Frequently Asked Questions

Woods Counseling Services is a self-pay practice and does not bill insurance directly. Payment is due at the time of your appointment.

If your insurance plan includes out-of-network mental health benefits, we can provide a superbill upon request. You can submit the superbill to your insurance company for possible reimbursement. Your insurer determines whether the service is covered and how much, if anything, will be reimbursed based on your specific plan, deductible, and out-of-network benefits.

Insurance claims for psychotherapy generally require diagnosis information. Any diagnosis included on a superbill must accurately reflect the condition being treated. We will not assign a diagnosis solely for the purpose of obtaining reimbursement.

Couples counseling is private pay. Reduced-fee options may also be available depending on financial circumstances and current availability.

For more information, please visit our Fees & Payment page.

Therapy is tailored to each individual's or families' needs. Therefore, depending on circumstances, therapy may take longer, or be more brief. We generally say to expect to be in therapy at least 6 months to a year when working through serious issues.

This is generally a much harder question to answer than you may think. There are certain criteria for sexual addiction, similar to other addicitons, but sexual addiction is generally somewhat more difficult compared to other forms of addiction. If you find yourself generally unable to stop a specific sexual behavior, find yourself preoccupied with sex or a sexual behavior in which it intereferes with daily life, or you have unsuccessful efforts to stop an unheathy sexual behavior, you may have a sexual addiciton. You may want to visit sexhelp.com and complete the Sexual Addiction Screening Test to get a better answer to this question.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR emerged in the late 1980’s when Dr. Francine Shapiro realized through happenstance that eye movements appeared to decrease the negative emotion associated with her own distressing memories while walking in the park. Since that time, EMDR has developed into one of the leading modalities of treatment for therapeutic work with trauma victims. EMDR involves an 8 phase process in which basically eye movements are used in order to work through traumatic memories with the client. Studies continue to show more and more that EMDR is one of the most effective, and quickest ways to work through traumatic events compared to other modalities. For more information, please feel free to visit EMDR.com

Yes. I provide secure online therapy for clients across Louisiana and Texas. Many people prefer virtual counseling because it's flexible, works with their schedule, and feels just as personal as meeting in person. Whether you're in Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, or Houston, we can connect from wherever you're comfortable.

The first session is mostly about getting to know you, understanding what brings you to counseling, and talking through what you would like to work on. You do not need to have everything figured out before you come in. We will also talk about your goals and what counseling might look like moving forward.

Yes. We do not use a formal sliding-scale formula, but reduced-fee rates may be available based on individual financial circumstances and current availability. If cost may be a barrier, let us know when scheduling and we can discuss whether a reduced-fee option is available.