FAQs – Loyal Blue Counseling

How long, how often, how much?

What does your “insurance-friendly” practice mean?

What is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and how does it work?

Q: Why Loyal Blue?

A: Loyal Blue is a well-respected group practice using research-based techniques to build lasting change for our clients. Our mission is to serve the East Bay community with authentic, down-to-earth therapy that works. We’ve built our practice on providing counseling for the modern world and applying evidence-based treatment like cognitive behavioral therapy.

A successful counseling experience needs a good alliance between client and therapist. Personality fit is very important! Our group shares the value of providing exceptional service to our clients, and as therapists we all have different interests and personalities. Our founder Lindsey hand picks our clinicians for being authentic, well-trained, and easy to connect with. We hope you can find your therapist on the Loyal Blue team, and are happy to schedule free consultations (or recommend outside therapists) until you get there.

Loyal Blue uses cognitive behavioral therapy to produce effective change, and offers clients a chance to fill out Session Rating Scales in order to make sure that appointments are useful and tailored to their needs. Use of Session Rating Scales has been shown to increase participation in treatment and lead to better outcomes.

We collaborate with local pediatric practices, student groups at UC Berkeley, and fellow experts in the field of psychology to bring you effective therapy.

Q: In Person or Telehealth?

A: Loyal Blue operates both in-person and by telehealth. Clients are free to choose, based on our availability and therapist clinical recommendation. Most of our clients do a mixture of both.

Many clients prefer in-person sessions, but there is greater flexibility with telehealth sessions. Telehealth may not be appropriate for all clients (for example, very young clients). Talk to our practice coordinator or your therapist. You can inquire here.

Q: How long, how often, how much?

A: Sessions are between 40 and 50 minutes depending on your therapist. We also offer 30 minute sessions. Sessions can be prorated to shorter or longer.

Rates are set by Loyal Blue each October and differ based on licensure status. Our associate MFTs therefore charge the least and offer sliding scale.

For most topics, counseling works best when you can set aside time for 6-10 sessions and schedule them on a weekly basis. We will work with you to tailor a plan that fits your goals and schedule.

Q: Do you accept insurance?

A: We have become an “insurance-friendly” practice by registering our therapists with a platform that submits receipts on your behalf. No more headaches with your insurance company! While we are considered out-of-network providers and therefore collect our fees directly from you, those with out of network benefits can usually get reimbursed with no additional work on your end.

We partner with Thrizer to handle the out of network claim process for you. We do not benefit from this service and offer it only as an option to have Thrizer submit claims on your behalf.

We can help you verify if you have out-of-network benefits.
Use our secure electronic health system to store your insurance information and receive a monthly receipt to upload with Thrizer.
For $3/claim, they handle all submission, details, appeals, and send reimbursement directly to your bank account once claims are approved. They will refund their fee if they are unable to secure any reimbursement for you.
Please click here for a summary of this service or ask our practice coordinator for details. We offer Standard Reimbursements at this time.

Please note that any insurance involvement will likely require providing a diagnosis code on your medical record.

We want counseling to be affordable and guided only by our clinical expertise and your needs. For this reason, we opt to be a private pay practice with options for lower fee services from our associate therapists.

As part of the No Surprises Act, you have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate of services. Because the nature of therapy is ongoing, this is a range of costs dependent on your particular circumstance. Fees are set at the start of counseling and subject to increase with 2 months notice. This Good Faith Estimate can be provided upon commencement of services and available with details specific to your treatment in our client portal.

Q: What is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and how does it work?

A: CBT is an empirically validated approach to treating problems like depression, anxiety, insomnia, and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders (perfectionism, routines, etc). What this means is that CBT has been clinically proven to be more effective than medication alone and to resolve problems for longer than other forms of talk therapy. If you work with Loyal Blue, chances are you will receive some form of CBT in your sessions.

CBT is a process guided by a therapist who teaches you how to gently challenge your thought patterns, identify core beliefs, and update them to serve your goals. It is not simply positive talk! CBT often uses homework like thought charts and mood records in order to better understand the path from thought —> emotion —> behavior/state of being.

CBT seems simple, but is not easy. Like many things worth investing in, it takes practice and patience. However, all ages can benefit from learning CBT and its broad application and straightforward approach make it our treatment of choice.

Our Cancelation Policy Is Designed For Effective Therapy

We request notice of cancelation by Friday at 5pm the previous week.

If you cancel within the same week of your appointment, we make our best effort to reschedule your session that same week and 50% of the session fee may be charged if we cannot. Rescheduling is subject to our availability and may include offering a telehealth session, or a shorter session.

It is our top priority that you get the session you pay for.

If you cancel within 48 hours you will be charged the full fee for the missed appointment.

We always make exceptions for illness or emergencies.

Why Is This Our Policy?

We know that many service providers allow 48 hours notice of cancelation. However, our policy has been in place for 20 years and has research and results behind it:

We care about providing the best treatment outcomes you can get.

Not surprisingly, we’ve found that effective therapy is correlated with regular attendance. We have high standards for ourselves and care about our clients getting the outcomes they want.

Regular attendance allows therapists to establish better connections with their clients, and the therapeutic bond is the #1 factor associated in a positive therapy experience.

We want you to prioritize your counseling.

We know life gets busy and things come up. We’re happy to provide regular clients with a one-time waiving of our policy when your calendar gets mixed up.

But we take mental health seriously, and we want you to as well. Talk to your therapist if you find your session schedule needs adjusting. We recommend weekly sessions to start, but after the first 6 sessions, it may be appropriate for some clients to come less often.

We have flexible alternatives to in-person sessions.

Because we are able to offer secure sessions via our telehealth platform, as well as allow you to book and change appointments online, there are other ways to receive your session and to schedule at your convenience.

We respect our therapists and their schedule.

Therapists are in high demand and ours work particularly hard at 2 different locations and by video to accommodate our clients.

Therapists have a limited number of hours in their week just like everyone else, and when a cancelation occurs, especially within the same week, it means an empty hour in their schedule when they could be helping someone. We cannot hold times for those who frequently cancel, and we cannot keep therapists fully employed when their schedule gets frequent cancelations.

Here’s the bottom line:

We want you to receive what you pay for: the very best therapy provided by the skilled therapists at Loyal Blue. You are in charge of scheduling. So if you need to cancel, let us know the week before. And if something comes up last minute, let us accommodate you with an alternative (we know it won’t be your first choice) so that you stay on track and meet your goals!