Here at Kiki's Therapy Service you can expect a warm, authentically validating therapeutic experience. You will hear me say “We celebrate every win around here” time and time again, because I am genuinely eager to celebrate you and see you meet your goals! That being said, I will also empathetically call you out on your bull… I mean hold you accountable. Is this a good time to mention I tend to curse? Hello, my name is Kiki and I REALLY like sentence enhancers ;), but I can clean it up around young ones and if you need me to. Anyhoo, we will laugh, cry, and rage (constructively) about all the things that are happening in your life together, while doing the work to stay on track to your goals.

A consultation is basically a “meet and greet” with a purpose, typically to get a vibe for each other and see if we are a good fit. While I want to know what brings you to therapy, I prefer to talk more about the challenges you are facing during the intake (and after you have informed consent). The big question I would love for you to think about is why now? For individuals and those seeking relational therapy especially; many people have been stuck experiencing the same undesired scenario and outcomes for months, if not years. So, I’m not asking you to come in with predetermined goals, we can figure that out together. But please consider, even vaguely, what kind of difference you may want to make or feel, as that can help you decide your best fit, whether that’s me or not. Remember: just realising that something needs to change and that you are capable of reaching out is a win and we celebrate every one of those around here! I may not know you personally yet, but I’m so proud of you for coming this far!

The fees for my services are $150 for individual sessions and $180 for relational therapy and families, or any session with two or more people in attendance really. The first or intake session is $170 for individuals and $200 for relational therapy, due to extra time needed for history-taking and informed consent to establish our therapeutic relationship. 

If these numbers give you a second of pause; trust me, I get it. Due to differences in lifestyle, financial responsibilities and sources of income; we all have different definitions of expensive or affordable. If you want to work with me, but would have difficulty making space in your budget we can discuss sliding scale fees. I will inform you immediately if I don’t have any sliding scale spots available. If I do have availability, your fee will be decided based on current factors discussed during your intake session, not the free consultation. Unfortunately, 20 minutes just isn't enough time to properly meet each other to assess fit, discuss your goals for seeking therapy, understand your financial situation and determine eligibility for fee-reduction.

If this cost means the difference between choosing to forgo necessities, I will urge you to explore more options that fit within your budget or insurance network and be more than happy to provide you with referrals that may be more feasible. While therapy is an important investment in self, your genuine safety and needs are of the utmost importance.

I have so much respect for those that work with insurance to provide accessible services to those in need. Unfortunately the relational models of therapy and session length that I use are not considered qualifying services for most insurance providers. 

There is benefit in this for you as well! While diagnoses can be informative and useful in communicating certain aspects of your life experience, they are not who you are and what’s more they can change! But they can also be limiting and have lasting effects when included in documentation and shared with governing bodies who do not understand their nuances, e.g. prejudice in the form of being disqualified from certain employment opportunities due to PTSD, depression or diagnoses typically correlated with the queer/trans identity. I am not trying to scare you, but I do want you to know that this extra privacy and peace of mind is one reason that many choose to pay out of pocket, even when they have that option of insurance.

A Good Faith Estimate (GFE), is a result of the No Surprises Act; simply put it is an explanation of how much your care will cost. As a health care provider, I must give all my self-pay patients a clear, written estimate of expected charges for scheduled, non-emergency services before care is delivered. Which is good because sending a huge bill you didn’t expect, is not how I plan to support your mental health. 

This estimate is not a contract — you are not required to commit to a specific number of sessions.

You can request a revised estimate if your treatment plan changes.

If you are billed more than $400 above this estimate, you have the right to dispute the bill.

This doesn’t mean I assume I know everything about a culture, be prepared for just the opposite in fact! It means I will use curiosity and systemic thinking to ask how you perceive your experience because I am aware it is likely to have a big influence on the way you see yourself and make decisions. I am well educated on a variety of cultures but even as a Black person, understanding we are not a monolith means not assuming what another Black person’s life and experiences mean to them without asking.

I guess you could say I’m fairly genderfluid when it comes to my personal gender identity. As such, I find myself genuinely unbothered by whether someone else perceives me and my behaviors as masculine, feminine, both, or none of the above.

To the untrained eye, that might look like someone offering help to anybody and everybody, but the beauty of intersectionality means one person can hold more than one,  if not all of these identities. Your roles and experiences as someone with multiple identities can have complex effects on each other and therefore you. This is why I choose to provide longer, slower sessions to allow for deep processing and acceptance of all the positive, painful and bittersweet pieces of you.

I prefer to limit regularly held sessions to 4 participants, especially considering our sessions will be virtual. For larger systems, we will likely rotate as needed to ensure that every person has space in therapy and can feel seen and validated by me as your therapist. This is not a hard rule, however exceptions can be made if specific goals and needs permit.

HIPAA is short for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which was put in place to make sure health professionals prioritize confidentiality and the safety of your protected health information (PHI).

In order to comply with this requirement KTS utilizes an all in one HIPAA-compliant electronic health record system to keep necessary documentation and client info for services and track your progress in treatment. At this time, my website also does not collect any sensitive PHI, I keep multiple layers of locks and encryption on all devices with access to PHI, and I have agreed to report any data or HIPAA breaches to all affected parties and governing bodies necessary.

While I don’t have an office for in person sessions at this time, if you are an established client, you may be able to request in-person, walk and talk therapy sessions to embrace the beauty and natural somatic healing that the PNW has to provide. This is by appointment only, and does have a different fee than virtual sessions to accommodate additional time and travel expenses. It is necessary to be an existing client to ensure environmental safety, limits on confidentiality, and your goals for the session have been thoroughly understood before meeting and conducting therapy outdoors where unforeseen risks can affect the therapeutic experience.

Well, for one I do not provide the testing services required to verify that diagnosis. I am also aware that the diagnosis and support is often timely, costly and difficult to obtain. If this is something that will benefit you, I am more than happy to provide referrals to these services, of course!

As your relational therapist, my job is to support how you understand yourself, learn new coping skills, and regulate your nervous system. A diagnosis is honestly the smallest part of the equation here.