Frequently asked questions

Therapy treats clinical conditions like trauma, anxiety, depression, and addiction. Coaching is for growth, performance, decisions, and transitions, and for the stress and burnout of demanding work when treatment is not what is needed. The two are separate services, and I do not provide both to the same person.

If what you’re dealing with is affecting your sleep, your mood, your relationships, or your ability to get through a normal week, and it has been going on a while, that is what therapy is for. If your life is basically working and you want to work on a decision, a transition, performance, or the pace you’re keeping, coaching fits. If you’re not sure, send the contact form anyway. On the free 20-minute call I’ll tell you which one I think fits.

I see adults, individually. I don’t do couples therapy or family therapy, and I don’t see clients under 18. If couples work is what you’re looking for, or if this is for a teenager, the Psychology Today directory is the place to look.

Therapy is in person in Grand Rapids through Counseling Center of West Michigan (CCWM), or by telehealth in Michigan or Ohio. Telehealth can be booked directly with me, self-pay, or in Michigan through CCWM with insurance. I’m licensed in Michigan (LMSW) and Ohio (LISW-S), and I can’t see therapy clients outside those two states.

Coaching is by video call or phone, anywhere.

Therapy is $215 for a 55-minute session, and the initial evaluation is also $215. Sessions booked directly with Holliday Approach are self-pay.

Coaching is $175 for a single 55-minute session, booked one at a time. Four sessions are $644 and eight are $1,260, paid up front, which brings the rate to $161 or $157.50 a session. Four sessions suit a specific problem with a deadline. Eight suit a pattern you want to change rather than a single decision.

There are two ways to see me, and insurance works differently in each.

To use insurance, book through Counseling Center of West Michigan. That option is for Michigan only, in person in Grand Rapids or by telehealth, and CCWM bills your plan directly.

Plans I’m currently in network with through CCWM: Aetna, Allied Benefits, ASR, Blue Care Network, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Federal (FEP), ChampVA, Cigna, GEHA, Gravie, HealthScope, HealthScope Benefits, Luminare Health, McLaren, Meritain, Molina, Mutual of Omaha, Optum Behavioral Health, Priority Health, SavATree, Surest, TELUS Health, TRICARE, TRICARE for Life, UMR, UnitedHealthcare (All Savers, Choice Plus, Golden Rule, and Shared Services), and Wellnet. The list changes now and then, and CCWM’s intake team can confirm yours.

To book directly with Holliday Approach, in Michigan or Ohio, sessions are self-pay. I’ll give you a superbill you can submit to your insurer for out-of-network reimbursement. In Ohio, this is the only option.

It’s the same clinician either way. Insurance does not cover coaching.

No. I don’t provide court-involved therapy, custody evaluations, testimony, fitness-for-duty evaluations, or letters and paperwork. If any of those is the main thing you need, the Psychology Today directory lets you filter for clinicians who do that work.

Yes. What you tell me stays between us, with the limits that apply to any therapist: abuse of a child or vulnerable adult, immediate danger to you or someone else, and a court order. The detail is in the Notice of Privacy Practices.

No. Health records aren’t part of an employment background check. Forms that ask about mental health, like a security clearance questionnaire or the FAA medical application, ask you to report it yourself, and I don’t submit anything to an employer, a department, or the FAA. If you have one of those forms in front of you, bring it to the first call.

Holliday Approach is an outpatient practice. Inpatient care, intensive outpatient programs, and crisis stabilization are different levels of care, and this practice doesn’t provide them. If we’re working together and you need more than weekly sessions, I’ll tell you and refer you. If you’re in immediate danger, call or text 988 or go to your nearest emergency department.

In the first session we go over what has been going on, and you share as much or as little as you’d like. You can ask anything you want to know about how I work.

We usually start weekly and adjust the schedule as we go. How long it takes depends on what you’re working on. Focused work on one specific problem can run a few months, and work on trauma or longstanding patterns usually takes longer. We set goals early and talk openly about where you are against them as we go. When you don’t need the sessions anymore, I’ll tell you.

Yes. I’m EMDR trained. I use it as part of ongoing therapy rather than as a standalone service, because the sessions before and after the EMDR itself are a large part of why it works.

No, I don’t prescribe. If medication is part of your care, that’s between you and a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, or your primary care physician, and I’ll work alongside them with your written consent. If you don’t have a prescriber and want one, I can point you toward options in Michigan or Ohio.

Everything starts with a free 20-minute call, by phone or video. Send the contact form and you get an email with a link to pick a time. On the call you tell me in broad strokes what’s going on, ask what you want to ask, and we both get a sense of whether working together makes sense.

If therapy is the fit, I send the intake paperwork to sign, you add a card on file, and then we schedule the first session. If coaching is the fit, I send the coaching agreement, you choose a single session or a package and pay, and then you book the first session.