COMBAHEE THERAPY
COMMON QUERIES
All the Answers to the Most Common Questions I get, In One Place
There’s no such thing as a silly question when it comes to mental health. Check out the answers to these FAQs below, and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any additional questions.
In short, no, I do not take insurance. However, the answer to this question is a little more in depth than that. Let me explain...
In order to cover sessions, insurance companies require a mental health diagnosis after our first session, only reimburse for certain diagnoses, and require me to send personal health information beyond what I think is necessary for your care. Additionally, insurance companies reimburse "slow and low" for services - meaning it is not uncommon for therapists to wait up to 90 days to be paid for a session, only to receive a fraction of our fee. In order to provide you with care and also honor my own financial stability, I only accept private pay (cash, cards, payment apps) for sessions.
If you have insurance that covers therapy, I can provide you with a document called a "superbill" to submit to your insurance company to be repaid for what you have paid me. Many of my clients do this and their insurance company mails them a reimbursement check.
DO YOU TAKE INSURANCE?
In order to sustain my work as a solo Black queer therapist in a capitalist society that does not support healers, I provide services through the anti-oppressive rate structure below. Please review the questions in the anti oppressive rate questionnaire to get a sense of which level may best fit your circumstances. Please keep in mind sustain, & solidarity slots are limited. If you can afford full fee sessions, please leave sustain & solidarity for folks who cannot.
SO, HOW MUCH ARE SESSIONS?
The sliding scale prices I have for services are inspired by the work of Worts and Cunning Apothecary, AORTA, and learning from other queer of color therapists I respect such as N. Oumou Sylla, Dana Joud, Phalande Jean, and others.
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In order to place yourself, answer the following questions. I will not ask you for your responses, this is just to give you a sense of where you fall in terms of what you may be able to pay for sessions. Keep note of the number of "yes's" and "no's" you have to the following questions:
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Are you and your family homeowners or landowners? (This question does not apply to those who are Native or Indigenous)
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Did you experience early life abundance and are now only experiencing “temporary scarcity”?
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Are you able-bodied?
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Do you have a degree that you did not pay with loans (private or federal)?
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Are you able to make payments on bills or credit cards?
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Do you experience housing security or stability?
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Do you work part time by choice? Do you work for less pay by choice?
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Do you experience ease when paying bills?
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Do you have a relatively high degree of earning power due to your level of or kind of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc…)?
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Do you have access to residual, gifted, supplemental, or passive income?
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Have you been able to easily access and afford health insurance?
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Do you have income generating assets (real estate, investments)?
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Are you able to financially manage your debt?
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Do you have a safety net composed of “financially stable” or wealthy family and friends? Do you have access to a network of wealth?
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Do you have U.S. Citizenship?
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Do you have the ability to choose to work or not?
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Does your income only support you, and not other loved ones?
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Have you or do you expect to inherit money or property?
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Have you (or could you have) attended college and/or graduate school? Have you attended private education institutions or do you have an advanced degree?
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Do you have income that is not from disability or social security?
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Do you have access to income that allows you to (regularly) vacation and spend money on other personal wants/desires?
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If you answered:
All Yes - Redistribution Rate
Mostly Yes - Full Cost Rate
Mostly No - Sustain Rate
All No - Solidarity Rate
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WHAT IS THE ANTI-OPPRESSIVE RATE QUESTIONNAIRE?
The liberation fights of my people who came before me have always been labeled radical. In the words of Black queer liberationist Angela Davis, “radical” simply means ‘grasping things by the root’. I do not aim to do surface level work, instead, I aim to move to the root of the problems that block our healing. Anxiety, Depression, and Complex PTSD are often reactions to oppression. In order to do healing work, we have to also do the work of upending oppression from the roots. I believe that my liberation is not achieved until liberation is achieved for all. Radicalism is the only path towards liberation.
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Being a therapist is the way I have chosen to join in a political tradition of liberation and grabbing things at the root. My intent is to transform or replace the fundamental principles of therapy which rely on classism, ableism, racism, and queerphobia. I am not interested in therapeutic practices or language that are rooted in oppressive ideology and research.