The things people ask me.

Mostly you talking and me listening, then me telling you what I think. We cover what brought you here, how long it has been going on, what you have already tried, and what you want to be different. By the end you will know whether we fit.

It depends on what you bring. Some people want three focused sessions on one problem. Others stay a year because the work is deeper than that. I will give you my honest read early rather than letting it drift, and I will tell you when I think you are finished.

Phone and video. That is what most clients prefer and what lets me work with people anywhere in California. Use headphones if anyone else is home.

Ask me when we speak and you will get a straight answer. Where I am out of network, I can provide a superbill you can submit to your insurer for possible reimbursement. See fees and insurance.

No. I am a clinical social worker rather than a physician. Where medication looks worth considering, I will say so and work alongside your doctor or a psychiatrist.

Yes, within the limits every California clinician works under: serious risk of harm to you or someone else, suspected abuse of a child, an elder or a dependent adult, and a court order. I go through all of it with you at the start.

Only if it is relevant to what you came for. Plenty of useful work is entirely about the present. If something earlier is clearly driving the pattern, I will say so, and we will approach it at a pace you set.

Tell me that early, and tell me what specifically did not work. Often the fit was wrong, or the approach was wrong for that problem, or the timing was. Sometimes a person needed someone more direct than they got.

Yes, and with the parents of teenagers, which is sometimes the more effective intervention. See children, teens and schools.

Then say so, or I will. Continuing anyway helps nobody. I would rather spend a session pointing you toward someone better suited.

About a month. Since 1 January 2022, California has required a licensed practitioner to hold a client-provider relationship with you for at least 30 days, and to complete a clinical evaluation, before providing documentation. Any provider offering a California letter today is offering something the law does not recognize.

No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. The documentation is about you. It states that you are a person with a disability and that the animal provides disability-related support. Nothing is conferred on the animal, and the animal is not examined or registered.

There is no official registry or certificate for an emotional support animal, in California or anywhere else. Any website selling you a registration, an ID card or a certificate is selling a novelty item.

Assume not. US airlines have not been required to treat emotional support animals as service animals since the Department of Transportation rewrote its rules in December 2020. Trained service dogs still travel in the cabin, usually with the DOT Service Animal Air Transportation Form submitted in advance.

No. My license is Californian, and a clinician has to be licensed where the client is located. Within California, telehealth means location is not an obstacle.