frequently asked questions

Yes, we have availability for in-person services in our Petaluma office with our therapist, Christine Tomasello, LMFT. We expect to open our Los Angeles office in the near future.

Yes, all of our therapists provide teletherapy services, which means we can see anybody who is physically located in any part of California.

Highly sensitive people can struggle to find a therapist who really understands them. I know this based on what our clients share with us and personally from my own experience. We focus on HSPs to give highly sensitive people a safe therapeutic space where they won’t be judged or shamed for their sensitivity. We see high sensitivity as a gift, not a flaw, and are here to help you embrace your gifts while overcoming the shame, insecurities, and self-doubt that HSPs often struggle with.

Absolutely! If you don’t identify as highly sensitive, you can still receive therapy at our practice. Though it’s not uncommon for someone to realize they may be highly sensitive after being in therapy for a while.

Everyone’s therapy journey is different. We usually start with weekly sessions to build momentum toward achieving your goals. Once you’ve made some progress, we can adjust the frequency of sessions based on your own individual needs.

That's a good question and one that people frequently have before they begin. As you can imagine, therapy is a lot of talking. You get to decide what we focus on each session and we will typically follow your lead. It’s our job to help you make connections in thoughts and behaviors and identify patterns in your life to explore in sessions. You always have control over what we discuss in sessions and can tell us if we are focusing on something that is too uncomfortable to explore.

Everyone’s therapy journey is different. Some people only want to address a single issue and can make progress toward their goal(or goals) in a short timeframe. Other people want to do longer, more in-depth work and like to incorporate therapy into their self-care or self-development.

Great question! All of our therapists are highly trained and specializations in different therapeutic areas of focus. If you are interested in working with one of our therapists, please reach out. You can schedule a short complimentary consultation with any of our therapists if you’d like, or you can schedule a session and start immediately.

Yes, absolutely! Thanks to the option of teletherapy, we are able to offer services to anybody residing in California. Because of state licensing restrictions, we are only able to see clients who reside in California and who are located in Califorina at the time of the session.

Our fees for individual and couples therapy range from $145/session for an Associate-level therapist working under the supervision of a licensed therapist fully to $175/session for a fully-licensed therapist. Our fees for individual and couples therapy range from $145-$175 per session, depending on the experience and licensure level of the therapist. We also offer a "pay what you can" scale and reduced fee options for clients who are unable to pay our full fees. 

No, we do not accept insurance at this time. However, we can provide you with something called a superbill that you can submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement. Click here to read more about super bills and how they work.

Yes, our Associates are able to offer reduced fee options for clients that allows you to pay whatever is comfortable for your budget within a specific range. We call this "pay what you can" and reserve it for clients in financial need.

We have a 24-hour cancellation policy. Should you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please do so within 24 hours of your appointment time to avoid a late cancellation or no show charge. Cancellations made with less than 24 hours notice will be charged the full rate of the session. You can contact our office by email, text, or phone to cancel or reschedule a session. You can also cancel or reschedule your appointment by visiting our patient portal at https://beachsidecounseling.session.health.com.

Therapy for Highly Sensitive People does not have any clinicians on staff who are credentialed Medicare or Medi-Cal providers. We are unable to bill Medicare for any of our services. If you are covered by Medicare insurance Part A or Part B, you will be asked to sign a form stating you understand that Medicare will not contribute or cover the cost of any of our services. Due to Medi-Cal policies, Therapy for Highly Sensitive People is not able to take people who are covered by Medi-Cal insurance as clients.

No. We are an AI-free therapy practice, which means we do not use any sort of AI technology for anything related to our work. This includes no use of AI for note-taking, treatment planning, or marketing materials.