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Services

Hello! I am Dr. Lauren Helm, a licensed clinical psychologist, and I offer online individual psychotherapy for adults (18+) located in Washington and Oregon.

 

Welcome!

I work with clients who are committed to personal growth and want to improve the quality of their lives. Additionally, I specialize in working with stress, anxiety, worry, panic attacks, indecision, uncertainty, perfectionism, and low self-esteem. I have extensive training in evidence-based treatment for anxiety & related disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, phobias, and OCD. Ultimately, I am passionate about supporting you in developing a deeply meaningful and authentic way of living.

 

my approach

I believe in effective, transformative therapy. My treatment approaches and areas of expertise include Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), Unified Protocol Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (UP CBT), Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), and Exposure Therapy (ERP & PE). Please scroll below to read more about the treatment approaches I use, and my areas of expertise.

 

Online therapy

I currently offer telehealth sessions for clients located in Washington and Oregon State (I am not offering in-person sessions at this time). Telehealth sessions are completed via a HIPAA compliant video-conferencing platform called Simple Practice. Please note that telehealth may not be suitable for all clients. I will assess prospective clients and determine whether telehealth is clinically indicated. In-office or in-person sessions are currently not available.


THERAPY APPROACHES:

ACCEPTANCE AND COMMITMENT THERAPY (ACT)

  • Learn to become open, engaged, and aware to help you stop suffering & struggling with your thoughts, emotions, and pain.

  • Practice mindfulness, cognitive defusion techniques, and committed action to help you get unstuck.

  • Clarify what is really important to you, and take meaningful action towards creating a fulfilling life.

Unified Protocol COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (UP CBT)

  • Break the cycle of problematic thoughts and behaviors by learning new ways of thinking and acting.

  • Build and strengthen skills for dealing effectively for life, including problem-solving & time-management skills, emotion regulation skills, mindfulness/acceptance skills, distress tolerance skills, communication/assertiveness/interpersonal/relationship skills.

Exposure Therapy

  • Gain freedom from the negative impact of difficult emotions with exposure therapy (e.g. prolonged exposure; exposure and response prevention) in the service of pursuing what is truly important to you.

  • Read more information about exposure therapy for fear & anxiety.

MindfulNESS & Self-Compassion

  • Learn about and practice present-moment-awareness, self-compassion and self-acceptance.

SPECIALTY AREAS:

  • Support with personal development & growth

  • Mindfulness & self-compassion interventions

  • Exposure therapy

  • Stress & anxiety management

  • Social anxiety disorder

  • Panic disorder & Agoraphobia

  • Generalized anxiety disorder

  • Health anxiety

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder

  • Illness anxiety disorder/Somatic symptom disorder

  • Fear/Phobias

  • Life transitions/Coping with change and/or difficult life circumstances

  • Coping with chronic pain, chronic illness, or medical problems

  • Coping with relationship issues


GETTING STARTED


 

1. free phone consultation

The first step is to schedule a free 15-25 minute phone consultation to help determine whether the psychological services I offer or other community resources may be a good fit for your needs. You may schedule this free phone 15 minute phone consultation using the SimplePractice® secure online scheduling portal. If there are no appointments available for phone consultations, this means that unfortunately, I do not have openings for new clients at this time. Please feel free to check back later, or find other local mental health resources here. If we both decide that the psychological services I offer are likely to be a good fit after the introductory call, we’ll schedule our first full appointment, called an initial evaluation or clinical intake appointment. You will be sent new client paperwork to complete online before your first scheduled session. On the day of our scheduled appointment, you will be emailed with a link that will allow you to attend our session via secure video conferencing.

 

2. INITIAL EVALUATION

Once we begin meeting for sessions, the first few appointments (typically 1 to 3 sessions) are devoted to diagnostic assessment and treatment planning. I will assess for current and past symptoms, and learn about your personal history, and your goals for the future, in order to formulate a uniquely tailored conceptualization and treatment plan that takes into account the interplay between biological, sociocultural, and psychological factors. This is also a time for you to get to know my therapy style, so that you can get a feel for my approach to therapy to see if it is a good fit for you. After the initial evaluation phase has been completed, I will discuss treatment recommendations, and our sessions will transition into the online psychotherapy treatment phase. Referrals may also be made at this point, if other treatments, therapists, or a higher level of care may be recommended or requested.

 

3. online Psychotherapy sessions

Once we have agreed upon a treatment approach, sessions will be focused on supporting you in reaching your treatment goals. I meet with the majority of clients on a weekly basis, and ask that all new clients commit to meeting once-weekly (some exceptions may apply), until we have agreed that a decrease in the frequency of sessions is both clinically appropriate and best aligns with your current needs. Sessions are scheduled on the same day and time of each week, during a time that we both have shared weekly availability.

Depending upon our treatment plan, we may engage in an active exploration, discussion, and processing of the issues you’d like to focus on, in order to support improved awareness, understanding, and increased clarity about the next steps that you may take. Sessions may also focus on both learning about, and practicing, important skills that are relevant to your treatment goals. At-home exercises may be agreed upon so that important skills are rehearsed and strengthened in-between our sessions. Throughout treatment, we will also track progress made towards your goals, so that we can ensure that the strategies that we are using in therapy are effective, and allow us to modify our plan or discuss referrals if needed.


Billing Information


 

CURRENT FEES

  • Initial Phone Consultation:

    • Free (15 minutes)

  • Individual Psychotherapy:

    • $220 clinical intake session

    • $200 individual psychotherapy session

  • Missed Appointments/Cancellations without 24 Notice

    • Full session fee

CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancellation and rescheduling requires 24 hour notice. If you do not show up for your scheduled therapy appointment, and you have not notified Dr. Lauren Helm at least 24 hours in advance, you will be required to pay the full cost of the session. 

PAYMENT

  • Insurance: You may be eligible to use your in-network benefits to cover sessions fees if you have Aetna and are located in Washington state. In order to use your health insurance benefits to pay for services, registration with Headway (for Washington-based clients), is required. Dr. Lauren Helm CANNOT send claims to Medicare or Medicaid since she has opted out of that service. If you have Medicare or Medicaid, please let Dr. Lauren Helm know prior to starting services so that she can talk through your options. Please note that the client is responsible for any fees (or portion of the fees) insurance does not cover.

  • Lyra Health: Dr. Lauren Helm is contracted with Lyra Health, an employee assistance program (EAP) specializing in mental health benefits. If you work for a company that uses Lyra for EAP benefits, your company may pay for a certain number of sessions each year.

  • Private Pay: If you do not have Aetna or Lyra Health, you may for sessions out of pocket. Payment is due at the time of service, before the start of your session. Credit cards, FSA and HSA cards are accepted.

  • Out-Of-Network Coverage: In some cases you may be eligible to use out-of-network insurance benefits. You will be responsible for paying for each session in full at time of appointment. If appropriate, Dr. Lauren Helm will provide a super bill each month that you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. If you have out-of-network benefits, they typically will reimburse you for 60-80% of the cost of each session. If appropriate, Dr. Lauren Helm will provide you with monthly invoices called a “super bill” that will include all of the necessary information for your claims to be processed. Please call the number on the back of your health insurance card listed under Member Services to verify your out of network benefits

Good Faith Estimate

You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical and mental health care will cost. Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the expected charges for medical services, including psychotherapy services. You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency healthcare services, including psychotherapy services. You can ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service. If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate. For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises. 


NEW CLIENT Appointment requests:

If you are interested in scheduling a free 15 minute phone consultation to determine if psychotherapy services that I offer are a good fit for you, you may schedule this by using the SimplePractice® secure online scheduling portal button below. 

Note: If there are no appointments available for phone consultations, this means that unfortunately, I do not have openings for new clients at this time. Please feel free to check back later, or find other local mental health resources here.