It is impossible to separate mental health from the rest of your health. We want to make sure that you are missing out on this essential aspect of health care.
We want to make sure that you feel supported and comfortable to talk about what is going on in your life. We have counselors who specialize in specific issues such as stress, anxiety, relationships, parenting, depression, addictions, eating, sleeping, trauma, anger, family conflicts, LGBTQ+ matters, grief, religion, self esteem, and more.
Everyone needs a safe and reliable outlet. We want to make sure you have a place to go when you need it. By using any health insurance that is accepted at our practice (most insurances are), you can see a licensed psychotherapist for weekly visits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bethany Medical Clinic was originally a primary care and preventative care practice. We saw a care gap for our patients (mostly young working professionals living in New York City) because there are a number of barriers to getting mental health care. Many patients struggle with anxiety, depression, poor concentration and insomnia, but could not afford to pay cash fees. Often even if the care was affordable there were no opportunities for sessions outside of regular work hours, so our patients could not get away from their busy jobs and lives to sustain ongoing care.
As a solution, Bethany Medical Clinic brought two clinical psychotherapists to our team in a pilot program to offer psychotherapy that can be billed completely to insurance. The pilot was an overwhelming success.
We now have a team of 5 highly regarded psychotherapists who offer ongoing weekly therapy appointments to our patients (you only need to register at Bethany as a patient to see a psychotherapist at our practice – if you have an outside primary care provider you are welcome to continue primary care outside.) We can offer 30 minute weekly appointments that are completely billed to and covered by insurance with $0 cost to you.
After our psychotherapy intake lead has reviewed your registration forms and/or reviewed the referral from your primary care provider, you will be assigned to the therapist on our team who is the best fit for your needs.
Every Bethany Medical Therapist works in slightly different approaches – there is no standard procedure for your first visit. Our therapists use this initial assessment to cover a couple of things:
Discuss whether ongoing therapy will be beneficial for you and set goals around your sessions
Let you see whether your therapist is the right fit for you. They will introduce themselves and explain how the session will work, for example, how much time you have together and what sort of things you might aim to achieve.
In a first session, the aim is usually to get to know each other, to start to understand what has been causing you difficulties, and to reach a joint understanding of how to move forwards – be this either longer term therapy, a different type of service, or even no therapy at all.
Don’t worry if you don’t fully know the answers or can’t find the words to talk about things – therapy is a journey so part of the aim is to help you understand things and gain more perspective. It is often at this point that therapists may want to check if you are facing any risks in your life, so be prepared to answer some difficult questions around any thoughts you might have of self-harm or suicide – these are standard questions which are designed to keep you safe. Sometimes there will also be time to talk a little about you background, so you might expect questions about what life was like for you growing up, and any particularly significant life events or relationships that occurred. Some therapists might choose to focus on your back story less than others – it will in part depend on what your problem is and whether or not it feels helpful to talk about the past at this stage in the process.
Bear in mind that you are under no obligation to talk about anything that you don’t feel comfortable sharing, and most people find that it takes time to build up a trusting relationship with their therapist in which they feel able to share information of a personal or distressing nature.
The short answer is: yes – anything you choose to share with your therapist is considered private and confidential; however, there are situations in which your therapist may be legally obliged to break this bond of confidentiality. Generally, this is when you share something that leads your therapist to believe you might be at risk of harming yourself or others around you. In these instances they will explain to you why they are breaking confidentiality with you before doing so, if this is at all possible.
Also note that many therapists work within teams, and it is possible that information you share may be discussed within that team or with a senior colleague. This information sharing process is part of the checks and balances that exist in the profession to ensure that your therapist is offering you the best service possible, and rest assured that everyone is bound by the same code of confidentiality. Each service is a little different, so your therapist should explain this during your first session to enable you to make an informed choice about what you might want to share. If not, ask.
You might have opted to work in a psychodynamic way, which can mean your therapist stays a little ‘distant’ from you, you might work with a humanistic therapist, who may disclose a bit more about themselves and talk about the here and now more. CBT psychologists or therapists can be more action and thought driven. It’s not easy to know which therapy will suit you most, so it’s normal to need to try and few versions on before you find the right one. Remember it is your therapy and your wellbeing that is driving the process, so if something isn’t right or you just don’t ‘click’ with your therapist, talk about that with them and consider trying a different type. If this does not work, reach out directly to our psychotherapy intake lead and ask to be assigned to a new therapist.
With this said, sometimes therapy can be a difficult and uncomfortable process – it’s very common to have weeks where you just don’t want to go or to have periods where you feel angry or upset with your therapist. Often this is when the best ‘work’ gets done, so try and stick with it and work through your feelings with your therapist – it is all part of the process.
Whatever your story, we strongly believe psychotherapy sessions at Bethany Medical Clinic will put you on a path to the best version of your life and health.
