Therapy, whether in-person or remote, is effective to the extent that the client is willing to put forth the necessary work to effect change. In other words, your therapy will only work if you are invested in the process. Your clinician will assess your needs, present you with treatment options and assist you with putting your plan into action. If further assessments are required, you may be referred for additional services. Possible referrals may include a referral for psychological or neuropsychological testing, medical evaluations, dietetics or other therapy services, such as physical or occupational therapy.
The choice to enter therapy is personal and it is our goal to provide you with a trusting environment. After several therapy sessions, it should be clearer to both you and your clinician whether a rapport is being built and whether it is an appropriate match. Should the formation of a therapeutic relationship not occur, your clinician will assist you with finding other treatment options.
Therapists come in many forms. During your search for providers, you have likely come across many different types of clinicians with varying levels of experience. At CBH, our clinicians are licensed clinical psychologists who completed at least 5 years of graduate level work to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology. They also worked for at least 12 months in a postdoctoral fellowship program and passed the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology to earn a license to practice clinical psychology in the state of Illinois.
Additionally, we require all CBH psychologists to obtain Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology (APIT) from the PSYPACT Commission, so they are certified to practice telepsychology under PSYPACT in multiple allied states listed here.
All sessions are conducted via telepsychology. During your first session, your clinician will conduct a thorough interview to assess your needs. The clinician will ask questions related to medical history and current physical functioning. Additionally, past and current social functioning will be assessed. Any questions you have regarding our services should be addressed at this session. The assessment phase of therapy may take up to three sessions to gather the necessary clinical information.
Once the assessment process is completed, your clinician will discuss preliminary diagnostic impressions and a potential treatment plan.
There is no quick way to determine exactly how long you will require treatment. Most clinicians will be able to provide you with a rough estimate of the treatment duration; however, life circumstances and the ability to acquire the appropriate coping skills will largely dictate how long the treatment will last.
We encourage you to expect no less than three months of consistent treatment for you and your clinician to thoroughly assess your needs. It generally takes both you and your clinician six to 12 weekly sessions to build a strong rapport and to determine the length of your treatment plan. We encourage weekly sessions at the beginning and middle of treatment.
As the ability to maintain progress becomes more consistent, sessions will typically decrease in frequency. Your clinician will help you assess your treatment needs and make the appropriate recommendations as you work toward termination of therapy.