Frequently Asked Questions
About Pathways Group
What are your hours?
We offer day, evening, and Saturday appointments. However, each therapist sets his or her own hours. If you cannot find an hour that works for you, give us a call! We work hard to meet our clients at a time that will work for them by offering flexible schedule options. Our primary concern is client care. If we can’t help you, we will try to find someone who can.
What do you charge?
Each therapist sets his/her own fees, which range from $40 to $175 per session. If this does not work within your budget, you can discuss an alternative fee plan with your therapist.
What kind of payment do you accept?
Payment is due at the time of service and we accept cash, check, and credit cards.
Do you accept insurance?
Pathways Group is adding new insurance companies every month. We are currently set up to take Scott & White Health Plan (SWHP), Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), TRICARE Standard, TRICARE Prime, United Behavioral Health (UBH), Optum, American Behavioral, Medicare, Medicaid, Superior, Cigna, Humana, Aetna, and several Employee Assistance Plans (EAP). Give us a call to see if we are set up to take your insurance!
If we do not currently have an agreement with your insurance company, we are considered Out of Network Providers (OON). This means your insurance company may reimburse you directly for our services. You can get more information concerning this by calling your insurance company for details on how to be reimbursed.
What is your cancellation policy?
We require a minimum of 24-hour notice to cancel a session. If you do not show up for your appointment or cancel with less than 24 hours notice, you may be charged a no-show fee.
About Our Therapists
What training do your therapists have?
All therapists are licensed through the State of Texas and have completed, at minimum, a Masters Degree.
What does LPC-Intern and LMFT-A mean?
The requirements in the state of Texas to become a licensed therapist are very rigorous. After a person has completed both a Bachelors and a Masters degree or a Doctorate degree, they have to pass a national exam towards licensing as a state licensed therapist. Then a person is eligible to begin accumulating 3,000 hours of supervised experience. While they are in this process, which takes a couple of years, their professional designation is LPC-Intern or LMFT-Associate. This internship designation is similar to a medical resident.
About My Therapy
How often do I need to come in to counseling?
Many clients schedule a therapy session once a week. However, there are many factors to be considered when deciding how often a client will make their appointments. How complex are the issues? What is the budget? Are their other issues that make scheduling appointments difficult? Discuss these questions with your therapist to assist you in deciding how often you will schedule a counseling session.
How long will I need to be in therapy?
Short-term therapy issues could be resolved in as few as 5-8 sessions. However, there are some struggles that are more complex and could require 20 or more sessions. You and your therapist will review what seems to make the most sense for you.
About Our Services
What is play therapy?
Play therapy is a special process that focuses on children’s need to express themselves through the use of play and toys. Children are encouraged to play as they wish with a trained play therapist who provides a safe and understanding environment. In this process a wide variety of toys are made available to children to encourage the expression of emotional concerns. Children are given the opportunity to express themselves through a variety of styles including art play, sand play, dramatic play and fantasy play. Play becomes therapeutic to children as they give expression to their experiences and emotions. Children can recreate, in play, the experiences that are part of their anger, fears, sadness or frustrations currently influencing their behavior. A benefit of play therapy is that children can create therapeutic play at their developmental level. The relationship with the therapist allows children a sense of security when recreating emotionally stressful experiences.
What happens in play therapy and how can it help my child?
Through the play therapy process, children create play that resembles the emotional experiences that are struggling with internally. These experiences often cannot be expressed verbally. Children will select special toys to include in their play and use those toys to recreate issues that represent emotional conflicts that are important to the child. Beginning with this expression, the child’s play evolves until the child gains a sense of understanding and comfort over this situation. Through the play therapy process, children can change their personal view of events in the world and begin to better enjoy their interactions with others. Children can recreate their frustrations or disappointments with a skilled play therapist and then change the experience of that situation in their play. Then they begin to enjoy more of their play experiences and therefore, more of life’s interactions. This leads to higher self-esteem and more enjoyment of activities with family, friends and peers. We all know this makes parenting a more enjoyable process.
How are parents involved in play therapy?
Parent involvement is important in the play therapy process. A parent session will be scheduled without the child present. This allows the parent to explain issues in detail to the therapist. A parent may become involved in play therapy by joining the play process, if recommended by the therapist. Parents also will be asked to contribute to their child’s progress by following recommendations of the therapist, which may include activities outside the play therapy room that support the therapy process.