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Frequently Asked Questions
You Ask. We Answer.
We’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions and answers for your convenience. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch and we’ll respond to your inquiry as quickly as possible.
- Have a question not listed? Click below!
Do you take insurance?
Calming Communities has several therapists who take insurance in-network and several are who process out of network claims.
In-Network & Out-of-Network
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Cigna
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Aetna
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United Healthcare
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Optum
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Beacon
Out-of-Network Only
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Tricare
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Medicaid
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Community Health Choice
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Have another plan? Click the check your benefits button to see if we can process your claims.
How much do your services cost?
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Individual, Family, Play therapy (LPC): $155 per session
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Individual, Family, Play therapy (LPC Assoc.): $130 per session
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Group therapy (LPC): $50 per session
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Documentation: $25 for 20 pages or less, $0.25 per page above 20
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Court Subpoena: $3,000 per day subpoena
Where are you located?
Physical Address:
16225 Park Ten Place, Suite 870
Houston, TX 77040
Mailing Address:
16225 Park Ten Place, Box 42
Houston, TX 77040
Directions:
We are located off I-10 at Park Ten BLVD. Our building is a large black building with a grey parking garage. Be sure not to park in reserved parking. There is additional 2 hour parking on the right side of the building in a small lot.
Do you provide telehealth services?
Yes, we provide telehealth.
Telehealth therapy can be exceptionally beneficial to people with tight schedules, long distances to the office, or a particular affinity for virtual services and technology. Adults are almost always able to work through telehealth services. Teenagers may be able to work in telehealth if enough comfort and privacy can be established at their location and a strong relationship can be built with the therapist. The benefits of tele-play (play therapy through telehealth) varies significantly child to child. To determine if this format may work for your child please contact us to discuss your child's needs.
Do you provide weekend appointments?
No, at this time no one in our agency works weekend hours.
We do provide appointments between 4pm-8pm depending on the therapist. However, these appointments are often full. We recommend beginning therapy in a daytime slot so you can take priority on the after-work appointment waitlist. You can join this waitlist if you are not a current client, but we do give priority to openings to those currently missing work and school; therefore, this waitlist can be more than a year long for those not actively in services.
Will you work with active divorce cases?
Yes, but if you expect court involvement please be sure to be aware of the following
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As a policy, we will not communicate with divorce parents separately, except to confirm appointment times and changes. All other communication must include both parents. Exceptions to this rule are extremely rare, but if you have concerns, please contact us directly to discuss the possibility of an exception.
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Per state law, we must have a custody agreement on file for any child client who does not live with both parents.
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We will not engage in back and forth allegations. You are welcome to bring up any safety concerns you have with the therapist, but we encourage co-parenting relationships where each individual focuses on their own home rather than attempting to influence the co-parent's home and parenting.
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We will provide medical files upon request, in accordance with HIPAA laws. However, HIPAA does require we first make sure the file's release will do no harm to your child's mental health or well being. It is rare that submission of these files to divorced parents will do no harm, so it is common we will insist on providing a written treatment summary in place of the entire file. That being said, you should be aware an parent with right to psychological treatment will have access to the file and your comments are not confidential from individuals with those rights.
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If we receive a subpoena, each clinician will determine the benefit of their attendance in court. If we do not feel our attendance is a direct benefit to the child client, we will use our lawyers to quash the subpoena. We attend court only when 1) abuse, neglect, or trauma has been reported to us by the child through words or play , 2) we believe our presence provides the child a voice in court when no other method does, or 3). we are subpoenaed as an expert and will not be speaking about the child's therapy at any time.
What behaviors or diagnoses do you work with?
As neuroaffirming, trauma-informed, strength-based therapists, we focus on behaviors and emotions instead of diagnosis. Below is a list of what we specialize in working with separated first into symptoms and struggles, then by diagnosis.
Symptoms and struggles
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Anxiety/ Depression
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Big Emotion
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Meltdowns
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Aggression
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Oppositional/Defiance
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Work/ School conflict
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Work stress
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Life transitions
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Divorce/ Family changes
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Family Conflict
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Co-parenting conflict
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Parenting struggles
Diagnosis
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Anxiety/Depression
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Bipolar
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Autism
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ADHD
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Panic Disorders
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Sensory Processing Disorder
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Grief
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Trauma
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Separation Anxiety
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Chronic Health Issues
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Oppositional Defiance Disorder
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Sexual Abuse
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Gender Issues
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LGBTQ-IA struggles
How does confidentiality work?
Confidentiality works differently for adults, teens, and kids.
Adults
Adults nearly complete confidentiality. This means we do no disclose anything about your therapy to anyone. We will not confirm whether or not we know a person. The only exceptions are if you sign a release of information asking us to tell someone something, or if there is an immediate, life-threatening safety issue. So 99% of the time, you have complete privacy for your therapy.
Teens
In comparison, Teenagers get about 85% confidentiality. Guardians are involved in appointments, billing, and treatment goals. With both the guardian and teenager's consent, we will release information with a signed release of information. We also always release necessary information to protect people in the case of a safety issue. However, parents will not get a play by play of every session or conversation. We will not even report if your child is breaking the rules or law. We only report things to you that have a safety concern.
My best example of this fine line in confidentiality is drugs. If your child is using marijuana, we will not tell you. It is illegal, it is a bad cooing skill, and it is unhealthy. We will absolutely work with your teenager on finding healthier coping strategies and no longer needing drugs to deal with daily life. But we won't tell you, because there is zero chance that marijuana kills them today or tomorrow. However, if your child tells us they are abusing heroin or pain killers, we will tell you and we will tell them we have to tell you. We will also provide psychoeducation on hwo you can help them successfully quit, how you can help them if they over dose, and how you can recognize if they have been using so you know to watch them and keep them safe. These drugs can kills someone with an overdse or interaction with other issues like asthma. This is immediately life threatening and that is why we will be discussing it with you the very same day.
This balance is often very difficult for parents. They have concerns about not being able to help their teenager if they don't know enough of what is happening. That out of control feeling terrifies most of us. However, therapy is only effective if teenagers can be honest with us about things they don't feel thy can be honest with you about. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary they have this confidentiality. We will absolutely include parents in every way they can help. We do regular parent sessions providing strategies for you. We also do family session where we support your teenager in talking to you about difficult topics, which is much more effective and helpful than us telling you about these topics for them. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to us. We would love to find a way to help your teenager and help you feel safe and empowered in their care.
Children
Children are more difficult to describe. I would say depending on their age and maturity, kids under 12 get any where from 50% to 85% of confidentiality. The younger the child is, the more we have to include parents in sessions and share details of their therapy to help parents and teachers learn to understand their non-verbal communication.
Children still need a lot of confidentiality for therapy to work. It is pretty difficult for people to understand this. But my most common experience might help. Think of a time, that something upset you, but you didn't tell your partner, parent or friend. You were upset and didn't like it. But you didn't want them to be upset. You know they love you and there is nothing they can do to fix this, so there is no point to talk about it because it will just make them sad like you. Children have this same instinct to protect those they love. They won't work with us if they think everything lands back on mom's or dad's shoulders. Once again, if you have any questions or concerns, please talk to us. We would love to find a way to help your child and help you feel safe and empowered in their care.
The Exceptions
The exceptions to confidentiality are requirements by law. We don't have a choice but to release information in the following situations, but we will release the bare minimum required to keep you or your child safe.
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A written release of information has been signed by client and guardian, AND we believe the release will do not harm.
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A subpoena has been received and we are unable or unwilling to quash it, AND we believe the release will do not harm.
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A written request for the medical file has been received from the guardian or client, AND we believe the release will do not harm.
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Safety is the cause for release when we have reason to be concerned. Please note, we are not investigators. If we have any reason to be concerned we are required to notify an appropriate authority which may be a guardian, the police, or DPFS.
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Physical, sexual, or psychological abuse or neglect of a child
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Physical, sexual, or psychological abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult
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Risk of suicide
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Risk of murder
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Other life threatening risks (ex. eating disorders affecting physical well being, reports of passing out substances known to be laced, etc.)
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Please click here for a copy of our full HIPAA privacy policy.
What is Play Therapy?
Play therapy is an evidence based therapy that utilizes play, as a child's natural language and learning method, to help a child learn new skills, develop emotional regulation, learn about their needs, and learn about communication.
The reality is children cannot use their words, not really. When children do "use their words" what they are actually doing is parroting back what they think adults expect them to say. The proof of this comes from neuroscience. The frontal lobe part of the brain is the front of the brain that is in charge of decision making and language. The limbic system is the middle part of the brain where emotions and memories and impulsive choices live. These two parts of the brains have very little connection until puberty hormones tell the brain to grow a connection. This means children don't have the ability to talk through big feelings until they are at least nine years old and they aren't very good at it until they get into their twenties. Because fo this, play therapy uses a different part of the brain that lives at the crown of the head, the parietal lobe. This is the body part of the brain, and it is connected to feelings and memory from birth. This is where play lives.
For more information about play therapy, check out our resources page.
Does Play Therapy really work?
Yes, we provide telehealth.
Telehealth therapy can be exceptionally beneficial to people with tight schedules, long distances to the office, or a particular affinity for virtual services and technology. Adults are almost always able to work through telehealth services. Teenagers may be able to work in telehealth if enough comfort and privacy can be established at their location and a strong relationship can be built with the therapist. The benefits of tele-play (play therapy through telehealth) varies significantly child to child. To determine if this format may work for your child please contact us to discuss your child's needs.