Frequently asked questions

You are absolutely welcome here! We take the safety and privacy of our clients to be of the utmost importance. We have many clients who are not out at all, not out professionally, or some other experience like that. We work carefully and diligently to keep your privacy and safety a top priority.

There is no signage for our organization on the outside of our building or in the building lobby, nor is our address listed publicly. We do not take insurance so as to maintain privacy concerns and not be forced to out clients in our documentation. 

All credit and debit card statements only say "Counseling Collab" on your bank statements. Our invoices and superbills for insurance reimbursement say "Counseling Collaborative" only. 

We also abide by the standard limits of confidentiality set forth by the APA and ACA.  We practice COVID-cautiousness by having high-powered air purifiers in each office and our waiting room, and masking is welcome for anyone who wants to. 

If there are additional precautions you'd like us to take, please let us know and we'll do our best to accomodate that. 

Absolutely. While we focus on LGBT+ identities, all our clinicians have extensive experience working with allies and those not in the LGBT+ community. We only ask for respect for our identities and safety for our clinicians in all those spaces as well. We do not tolerate discrimination or prejudice against any of our clinicians at any time. 

We are also more than happy to help those who don't yet know if they identify with an LGBT+ identity, or are in the questioning stages. Whether you decide you do or you don't, we'd be happy to help on that identiy journey.

We do not accept insurance of any form and payment is due at the time of sessions. We send out monthly superbills that clients can submit to their insurance for reimbursement and most clients see a 40-80% reimbursement using that method. 

Due to the fact that taking insurance requires us to give inappropriate and premature diagnoses to clients as well as give up all our client records to insurance at any time, we will not be taking insurance at any point in the future. We feel that it is just not safe or in line with our professional ethics and that the overreach the utilize puts clients at jeaopardy, outs clients who aren't ready, and pathologizes identities. 

We understand that this makes accessibility difficult sometimes, which is why we instead offer sliding scale options and also prioritize educating clients on utilizing superbill reimbursement instead since this option won't have access to client progress notes and treatment plans. 

We send out monthly superbills on the second day of every month that clients can submit to their insurance for reimbursement and most clients see a 40-80% reimbursement using that method. You will need to make sure your superbill has a Diagnostic Code, Location, and CPT Code listed on there. You will then submit your superbill through your insurance portal like a claim.

You can call your insurance in advance and ask the following questions to figure out your personal reimbursement rate: 

1) What is your out of network deductible? 

2) What is your reimbursement rate before the deductible is hit, and then after the deductible is hit? 

3) You can also ask about CPT codes 90834, 90837, (individual) and 90847 or 90846 (family), or 90853 (group)to see what the reimbursement is for those codes. 

It would be ideal to get that information from insurance before you meet with a counselor.

Counseling and mental health care is an investment in you. We've statistically seen that those who don't feel some financial buy in to the therapy process will end up unmotivated, dropping out, or more likely to cancel/no show to sessions. It's important that we are able to utilize our financial investment to put into our emotional and mental investments. 

As of July 2025, our regular fees begin at $220 for 45 minute sessions and $260 for 60 minute  sessions for fully licensed counselors and our supervised residents in counseling starts at $185 for 45 minute sessions and $240 for 60 minute sessions for clients.

 All of our counselors prioritize 25% of our case loads for sliding scale (pay-what-you-can) clients as we prioritize accessibility of mental health services. We also have externs on staff who primarily do sliding scale and have more openings for that. All of our groups also have sliding scale options for up to 25% of members in it. 

Each clinician on staff has 5 sliding scale spots (25% of their case load) to give to clients who can not afford the regular cost of therapy or who do not have access to insurance or reimbursement options. These spots are limited because otherwise the therapists wouldn't be able to cover their own bills or would be working overtime and burning out, which are big values we focus on at our organization to model healthy self care and work/life balance as clinicians for our own clients. 

We want to make sure these spots only go to people who absolutely need it, and therefore we'd need the following information to approve sliding scale on case-by-case basis: 

1. What is your current budget for weekly therapy? (All clients are required to start weekly)

2. Do you have insurance and what's your reimbursement rate and out-of-network deductible? (Please note: Just having a high deductible is not a sole reason for requiring sliding scale as this is very common for most individuals.)

3. Give a broad overview of current income and expenses, and why you're asking for sliding scale.

Each case will be determined separately. If we're unable to help immediately, we'll put you on our waitlist until a sliding scale spot opens or find you referrals that can help sooner.

We take cash, check, HSA/FSA cards, debit cards, and credit cards through our secured portal. If your card is saved to our secure portal, the clinician does not have access to the full card number and can only see the last 4 digits. 

We do not take Zelle, Venmo, or other electronic forms of payment. Paper checks must be submitted and cashed in advance of sessions.

Yes! We offer in person sessions Monday-Friday between 8a-8p, depending on the clinician, at our Arlington, VA office. Our office address is undisclosed and given to clients only. Parking in our lot out front is free.

We offer telehealth sessions for those residing in DC, MD, and Virginia from all our clinicians, as well as two of our clinicians are able to see clients residing in PSYPACT states (approx 40+ states). 

For those not residing in a licensed state, we offer coaching sessions on a case by case basis when there are no possible safety or ethical issues that might occur. A consultation would need to be done before determining this.

Yes! Our office address is undisclosed, but is located north of the Ballston Metro Station, Virginia Square Metro Station, or Courthouse Metro Station by approximately 1-2 miles. We are in easy walking distance of the 55 Public Bus in Arlington as well. Parking in our lot out front is free. 

Email us at info@lgbtcounselingdmv.com and we'll be happy to help!