FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Do you offer online therapy?
We do offer online therapy or TeleMentalHealth. This is available through safe, confidential online video-conferencing programs through Theranest and Zoom. Most major insurance companies are now seeing the necessity and importance of such counseling and therefore sessions are covered through your insurance provider. Your Therapist will simply send you a link or sign-in code via text or email prior to your first session. Click that link and you will join a confidential counseling session with your Therapist. TeleMentalHealth is available on a regular basis or just every once in a while when you cannot make it into the office. It’s up to you!
What is the difference between counseling and coaching? How do I tell which is the right fit for me?
In general, counseling is related to working with thoughts and emotions and helping someone heal from past or current trauma. Coaching is associated with finding people’s strengths and motivating them toward the future. At RelationshipStore, we combine both of these practices into a more thorough combined therapeutic coaching approach. Our counselors hold graduate degrees in counseling psychology or social work, as well as years of experience in the field.
If you are looking to heal from past trauma or overcome depression, anxiety or other challenges, you will work with a licensed professional in more of a counseling approach. If, on the other hand, you are looking to set and achieve goals, improve work performance, or develop assertiveness, you will work with an experienced coach. However, whatever your challenge or goal, you can be sure that we will be clear with you from day one on how we will help you meet your individual needs. Most times, no matter your goal, our professional staff will provide a balanced and effective combination of both counseling and coaching to address the challenge.
How many sessions will it take to address my issue?
The answer to this can vary depending upon your situation, commitment level and desired outcome. While we create a compassionate, safe atmosphere for you to express yourself and receive validation, we are also efficient and effective problem solvers. We can quickly help you see the cycle or dynamic of the events and occurrences in your life. We then work with you to separate thoughts, feelings and actions in order to reorganize necessary pieces into a plan of action. This plan is tailored to your unique circumstances, and moves toward ending struggles, anxiety, sadness and frustration while increasing healing, peace and productivity in your life.
After an initial assessment that is completed on your first visit, we can give you feedback about the challenge you are facing, a plan of action and an estimate of the length of visits required to achieve your desired outcome. Sometimes change requires sustained therapy over time, and sometimes it can happen in just a few sessions!
Will insurance cover any of my cost?
RelationshipStore is in-network with the following insurance companies:
You may use any of these insurances or pay out of pocket. We do offer a sliding scale for those without insurance and in need of assistance.
How can someone who doesn't even know us help with our relationship?
This is a common concern. As counselors and coaches, the answer is evident but to someone who has yet to experience RelationshipStore, it is probably difficult to imagine!
In our over 30 years of counseling experience, we have come to see that nearly every relationship issue faced is a misunderstanding. While at first glance, this may seem an underestimation of what you have been struggling with; as couples, we often see our partner as deliberately trying to cause us pain or being stubborn. Seldom is this actually the case. The majority of the time, when two people believe that they understand each other's view and that they are arguing the same topic, they actually are not! There are pieces of the communication that each person is misunderstanding, even slightly sometimes, that lead them to respond in a certain way that gets the communication off track. Similarly, each person can become triggered at certain points , often unexpectedly to their partner. For example, one person may believe they are in a discussion about the event at hand (“what's the big deal if I invited my mom over without telling you”) while the other responds to a larger issue inside themself ( “you do this all the time, you don't respect me”) This disconnect takes the communication farther and farther off track until both people feel helpless, misunderstood and often hopeless. Similarly, people have what we call blindspots. These are parts of themself that they dont see clearly, usually due to experiences earlier in life (for example, the majority of people who struggle with road rage have experiences in their earlier life where they feel taken advantage of or ‘walked all over”) Their unconscious brain then develops a response to this hurt by seeing many life events, such as someone pulling in front of them without a turn signal, as someone taking advantage of them personally, and they launch into an over active defense of the perceived wrong. Because they view themselves as the victim in many instances, it is difficult for them to see the extent of their own aggression and inappropriateness in these situations.
All of these challenges that can take a relationship off-track need a 3rd person to identify the miscommunication. Having this 3rd person be an experienced and trained counselor can have the added advantage of helping the clients understand it differently and better, and develop tools and abilities to gain a more positive outcome in many situations.
How do I get my partner to go?
Unfortunately we cannot give you a certain answer to this. However, it is common for one partner to be reluctant to begin counseling. He/she may have preconceived negative ideas or even fears about attending counseling. RelationshipStore was founded upon the idea of normalizing relationship help and creating a center where all people will feel welcomed and valued. We offer several different approaches to relationship help: counseling, coaching, written materials, workshops, and other mind and body approaches to healing.
You can also let them know that you chose a place that does not focus on who is right or wrong. Often the reluctant partner may be secretly worried about having ‘everything blamed on them”. Accountability is important , however we do achieve this through letting you see and understand the cycle of your relationship. Both people will have thoughts and behaviors to work on. Some of this work is enhancing thoughts and behaviors, some of the work is on changing thoughts and behaviors and some is on extinguishing thoughts and behaviors. None of this work produces unneeded shame or blame. All of the work leads to healing, connection and harmony.
Sometimes an effective approach to get them in the door the first time is to compare it to something they can relate to. For example, “You would go to a work training and sometimes even take away only one of two pieces of value from that, can’t you apply that same mindset to this and give it a try?” or “This is something that is important to me, can you please withhold judgement and try it with me. I assure you my intentions are only toward improving our relationship”. We know it may be difficult to get them to agree to that first session. However, if you can get them to agree to that first meeting, we assure you that we will do our best to show them the value of continuing, and most times they do!
We do offer online therapy or TeleMentalHealth. This is available through safe, confidential online video-conferencing programs through Theranest and Zoom. Most major insurance companies are now seeing the necessity and importance of such counseling and therefore sessions are covered through your insurance provider. Your Therapist will simply send you a link or sign-in code via text or email prior to your first session. Click that link and you will join a confidential counseling session with your Therapist. TeleMentalHealth is available on a regular basis or just every once in a while when you cannot make it into the office. It’s up to you!
What is the difference between counseling and coaching? How do I tell which is the right fit for me?
In general, counseling is related to working with thoughts and emotions and helping someone heal from past or current trauma. Coaching is associated with finding people’s strengths and motivating them toward the future. At RelationshipStore, we combine both of these practices into a more thorough combined therapeutic coaching approach. Our counselors hold graduate degrees in counseling psychology or social work, as well as years of experience in the field.
If you are looking to heal from past trauma or overcome depression, anxiety or other challenges, you will work with a licensed professional in more of a counseling approach. If, on the other hand, you are looking to set and achieve goals, improve work performance, or develop assertiveness, you will work with an experienced coach. However, whatever your challenge or goal, you can be sure that we will be clear with you from day one on how we will help you meet your individual needs. Most times, no matter your goal, our professional staff will provide a balanced and effective combination of both counseling and coaching to address the challenge.
How many sessions will it take to address my issue?
The answer to this can vary depending upon your situation, commitment level and desired outcome. While we create a compassionate, safe atmosphere for you to express yourself and receive validation, we are also efficient and effective problem solvers. We can quickly help you see the cycle or dynamic of the events and occurrences in your life. We then work with you to separate thoughts, feelings and actions in order to reorganize necessary pieces into a plan of action. This plan is tailored to your unique circumstances, and moves toward ending struggles, anxiety, sadness and frustration while increasing healing, peace and productivity in your life.
After an initial assessment that is completed on your first visit, we can give you feedback about the challenge you are facing, a plan of action and an estimate of the length of visits required to achieve your desired outcome. Sometimes change requires sustained therapy over time, and sometimes it can happen in just a few sessions!
Will insurance cover any of my cost?
RelationshipStore is in-network with the following insurance companies:
- Blue Cross Blue Shield (multiple plans)
- United Health Care
- Omni
- Humana
- Aetna
- Cigna
You may use any of these insurances or pay out of pocket. We do offer a sliding scale for those without insurance and in need of assistance.
How can someone who doesn't even know us help with our relationship?
This is a common concern. As counselors and coaches, the answer is evident but to someone who has yet to experience RelationshipStore, it is probably difficult to imagine!
In our over 30 years of counseling experience, we have come to see that nearly every relationship issue faced is a misunderstanding. While at first glance, this may seem an underestimation of what you have been struggling with; as couples, we often see our partner as deliberately trying to cause us pain or being stubborn. Seldom is this actually the case. The majority of the time, when two people believe that they understand each other's view and that they are arguing the same topic, they actually are not! There are pieces of the communication that each person is misunderstanding, even slightly sometimes, that lead them to respond in a certain way that gets the communication off track. Similarly, each person can become triggered at certain points , often unexpectedly to their partner. For example, one person may believe they are in a discussion about the event at hand (“what's the big deal if I invited my mom over without telling you”) while the other responds to a larger issue inside themself ( “you do this all the time, you don't respect me”) This disconnect takes the communication farther and farther off track until both people feel helpless, misunderstood and often hopeless. Similarly, people have what we call blindspots. These are parts of themself that they dont see clearly, usually due to experiences earlier in life (for example, the majority of people who struggle with road rage have experiences in their earlier life where they feel taken advantage of or ‘walked all over”) Their unconscious brain then develops a response to this hurt by seeing many life events, such as someone pulling in front of them without a turn signal, as someone taking advantage of them personally, and they launch into an over active defense of the perceived wrong. Because they view themselves as the victim in many instances, it is difficult for them to see the extent of their own aggression and inappropriateness in these situations.
All of these challenges that can take a relationship off-track need a 3rd person to identify the miscommunication. Having this 3rd person be an experienced and trained counselor can have the added advantage of helping the clients understand it differently and better, and develop tools and abilities to gain a more positive outcome in many situations.
How do I get my partner to go?
Unfortunately we cannot give you a certain answer to this. However, it is common for one partner to be reluctant to begin counseling. He/she may have preconceived negative ideas or even fears about attending counseling. RelationshipStore was founded upon the idea of normalizing relationship help and creating a center where all people will feel welcomed and valued. We offer several different approaches to relationship help: counseling, coaching, written materials, workshops, and other mind and body approaches to healing.
You can also let them know that you chose a place that does not focus on who is right or wrong. Often the reluctant partner may be secretly worried about having ‘everything blamed on them”. Accountability is important , however we do achieve this through letting you see and understand the cycle of your relationship. Both people will have thoughts and behaviors to work on. Some of this work is enhancing thoughts and behaviors, some of the work is on changing thoughts and behaviors and some is on extinguishing thoughts and behaviors. None of this work produces unneeded shame or blame. All of the work leads to healing, connection and harmony.
Sometimes an effective approach to get them in the door the first time is to compare it to something they can relate to. For example, “You would go to a work training and sometimes even take away only one of two pieces of value from that, can’t you apply that same mindset to this and give it a try?” or “This is something that is important to me, can you please withhold judgement and try it with me. I assure you my intentions are only toward improving our relationship”. We know it may be difficult to get them to agree to that first session. However, if you can get them to agree to that first meeting, we assure you that we will do our best to show them the value of continuing, and most times they do!
