24 HOURS NOTICE. Your appointment hour is reserved exclusively for you. If you want to cancel, or change the day, time, or length of your appointment, you need to call a full 24 hours before your original appointment time, or you will be responsible for your usual fee for the hour. This means that if your appointment is 6:00 pm on Monday, you need to call by 5:59 pm on Sunday. You can call my voice mail anytime, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Do not use e-mail to give 24-hour notice.

Because this is a business policy based on the cost of reserving appointment times, there are no exceptions, and it applies regardless of your reason, even if an emergency entirely beyond your control keeps you from coming to your appointment, or from calling the full 24 hours in advance. Whatever your reason for not calling in advance, I want to hear from you when you are able to call, so that I can be sure that you are all right and we can confirm our next appointment. I encourage you to discuss with me any problems you may have with keeping our scheduled appointments.

BUSINESS DETAILS. Payment, scheduling of future appointments, and other business is conducted at the beginning of your session, so that we don't have to interrupt your process at the end of the session.

FEES. My current fee for a 50-minute hour of therapy with an individual, couple or family is $140. I normally raise my fee annually. Included in your fee is time spent reviewing your case, preparing for your sessions, dealing with insurance billing, consulting with your other providers with your permission, and providing brief telephone check-ins as needed. Time spent on reports or letters you ask me to write will be charged at your usual hourly fee.

Fee waivers (sliding scale) may be available, and are based on your total gross income from all sources (before taxes), and how many people are living on that income. You are responsible for telling me about changes in your financial situation, which may result in either lowering or raising a sliding scale fee. If you are receiving reimbursement from insurance, my standard fee applies.

If you think you may want to meet every other week, please discuss it with me as soon as possible. Every other week appointments may be possible, after we have met for 4 consecutive weeks to get to know each other. People who see me every other week and/or receive a fee reduction (sliding scale) must meet with me during certain appointment time slots.

PAYMENT. Payment is due at the time of service. If you are ever thinking of skipping a session because of temporary financial difficulty, please discuss possible payment arrangements with me, so that we can maintain the continuity of your therapy. Pre-arranged phone sessions are to be paid prior to the appointment time. A late fee of $10 will be added to any fee that is not paid or postmarked within 7 days of the appointment. For example, if you have an unplanned phone session, or a late cancellation, you might prefer to pay me at your next weekly appointment. However, should you miss that second appointment, you would then need to get the payment postmarked, or sent via PayPal, that very same day to avoid a late charge. A more reliable method would be to mail or PayPal the fee as soon after the original appointment as possible. Another late fee will be applied for every additional 30 days that the fee is unpaid. Returned check fees are $20. Making payments via PayPal.com to my email address VALIGL@earthlink.net is an option anytime; add $5 to your payment as a convenience fee.

INSURANCE. If your insurance will reimburse you for all or part of my services, you are still responsible for making a full payment to me at the time of service. I can fill out billing forms, or give you monthly statements to submit to your insurance. While I am open to helping you receive the benefits your policy offers, I believe that private payment provides the best protection for your confidentiality, and the most freedom for us to focus on your individual therapy goals.

If payment comes from a third party (e.g. private insurance, public funding, or a family member), you are still responsible for paying for missed or late canceled/changed appointments, as insurance normally does not pay for them.

TELEPHONE CONTACT. There is no fee for brief, occasional telephone check-ins between sessions. I do my best to return all calls within 24 hours (usually much sooner) after they are received on my confidential voice mail, unless I am out of town (I will try to notify you of those times). If the need arises, we may plan a telephone session; in this case you will be charged your usual fee. Please let me know as soon as possible if you think you may want a phone session.

INFORMED CONSENT. When you agree to be a psychotherapy client, you do so voluntarily. Some of your rights include (1) asking my opinion about your progress, (2) making your own decisions about your life, and (3) having a relationship with me that is exclusively therapeutic. You also have a right to terminate therapy at any time, however, I believe you will get the most out of the whole therapy process if we discuss any plan to end therapy well in advance.

CONFIDENTIALITY. Identifying information about you will not be given to anyone, with these exceptions:

* If you sign a written consent form allowing me to discuss your case with a specific person

* If I receive a valid subpoena from a judge (not an attorney)

* If you have a medical emergency at my office*

Legally required reports:

* about abuse or neglect of children or dependent or elderly adults

* if there is danger of you doing serious physical harm to yourself or others

Confidentiality does not include keeping secrets in the context of couples therapy. If you are seeing me for couples or family therapy, and you share information with me individually, please be prepared to discuss it in our next session.

DRUGS. Please attend therapy sessions with a minimum of 24 hours free from drugs and alcohol, except for medications prescribed by a physician. If you are in recovery, think you might be having problems with drugs or alcohol, or are taking any mood-altering medications, please let me know so that we can discuss how this might affect your therapy.

SCENT-FREE ENVIRONMENT. Due to multiple chemical sensitivities on the part of other clients and myself, please refrain from wearing perfume, cologne, or other scented personal care products on the day you attend therapy. Please do not smoke anywhere on the property, indoors or out. This will allow access by disabled clients, and enable me to provide the best possible care for all.

EL CERRITO OFFICE. The house in front is a private residence owned by someone else. Please help maintain good relations with the neighbors and allow them their privacy by taking care to be quiet when walking by their house, and by not parking in their driveway, knocking on their door, or otherwise disturbing them. Please do not drop by at times when you do not have an appointment. To send me a payment, or any other mail, please use my mailing address: PO Box 453, El Cerrito CA 94530.

Please discuss any concerns you have about these policies with me. Your signature indicates that you understand and agree to these policies, and have received a copy for your records.