FAQs
How do I get started?
Please first visit the Our Team page to learn more about our providers and discover their specialties.
Next, fill out our New Client Intake Form to begin the intake process. Once you have completed the intake form (which only takes 5 minutes), you will be placed on our waitlist. Our waitlist is currently ranging from a 1-2 weeks to 3-6 months depending on your availability, whether or not you are open to virtual care, and the presenting issues.
Our admin team will call you when a potential spot has become available to you. Due to the high need for care, we give potential clients 24 hours to return our call before their spot is given away to another potential client.
Once we have made contact with you, we will set up your online account and give you 48 hours to complete the consent and intake forms. After that, you will be matched with your clinician who will contact you to schedule your sessions with you.
If you have any questions, you can text or call us at (734)335 – 0330. You can also email us at enroll@malafamily.org.
We are more than happy to answer any questions and help you get matched with the clinician that we think will work best for you and your goals.
How much parent involvement do you require?
Research shows that children benefit much more from therapy when parents are actively working on their own parenting goals as part of the child’s treatment plan and supporting their child’s goals in therapy. Our clinic requires parent involvement from any parent or caregiver who is involved in the child’s life. Parents regularly meet alone with their child’s clinician, attend family sessions, or enroll for their own care to work on their own parenting/individual goals. This is also a wonderful way to model to children that taking care of our mental health and relationships are valued and important.
What insurances do you accept?
We are an in-network provider with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
We are NOT in network with Blue Care Network or Blue Cross Complete.
Please keep in mind that insurance is an agreement between you and your insurance company as to how counseling will be paid. Some families choose not to use their insurance to pay for mental health care. Most PPO plans allow you to choose an out-of-network provider and we will provide you with a statement of services and follow up contacts to enable you to seek reimbursement from your carrier.
We encourage you to ask your carrier the following questions to clarify your coverage for out-of-network providers.
- What are my mental health benefits?
- How much does my plan cover for an out-of-network provider?
- What is my deductible and has it been met for the current year? (This is the amount you will have to pay out-of-pocket before your benefits even start.)
- How many sessions per calendar year does my plan cover? (Some plans have limits.)
- Is pre-certification required? And if so, where can I find the required paperwork?
Billing questions may be sent to billing@malafamily.org.
What are your out-of-pocket fees?
Initial Intake: $275 for PhD level and $200 for masters level clinicians
Individual Therapy: $200 for PhD level and $150 for masters level clinicians
Family/Couples Therapy: $275 for PhD level and $200 for masters level clinicians
Group Counseling: $80 per session
Assessments: $175-250 per hour for intake, administration of tests, report writing, and feedback (typically around $2000-3500)
School Consultation and Advocacy: $200 for PhD level and $150 for masters level clinicians PER HOUR
School observations: $600 for half day of school observations (meeting with school staff and letter of recommendations is included)
Training Clinician: $50 for masters level clinicians
Why is therapy expensive?
Therapy is indeed very costly. The average cost of working with a high quality therapist ranges from $150 to $300. This cost depends on the provider’s level of education, licensure status, specialized certifications and level of expertise. If you want to find out if your provider’s price is a fair market price go to the FairHealthConsumer.org website and look under average psychotherapy cost for a 60-minute session.
A therapist, similar to a lawyer, requires years of schooling. All therapists have masters and some even have a PhD. In order to receive a license; therapists have to go through a lot of training and years before they can actually work.
Read this super helpful and informative article written by our awesome community partner, Elizabeth Eiten, the owner of the Boketto Center about why therapist costs so much.
What forms of payment do you accept?
We accept cash, check, and credit card payments and require all clients to keep a credit card on file. All payments are requirement at the time of the session. Billing questions may be sent to billing@malafamily.org.
What if I feel like the assigned clinician is not a good fit for me, my child, or family?
Research indicates that the client-therapist match is crucial for treatment success, and we take this seriously at our clinic. Please have an open conversation with your therapist if you don’t feel like you are a good fit for each other. Your clinician will help you explore how you feel and collaboratively work with you on addressing this problem. This may result to continuing your work together or end up in having to switch to another clinician in our clinic, or connecting you to care outside of our practice.
What is your policy for late attendance, late cancel, or no-show to appointments?
Clients must cancel their appointments within 48 hours to avoid a late fee (full out of pocket session fee for the assigned clinician). The office phone number that every client is provided with must be called (not texted) to do so.
Two consecutive absences without 48-hour advanced notification may result in the cancellation of all remaining appointments as such failures may negatively impact client’s treatment plan.
Repeated late shows (10 minutes or longer) to appointments (with or without notifying the clinic) may result in the cancellation of all remaining appointments as such failures may negatively impact client’s treatment plan.
No show/cancellation within 4 days of an assessment appointment: $300
Late attendance to therapy session: $30
