Article: Knowing what sort of coverage your insurance plan offers for psychotherapy or how you plan to pay for therapy is very important. Check your description of plan benefits for information on behavioral health services or coverage for mental health. When in doubt, ask the human resources representative of your insurance company directly. And, ask the therapist if they accept your insurance before making your first appointment. Otherwise you may have to pay out of pocket when you could be seeing a therapist in your insurer's network.  When you meet, remember to take care of payment, scheduling, and insurance questions at the start of the session. This way you will be able to end the session sharing, without the disturbance of logistical issues like calendar checking and payment.  Know that if you see a therapist in a private practice, they may provide you with a receipt that you will submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. You might be responsible for the entire cost of the visit up front, and then be reimbursed through your insurance company. Therapists come from many different backgrounds, and have different forms of education, specialization, certification, and licensing. "Psychotherapist" is a general term, rather than a specific job title or indication of education, training or licensure.   The following are red flags, indicating that the therapist may not be properly qualified:  No information provided about your rights as a client, confidentiality, office policies, and fees (all of which would allow you to fairly consent to your therapy) No license issued by the state or jurisdiction in which they practice. A degree from a non-accredited institution. Unresolved complaints filed with their licensing board. The more information your therapist has about you, the better they will be able to do their job. Helpful documents might include reports from previous psychological tests or recent hospital discharge summaries. If you are a student, you may also want to bring recent grades or other recent markers of progress. This will be helpful during your intake interview, when the therapist may ask you to fill out forms about your current and past physical and emotional health.  By streamlining this part of your visit, you and your therapist will have more opportunity to get to know each other on a person-to-person level. If you are already taking any medications for mental or physical health, or if you have recently stopped a medication, you will want to come prepared with the following information:  Name of the drug(s) Your dosage Side effects you are experiencing Contact information of the providing doctor(s) When meeting for the first time, you may have lots of different questions and concerns. In order to address everything you want to know, write some notes reminding you to gather all the information you need. Bringing these to your first session will help you feel less confused and more at ease. Notes might include the following questions for your therapist:  What therapeutic approach do you use? How will we define our goals? Will you expect me to complete assignments to do between sessions? How frequently will we meet? Will our work together be short-term or long-term? Are you willing to collaborate with my other health care providers to treat me more effectively? Because therapy is meant to provide you with a safe space to work on yourself, time must be managed wisely. Once you are in the session it's the therapist's job to keep track of time, allowing you to focus on answering questions and adjusting to the feel of therapy. But, it's up to you to get yourself to that point. Be aware that some private therapists charge for missed appointments, and these fees are not covered by insurance.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Understand the financial arrangement. Check the therapist's qualifications. Prepare any relevant documents. Gather a list of medications you are taking or have taken recently. Write reminder notes. Keep track of your appointment schedule.