East Bay ADHD FAQ

What are your qualifications?

• I have a PhD in Clinical Psychology and am Board Certified in School Neuropsychology (ABSNP).

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Do you take insurance for therapeutic or testing services?

• I do not take insurance; I am a cash-pay practice. That means I am not in-network for any insurance carriers. I provide superbills with CPT codes for therapeutic services and provide a receipt or invoice for assessment services. 

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I have a 3 year-old child; can you help me?

• I'm very sorry but I only work with people aged 7 and above in assessments, and age 25 and older in psychotherapy. 

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Do you have openings/availability?

• I most likely do have openings in both my assessment and therapy practice. Click on the "book a free consultation" button below to set up a free, 20-minute consultation to discuss availability and fit. 

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Do you work in-person or virtually?

• I work both in-person and virtually depending on your preference. The only sessions that must take place in-person are the assessment testing sessions. I am vaccinated and boosted and require that my in-person clients be vaccinated and boosted as well. 

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What are your therapeutic orientations?

• I come from a primarily Psychodynamic background, but incorporate aspects from other modalities such as Mindful Self-Compassion, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Solutions-Focused Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

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What forms of payment do you accept?

• My preferred mode of payment is ACH (bank) transfer.

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What is your cancellation policy?

• Unless otherwise specified in our contract, if you do not show up for your scheduled meeting or cancel with less than 48 hours you will be required to pay the full cost of the session (for a testing session that would be my hourly rate).

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Tell me about your office?

• I am located on the vibrant Solano Ave corridor in N. Berkeley. There are multiple bus routes that run by my office but there's always lots of convenient (free) street parking. My office is surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops, and small retail shops. It is on the second floor, on top of a Tibetan jewelry and clothing store. 

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Will I receive any results if I choose an assessment without a report?

• If you choose an option without a report, you will still receive a verbal feedback session and a Diagnostic Summary (see below for more information on the Diagnostic Summary) so we can discuss and align on your results and you can learn some good next steps to take.

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What is the difference between the diagnostic summary and the report?

• If you choose an option without a report, you will be provided a diagnostic summary, which is a high level report and doesn't go into much detail aside from spelling out your clinically significant symptoms and your diagnosis. It is usually a couple of pages long. The report, however, goes into far more detail and a neuropsychological report can be between 30-40 pages long (shorter for the Psychological "Screening" Assessment). 

• In sum, there are two types of assessment (see below): 1) the Neuropsychological Assessment which takes several sessions and is a deep dive into your brain or 2) the Psychological Screening Assessment which takes about one session and gives you mostly a diagnostic profile (Do I have ADHD? Do I have ASD? etc.). In addition there are two types of reports: 1) Diagnostic Summary (short report made up of your diagnostic symptom profile), and 2) Full Report (a multipage report going into much more detail than the summary). If you are trying to get accommodations, I suggest the Full Report. If you are just trying to get medication or understand yourself better, then oftentimes the Diagnostic Summary will suffice. 

 

What is the difference between a "neuropsychological" and "psychological screening" assessment?

• Here is a great link that explains the difference, but in a nutshell psychological assessment is based on interviews, behavioral evidence, and validated scales and tends to focus on items like anxiety, depression, and personality disorders. ADHD can be diagnosed via a psychological assessment but it won't carry as much weight as a neuropsychological assessment if you are advocating for accommodations, and it won't give you as much in-depth insight into the specific neurological causes (and solutions) of your symptoms. Neuropsychological assessments go into deep detail into things like: memory and concentration, verbal and visual memory, sensory integration, and executive functioning (and much more!).

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How does the assessment process work?

• Great question; I'm glad you asked. Psychological and neuropsychological assessments start out the same; after our consultation and you've completed your intake paperwork I will have a pretty good working hypothesis about what instruments I'll use. At that point I will send out relevant psychometrically validated assessment instruments that you can take online. I select the questionnaires based on the hypothesis. If needed, I might send additional questionnaires. At that point I would begin the interview process. If this is an adult and solely a psychological assessment we can do this virtually. In other cases I prefer that you come to my office. The assessment portion of the psychological assessment ends at this point as psychological assessments are based on interviews and questionnaires. For the psychological assessment process I then compile the information and typically give a verbal feedback session (though some folks want a written report as well). If you are having a neuropsychological assessment I'll ask you to come to the office in person for about 6 hours divided between 2-4 sessions (depending on age, stamina, level of ADHD etc.) and we will do interactive cognitive testing. For kids I might use the WISC-V, the D-KEFS, and the KTEA Dyslexia Index. For adults I might use the WAIS-IV, the D-KEFS, and the ROCF (for the full names of these tests click here). I'll then process and compile the information, write a comprehensive report, and hold in person (preferably) verbal debrief sessions where I share the report and the findings and give you a chance to ask questions and process the information. If the client is a child I debrief with the parents first, and together we decide how best to share the findings with the child. I'm also available if, in the future, you want to make changes to the report. And because I charge a flat fee, you don't have to worry about paying for changes to the report, asking me questions months after the debrief, or if the assessment takes longer or is more complicated than initially thought; all of that is included in the fee so you won't feel nickel-and-dimed. And, speaking of fees, I ask for half the fee up front as a deposit with the remainder due when I deliver the report/ results/ debrief regardless of if the product is a psychological or neuropsychological assessment. You have enough on your mind that I want to keep things simple so you won't have extra things to think about or keep track of.