INDIVIDUAL THERAPY
Individual therapy is a type of psychotherapy in which a trained professional helps a single person work through personal issues they have been facing. Our clinicians will work with you to help explore your feelings, work through life challenges, identify aspects of yourselves and your lives that you wish to change, and set goals to help you work towards these changes. A client might see a clinician for only a few sessions, or the client may attend individual therapy sessions for a year or longer. The amount of time spent in therapy depends on the needs of the client and their personal goals.
At In Step, we know through experience that each of our families is unique in their needs, and it is up to us to tailor our individual services accordingly. For more information about our individual therapy services or to schedule an initial appointment, please schedule a consultation or call 703-876-8480.
Areas Of Expertise
Not all children, teens, and adults with ADHD have social and/or emotional challenges. ADHD-related behavior comes in various forms. As the saying goes, “if you have met one person with ADHD, you have met exactly one person with ADHD”. No two people with ADHD are alike. Depending upon the number, the severity, and how the symptoms manifest in everyday life, a person with ADHD and their family members may be impacted very little or greatly. The important thing for families impacted by ADHD is awareness, compassion, and motivation to change unproductive patterns of behavior.
For more information about ADHD Services, please click here to schedule a free consultation. Contact us at info@insteppc.com or 703-876-8480.
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Children, teens, and adults with HFA may need help learning to manage their HFA symptoms. HFA is a highly complex, variable neurological condition — and, as such, looks very different from person to person. The symptoms of HFA may actually become increasingly debilitating over time as the stakes of life get higher and higher.
A multi-modal approach offers kids, teens, parents, adults, and couples strategies and methods for managing their HFA symptoms.
Our LEGO Social Development Groups are ongoing therapy groups specifically geared towards children who have ASD or demonstrate other significant social communication difficulties is an evidence-based social skills program that has aided thousands of children with HFA and their parents learn and practice needed social skills such as listening, reading social signals accurately, and managing challenging emotions.
In Step offers skill-based groups for teens on the spectrum based on Cathi Cohen’s highly successful evidence-based social skills training program Stepping Stones. We also offer interpersonal therapy groups for teens on the spectrum that help teenagers develop meaningful relationships with others.
Our parent coaching sessions — offered in groups and one-on-one — use the principles outlined in Cohen’s Raise Your Parenting IQ workbook to aid couples and parents impacted by a family member with HFA.
Take a look at these articles about HFA:
All people are sad sometimes, but depression is different from sadness. Depression is persistent and may be communicated in varied ways in children, teens, and adults. It’s typical for kids and adults alike to experience ups and downs in life.
However, some behaviors are outside of the norm that may indicate a need for outside help:
- Having little interest in activities that are usually enjoyed
- Crying easily and a lot
- Displaying sudden changes in mood
- Unmitigated withdrawal, apathy, irritability, or lack of motivation
- Complaining frequently of physical symptoms
- A marked change in energy level
- Avoids school or work
- Losses or gains of more than 10% of body weight
- Sleeping too much or too little
- A sudden decline in school or work performance
- Poor concentration
- Excessive worrying
- Deterioration of self-care
Therapy is extremely effective in treating depression.
Take a look at this article about depression:
Anxiety is the most common psychological problem treated at In Step. This debilitating disorder affects a suffering person’s thoughts, body, and behavior, impacting children, teens, and adults. Anxiety becomes especially painful when it interferes with typical development and life’s activities.
Therapy can help modify the core components of anxiety: anticipating an undesirable future, imagining the worst, and engaging in avoidance behaviors. Understanding the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can help generate alternative explanations for events. When employed thoughtfully and professionally, therapeutic methods such as cognitive restructuring, relaxation exercises, mindfulness, and exposure are healing.
Trained clinicians use evidence-based CBT (cognitive-based therapy) and DBT(dialectical behavior therapy) to help people with anxiety.
Take a look at these articles about anxiety:
Some people have difficulty coping with mistakes and disappointments. For these people, everyday challenges can feel insurmountable. Negative, all-or-nothing thinking may be a constant source of stress, and they have little confidence in their ability to solve their own problems and bounce back after adverse events.
With parental support and therapy, children who may not be naturally hard-wired with resilience and optimism can develop critical coping strategies and skills to use when confronted with setbacks, mistakes, and life stressors. With increased feelings of self-efficacy and interpersonal empowerment, kids and teens recognize and appreciate their strengths and talents, thereby helping them feel more comfortable in the world.
Take a look at this article about resiliency:
Difficulties with executive functioning skills explain why so many teens who seem very capable and bright still struggle academically to meet their obvious potential. These young people struggle to initiate a present awareness with future anticipation and past experiences to create a realistic goal and plan. When your child reaches their pre-teen and teen years, their problems are exacerbated by increased pressures and demands on top of their age-appropriate desire to be independent. Parents frequently feel frustrated and thwarted in their effort to offer their child the scaffolding s/he needs.
In Step is excited to be offering an 8-week coaching program for teens and their parents to learn executive functioning skills through a collaborative, multi-component approach. Based on an evidence-based program developed by Dr. Margaret Sibley from Florida International University, this coaching program will offer teens and their parents’ specific strategies and skills to work on together at home:
- Healthy family communication is stressed and follow-through is enhanced and reinforced.
- Teens learn organizational, time management, and planning methods that lead to increased self-esteem and empowerment.
Experiencing relationship conflicts or feeling overwhelmed by emotions and situations is something we all face from time to time. For some, this stress, combined with already heightened emotions, is extremely difficult to manage. In efforts to regulate their emotions, individuals may resort to destructive behavior such as self-harm, suicide attempts, or other unsafe behaviors.
Trained clinicians use evidence-based DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) to help people with maladaptive coping skills.
How To Get Started
Contact us at info@insteppc.com or 703-876-8480 to schedule an appointment.
We strive to return your inquiry within 24 hours, if you do not speak with us directly. Our caring and knowledgeable administrative staff will work to get your initial evaluation scheduled and client portal activated prior to your first appointment. If you have a particular therapist in mind when you call, we will work to schedule you for a first appointment with your chosen therapist (if their schedule allows).
Before your first appointment, you will be contacted via email by our staff with directions on how to activate your client portal. Once completed, you will then be sent the required patient forms to be completed through your client portal.
Please provide us with any collaborative reports (i.e., psycho-educational testing reports, psychiatric reports, IEP reports, and/or educational reports). These will help us get to know you or your child more holistically.
The clinician who sees you for your appointment will be a therapist who is familiar with all aspects of therapy offered at In Step. Our clinicians are comfortable and familiar with treatment services for individuals, couples, and families, as well as the full range of group therapy services offered at the practice. Your therapist will answer any questions you may have about therapy and/or the services at In Step.
The initial evaluation session provides In Step with the information we need to formulate a thoughtful, clinically sound treatment plan and determine which of our services are the best fit for you and/or your family.
If you seek services for your child, you will bring your child to this first session so that the therapist can spend time with you and your child. During the first session, your clinician will gather information about your history, present concerns and discuss therapy goals and expectations. Most initial evaluation sessions last between 60 and 90 minutes. Some clients may require additional assessment sessions to determine the best next steps.
FAQS
In Step is committed to providing the best clinical care to all clients without the limitations imposed upon us by insurance companies (i.e., number, length, and modality of sessions required). For this reason, we are out-of-network and do not participate in any insurance plans. Many of our clients can get reimbursed from their insurance carriers for out-of-network benefits. We are happy to help our clients access their insurance benefits. We also do our best to work with families when they reach out to us with certain financial restrictions, but we recognize that our program is just not possible for everyone. In those cases, we make referrals and act as a resource for other programs available in the community.
If you are interested in being reimbursed by your insurance company, contact the customer service number on the back of your insurance card and ask the customer service representative about your out-of-network provider benefits. We will provide you with a monthly receipt that includes all of the necessary documentation you need to submit to your insurance carrier. If your employer provides you with a Health Savings Accounts (HSA) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), you are eligible to use these for mental health treatment as well.
Services may be covered in full or in part by your health insurance or employee benefit plan. Please check your coverage carefully by asking about the following procedure (CPT) codes: 90791 (initial evaluation); 90834 (individual therapy), 90853 (group therapy), and 90847 (family therapy)
Yes, all therapists are willing to fill out treatment plans as needed for clients at the practice.
Services may be covered in full or in part by your health insurance or employee benefit plan. Please check your coverage carefully by asking the following questions:
- Do I have mental health insurance benefits?
- What is my deductible, and has it been met?
- How many sessions per year does my health insurance cover?
- What is the coverage amount per therapy session?
- Is approval required from my primary care physician?
Individual therapy fees are determined by our clinicians’ credentials, level of training, and experience in the field. Our fees are commensurate with other mental health practitioners in the Washington, D.C., metro area.
Meet Your In Step Team
Cathi Cohen
Dale Sorg
Erika Carlson
Mary Shuffleton
Keith K. Ewell
James A. Sebben
Jennifer Case
Rachel Cherian
Salima Jiwa
Constantina N. Kass
Kelly Murphy
Kimberley Grimes
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