F.A.Q

I am located in Oklahoma and am currently only offering HIPAA compliant tele-health.

As changes with COVID-19 develop, options for in-person sessions may become available.

I feel therapy is best described as a relationship between myself and the client working together towards a common goal. These goals can range from a deep exploration of self to a reduction of the impact of anxiety on a person's life. What matters here, is that we work together collaboratively to set goals you want to move towards. Along with goal setting and open communication, there are other expectations for therapy to be successful.  A few are listed below.

• The therapist will provide psychoeducation about mental health topics specific to you.
• The therapist will work with you to help build awareness of your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
• The therapist will model and teach coping strategies for you to learn and practice on your own.
• The therapist will often assign between session tasks to reinforce what is being worked on in session and help you build on your own skillset outside of therapy.
• The therapist will assist you in determining what thoughts and behaviors are problematic and work with you to find strategies to manage and/or change them.

Therapy sessions are typically 50 minutes and take place once per week. In some situations, meeting two times a week may prove to be beneficial. At first, I encourage most clients to meet weekly to establish a therapeutic relationship, which is the foundation of our work together.

I follow legal and professional guidelines concerning confidentiality. In most circumstances, communications between a client and psychotherapist are confidential. No information will be disclosed without the prior written permission by the client as to what can be disclosed and to whom.

However, there are some rare exceptions to this rule that are required by law. These exceptions are outlined in my consent for treatment form and are all related to the safety of the patient and others. I will also go over these exceptions verbally at the beginning of our therapeutic journey.

It is my goal to remain respectful of clients’ rights and work collaboratively when there is a concern around safety.

Individual Therapy Sessions - $170 - $210

Support Groups - will depend upon the type of group, as well as the frequency and duration. 

I am currently paneled with BlueCross BlueShields, HealthChoice, and HealthCare Highways
*I can provide a superbill for potential reimbursement for out of network.

Please note: groups are not covered by insurance.

Every insurance plan is different in what it covers, so I recommend reaching out to your insurance company to better understand what is covered on your plan. It is the responsibility of the client to know their insurance policy benefits.

Here are some questions I find helpful to ask your insurance provider to better understand your plan when starting therapy.

• Does my health insurance plan include mental health benefits?
• Is Telehealth a covered benefit on my plan?
• Do I have to meet my deductible before sessions are covered? If so, what is it and how much have I met?
• What is my copay or co-insurance per session?
• Does my plan have a limit on how many sessions per calendar year I can have? if so, what is the limit?
• Do I need written approval from my primary care physician in order for services to be covered?
• Is Shari Ostroff (NPI# 1841658051) an in-network provider on this plan?
• Can I please have a reference number for this call?

If you are unable to show up for your scheduled appointment and you have not notified me at least 24 hours in advance, you will be required to pay the full fee for the scheduled session. Please note, if I am accepting your insurance, you will be responsible for my full fee and not just the copay.

As group is paid in full at the start, you will not receive a credit for any cancelations that occur with that groups' duration period.

It is considered unethical to ask a therapy client to provide a testimonial about the service provided due to the inherent power dynamic.

I consider a referral from a previous or current therapy client a testimony in itself.

Grief is a mild to intense feeling we have with any loss that has been significant in our lives. Although our first thought of grief lends to focus on emotional responses, there are other dimensions as well. Grief may focus on physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, spiritual, and cultural components as well.

Grief tends to be more internal, such as the way we think and feel. When we mourn, it becomes more external, such as expressing ourselves outwardly by talking or crying. Sometimes we journal or use music or art in our mourning process.

No. Although grief and trauma are my areas of specialty, I see many clients of all ages for life transitions, anxiety, depression, and chronic illness. 

Yes. In fact many people do. People have described these events as a loss, even if it was by their own choosing. Looking at changes of what once was can be anxiety provoking and depressing.

Navigating the newness of a blended family can carry its own grief as well. Implementing the new, processing current thoughts and feelings as well as memories of the past, can induce its own grief.

Grief takes time. Sometimes we compare ourselves to the healing time of others. Everyone’s journey with grief will differ. Not only does the role of our loved one factor in (parent, child, friend, etc.), our relationship and closeness is a factor as well.

Where at first the intensity of grief is high and raw, eventually that intensity will decrease. We never truly get ‘over it’, we ‘get through it'. Our pain may be so intense that we yearn to feel better tomorrow.

Once we can give ourselves permission to find the patience for a process and lessen our expectations of rushed healing, we can be more gentle with ourselves.

Death is a bit more tricky for children. We have to remember that we have been their age but they have never been our age. Their minds can reconcile with not seeing a person physically anymore and that they miss that person; however, they do not have mature processing ability.

It is important to not use euphemisms with children. We want to use the word ‘died’ and ‘death’ opposed to, “they were sick”, “they went to sleep”, “they passed”, we “lost” them. Using these euphemisms can present itself as the literal sense of the word, prompting confusion.

It may be difficult to initiate the conversation and/or answer their questions. I can help you with this.

Oh, those stages of grief we all hear about! We may walk through different emotions of grief. Denial, depression, anger, and more. The key to remember is that these stages are not linear.

The thinking and expectation of linear stages can create internal distress, for we believe we may have 'completed' a stage that we seem to end up back in. Expect to walk  through these emotions repeatedly as we walk through our journey.