FAQ’s

We’ve compiled a list of FAQ’s to help you understand what’s right for you. Please click on the question to reveal the answer.

What’s the difference between Therapy and Coaching?

Focus

Therapy: Healing the Past. Focus is on emotional experience and symptoms.
Coaching: Creating the future. Focus is on values, goals, actions, and outcomes.

Your Goals

Therapy: Therapy can be helpful for mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, mood swings, addiction, resolving past trauma, phobias, and insomnia.
Coaching: Coaching can be helpful for improving your quality of life by improving performance, creating a vision, making decisions, navigating obstacles, and creating work/life balance.

Style of Conversation

Therapy: Therapists use inquiry, insight, artful questioning, and reflection. The client does most of the talking.
Coaching: Coaches use provocative questions, and give direct, reliable feedback, ideas for action, and support. The conversation is a collaboration.

Professional Role

Therapy: A Therapist has expertise with the problem for which you are seeking help. She is able to give a mental health diagnosis and provide treatment for your concerns.
Coaching: A coach will collaborate with you to help you clarify and meet your goals. She is a co-creator, sometimes an advisor, mentor, or guide. She helps provide structure and accountability that helps you move forward.

Insurance

Therapy: Health insurance companies pay for treatment of medical conditions, and therefore they may pay part or all of the cost of counseling.
Coaching: Because there is no medical condition, coaching is private pay.

Why do people go to therapy and how do I know if it is right for me?

People have many different motivations for coming to psychotherapy or for seeking life coaching programs. Some may be going through a major life transition (unemployment, divorce, new job, etc.), while others may struggle with how to successfully handle stressful life circumstances.

Some people need assistance managing a range of other issues such as low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, addictions, relationship problems, spiritual conflicts, and creative blocks. Therapy and life coaching can help provide some much needed encouragement and help with skills to get through stressful periods of life.

Others may be at a point where they are ready to learn more about themselves or want to be more effective with their goals in life. In short, people seeking psychotherapy or life coaching are ready to meet the challenges in their lives and ready to make changes.

Do I really need therapy? I can usually handle my problems.

Everyone goes through challenging situations in life, and while you may have successfully navigated through other difficulties you’ve faced, there’s nothing wrong with seeking out extra support when you need it.

 

In fact, life coaching and therapy is for people who have enough self-awareness to realize they need a helping hand, and that is something to be admired. By working with us, you are taking responsibility by accepting where you are in life and making a commitment to change the situation for the better.

 

Our therapy and life coaching strategies provide long-lasting benefits and support, which give you the tools you need to avoid triggers, re-direct damaging patterns, and overcome whatever challenges you face.

How does starting therapy or coaching work?

When you first contact us at Relationship Center For Change, you are offered an opportunity to learn more about our staff, our specialties, and available appointment options and locations. One of our phone receptionists can help you schedule a meeting, and then the proper coach or therapist will introduce themselves & make sure you both feel that working together will be a good fit. Then, we confirm the appointment and start the healing process. Or, if you prefer, you may ask for a call-back from the therapist before scheduling.

We know that you and your situation are unique. As your work with us begins, we take time to fully understand your circumstances, your needs, and the experiences that have brought you to where you are today. Together, we then clarify your goals and objectives and develop a plan for moving ahead. Our staff are trained and experienced in a variety of approaches, and will use (and share) the tools which seem best suited to your needs.

Depending on your goals and the nature of your concerns, therapy or coaching can result in changes fairly quickly, or require a longer time period to bring lasting change. Sometimes our clients will address the most important issue, then stop and consider returning later for “fine tuning” or to discuss other goals. Together, we agree on the best time frame to to meet your needs.

Sessions are usually 50 minutes in length. Although weekly appointments are usually most likely to bring about the changes you seek, less frequent meetings may be appropriate in later phases of our work together. When you become satisfied with your progress and feel ready to stop, it may be helpful to have periodic follow-up visits to reinforce your gains, or simply contact us as needed at some future time.

What Are Your Rates?

Taking the important step of contacting a therapist or coach is making an investment in yourself and your future. When you make this kind of commitment, you start to feel better.

Please contact us to discuss our individual, couples and family therapy, and coaching fees. We will usually clarify and agree upon the fee when scheduling your first appointment.

Which Insurance Plans Do You Take?

Services may be covered in full or in part by your health insurance. Even if we are not part of your plan’s preferred network, “out-of-network” benefits may directly reimburse you for a portion of our charges.

Some staff are contracted as “preferred network providers” with the following plans:

Bob Butler, LCSW:

  • Medicare
  • Medi-Cal / Partnership Health Plan / Beacon
  • Kaiser – with pre-authorization (call for details)
  • Beacon Health Options / Value Options
  • SCAN

It is always best to call your insurance company (phone number on your card) to clarify your benefits. We suggest 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?

We will help verify insurance coverage and submit all billing directly to your plan. Even if we are not part of your plan’s preferred network, “out-of-network” benefits may directly reimburse you for a portion of our charges. Feel free to ask us about this.

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