for treatment success, than any other type of professional service (e.g., medical, legal). In certain circumstances, it is appropriate to get written permission from clients to legally allow communication with others in the client’s life for involvement in treatment.
Is it acceptable to discuss religious concerns in treatment?
Clients have the freedom to discuss with Dr. White whatever concerns they have including religious ones. Dr. White is not a religiously based therapist and does not impose any values (religious or otherwise) on clients while respecting client’s values and autonomy to decide what, if any, changes to make within their value system.
