FAQ

I am a single-provider practice.

I am a clinical social worker and work with individuals who present with anxiety, depression, or other mental health issue. I also work with individuals who want help managing a health issue, a transition in their life, etc.

Integrative life coaching focuses on lifestyle concerns and issues. For example, stress is not a mental health disorder, but it often leads to feeling very overwhelmed and confused.

Integrative life coaching can help you navigate life’s stressors, challenges and transitions. Your physical, emotional, nutritional, and stress management needs will be assessed. The goal is to help you regain balance in your life.

You can call us at (574) 387-5598 or send an email to koelcounseling@gmail.com. We will respond as soon as possible to discuss scheduling an appointment.

The first session includes completing necessary paperwork, getting to know each other, discussing possible therapy goals, and a little about how we will accomplish those goals together.

The first session is also a sort of interview for you to further decide if you feel comfortable with me. This is your counseling, your journey. It’s important for you to consider whether you feel you can accomplish your goals with me as your counselor as well as to help us get to know each other and look at your concerns and goals.

We will begin to develop an individualized plan to help you reach your goals.

However, if you cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice and cannot find a mutual time with your therapist that week, we will charge you the session fee. (It’s nothing personal – your therapist has set aside that hour just for you and with less than 24-hours’ notice cannot fill that time.)

All of us go through times in our lives where we can benefit from the support and guidance of a trained professional. Whether it’s

•  an ongoing relational difficulty,
• the loss of someone or something significant,
• wounds from the past,
• difficulty coping with anxious feelings,
• or a transitional phase,

having a compassionate and caring counselor with whom to face and sort through these experiences can be a source of tremendous hope and healing.

A time of crisis can turn into an opportunity for significant growth when we allow ourselves to engage the process.

I work with highly motivated individuals and families. I work with youth, young adults, and adults of all ages.

My work with individuals focuses on how to change underlying negative beliefs to relieve symptoms of depression, anxiety, childhood trauma, relationship issues, distress, etc.

With families, I help them in making sure all family members’ needs are being considered and met as well as possible. This may be with children adjusting to parental separation or adult children helping their parents who are adjusting to the challenges of declining independence, etc.

I use a variety of modalities of therapy depending on your goals, such as:

• CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and psychoeducation to help clients develop healthy coping skills to manage depression, anxiety, and other issues.
• Mindfulness techniques, like accepting thoughts and feelings without judgment to reduce negative feelings.
• Person-Centered approach, focusing on the formation of a genuine therapeutic relationship as the agent of change.
• Solution-Focused therapy for clients looking to solve short-term problems.

All the techniques that I use include seeing my clients in the most positive light possible, believing that they have it within themselves to make the changes they want for their lives.

Many studies have been done on what is helpful in counseling. Often the results of the studies indicate that the therapeutic relationship and sharing of burdens is therapeutic in itself.

Another benefit of therapy is that you become aware of your underlying negative beliefs and experiences. As your awareness increases of how those beliefs and past experiences have shaped you, you can work to process and change them so that they have less power over you.

Other benefits of therapy include learning new healthy coping skills, problem-solving skills, and symptom-management skills that you can take with you and use long after counseling is finished.

Counseling not only helps with current issues, but often lays the groundwork for you knowing how to manage future challenges.

There are many other benefits which we can discuss together in sessions.

Counselors receive knowledge and training in therapeutic interventions with diverse populations, and I have experience with a wide variety of diverse clients.

I believe that all clients are diverse as each person comes with their own individual differences along with their specific ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender roles, traditions, and belief and value systems.

I like clients to teach me about themselves and to let me know what is special about them as we get to know each other. That helps me to understand them and their uniqueness much better – which goes a long way toward enriching the therapeutic relationship and experience.

You can pay for your session with a credit card, check, or cash. I do accept some insurances and health savings accounts. If I am not on your insurance panel, I can provide you with a Super-bill that you can submit to your insurance provider for reimbursement.

In the beginning of our work together, I will ask you to fill out a ‘card-on-file authorization form.’ This form allows me to bill your credit card for your insurance co-pay/our agreed-upon fee after each appointment.

This provides two advantages:

1. It allows us to spend the full 50-minute session focusing on counseling, without needing to build in time at the end for me to accept payment.
2. You do not need to wait for the end of the month or quarter to receive a larger bill. You can budget accordingly knowing you will be charged immediately after each session.