Deer Valley Counseling
"Skills for Better Living"
Insurance Policy
Deer Valley Counseling does not take insurance for the following reasons—
- Insurance Companies Require You to Be "Sick". Insurance companies generally require you to be "sick" to receive counseling. This means that—
- Self-improvement, life coaching, and even marriage counseling may not be permitted.
- When two people come to counseling, one has to be identified as "sick", when in reality mutual patterns of interacting may be the real problem.
- Having a convenient "sickness" to blame discourages taking personal responsibility.
- The "sickness" model encourages treatment with drugs over treatment with counseling. Although drugs may be absolutely needed in some situations, in the long run it is generally better to learn skills that will last you a lifetime rather than drugs which may only give you temporary relief and have undesirable side effects.
- Control. The insurance company, not you, controls—
- The number of sessions you can attend.
- How often you can attend.
- The types of counseling you can have.
- What kinds of problems can be addressed.
- Privacy. The insurance company may put information about your mental health history, status, and treatment in national databases where other people including current or future employers, law enforcement agencies, and other insurance companies can either legally or in some cases illegally gain access to your data. Unless the laws are changed, this data about you may exist for years or even decades to come.
- Quality. Insurance companies encourage quick-fix, one-size-fits-all counseling. While some problems can be addressed in just a few sessions, others cannot.
Deer Valley Counseling does not take insurance. We offer high-quality counseling tailored to your needs, not the needs of the insurance company. We respect your privacy and do not enter your data into any insurance company database. If you would like to discuss your needs with a therapist who works for you, not the insurance company, call Sandra Nettles at 602.750.8051.