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Getting Started with Therapy in Springfield, MO
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Hello friends! This episode features Cassandra and Garth walking through what it actually looks like to get started at Seen Therapy Services in Springfield, MO — from your first call or website visit, through the free consultation, all the way to your first session. You can learn more about Cassandra and her practice at: seentherapy.org. Get a taste for the episode below. If you enjoy your listen give us a follow, share, or five star review. Have a good one!
"You know what it looks like to go to the dentist. You know what it looks like to get a physical. But therapy? That process is a lot less clear for most people. So let's change that."
Hello, hello, hello friends. Welcome to the podcast where we simplify everything about mental health. Just kidding. But here's what we are gonna do. We're gonna sit down together, a licensed mental health professional, that's me, and a regular old Joe, as my husband Garth would describe himself. We're gonna talk about the nitty-gritty of the MBR, some nervous system mapping, how couples can help each other heal, what's healthy parenting actually look like, maybe a little bit of good old banter mixed in. All with the goal of making mental health a little bit simpler for you. Quick note, because my lawyer says that I have to. I'm a therapist, but not your therapist, unless I am. Even if I am, this is still just a podcast, okay? Now have a good listen. Hello, friends. This is Cassandra, and I am once again joined by Garn.
SPEAKER_01Hello, everyone. I'm happy to be here.
SPEAKER_00Guys, today we are going to talk therapy in Springfield. So this is for folks that would potentially be coming to see us. What can you actually expect? I think that, you know, we've really we've dived into EMDR. That's been our focus in a lot of episodes over the last 10 months as we've all of them, I think. Putting out episodes. A good majority, yeah. Yeah. You know, since September we've been dropping weekly episodes, and I'd say probably 98% of them are EMDR focused today. We're really just going to get into what does it look like to come see us for therapy? And I really want to talk nitty-gritty, like what can you even anticipate before you walk through the door? Because I think that sometimes people are so hesitant to come to therapy, not just with us, but in general, because they don't know what the process is actually gonna look like. You have a general idea of what it's gonna look like to go get a physical or to go get your teeth cleaned.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00But what does it actually look like to get started with therapy? And I think oftentimes that's an unknown for folks, and unknowns are often scary. So we're gonna get into that today. Before we do, can you give us a short band?
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh. Favorite tree.
SPEAKER_00Favorite tree. I think we maybe actually have done. But that's okay. I think we'll probably start recycling bands. Right now, my favorite tree is this guy right here, which is a red maple. Maple.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Hoping that he gives us a couple more summers. He's an old guy, but is the last standing tree in our backyard when we moved in. We had three, and we are down to hit him. We've planted other trees, but he is the last big guy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and they all the trees have been in our home for 25 years at this point. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep. How about you?
SPEAKER_01Now that you're asking me, I we've we've done this band before because it's an oak tree. Yeah, yeah. I just like how long lived they are and how sturdy they are.
SPEAKER_00And that's why I was confident that we'd done it. But that was like I knew your answer. That's okay. All right. We've done a lot of episodes now. It's okay to recycle bands. Gonna have to keep a list. I don't have any illusion that everyone's going or anyone is going to like listen to every single one of these. That's fair. If you have, I think that I gave a different answer. In fact, I'm sure I did. So comment and tell us what my two favorite kinds of trees are. Okay. All right.
SPEAKER_01And we'll comment back a new band question. There you go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So we are talking what does it actually look like to get started with therapy? So often people will be told by a friend, hey, you should go see Cassandra or you should go do EMDR. Okay. And they will give our office a call or they will check out our website. So and again, I'm gonna get into like what's the nitty-gritty what to expect here. If you get on our website and you click any button on our website, you are going to be taken to uh scheduling calendar.
SPEAKER_01Any button that says free consultation.
SPEAKER_00Nope, any button.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00All of our buttons now lead to a free consultation page.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that's news to me. Yep. Cool.
SPEAKER_00Every single button, free consultation page.
SPEAKER_01Nice.
SPEAKER_00So if you click a button on our website, you are going to a free consultation. No, the buttons may say different things. They may say book now or gotcha. You know, get started today, but they are all taking you to a free free consultation page.
SPEAKER_01Impressive.
SPEAKER_00And on that free consultation page, at least today at this time of recording, you are scheduling a phone call with me.
SPEAKER_03Sweet.
SPEAKER_00So in the future, you may be scheduling it with someone else because I don't know that I will take free consultation calls forever. But at this point, July of 2026, if you schedule a free 15-minute consultation call, you're scheduling it with Cassandra. So you may get on the website and you may schedule a free consultation call. You may give us a call. And if we miss your call, you're gonna get an automatic text reminder response that says, Hey, sorry we missed you. Would you like to book a free consultation call with Cassandra? It's gonna take you to the same page.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. If we answer your call, we're gonna say, Hi. It's either gonna be me and I'm gonna say, I have time for a consultation call. Do you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Or we're gonna say, Would you like to schedule a free consultation call? So all roads initially lead to a free consultation call.
SPEAKER_01Hey, free 15 minutes, baby.
SPEAKER_00Free 15 minutes. Okay, so what are we doing in that free 15 minutes? Initially, I tell people that get on the consultation call, I'm gonna ask you questions that are way too general and way too big to really be fair. I'm gonna ask you things like tell me a little bit about what's going on. That is a big question. Sure. That is a general question. And then I'm gonna do more work. But initially, I'm gonna ask you to do a little bit of work. And I tell people you don't have to get into what's going on any more than you want to on the consultation call.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So if you're like, you know what, today's a day where all I can do is title it. I'm having a big surge in anxiety right now. I've dealt with anxiety for a lot of my life, but it is really increasing over the past two months. Great, that's enough. If you don't want to go into any further detail, totally fine. So we chat about what's going on with you for maybe five to ten minutes. And then the other five to ten minutes, I'm talking about the practice. So I'm going over details of the practice that I'll just go ahead and share my spiel right here if it's okay. Yeah. So I won't I'll share our current rates, but I will say we do increase our rates typically once a year. And so again, this is July of 26th, but I will tell folks we are an EMDR specialty practice. And because we are an EMDR specialty practice, a lot of details flow out of that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The first thing is we really want to see you in person if we can. We offer telehealth, we utilize telehealth, but as often as we can see you in person, we want to see you in person. Yeah. We really like to see folks on a recurring basis if we can. What that means is we see you every Tuesday at 8 a.m. That's your spot until you don't need it as often anymore.
SPEAKER_01However, can I jump in here?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That is not typical of most counseling practices, just in general, right? The recurring spot is kind of a because we have scheduled for our family, right?
SPEAKER_00As our family members have gone to therapy, we have noticed that. Yeah. And it has been a pain point for our family.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because we like a schedule. Yes. And yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that is part of why we have recurring appointments. But the reason that it flows out of being an EMDR specialty practice is I don't want to see you and start to really open up some trauma. Yeah. And then not know that I can get you on the calendar for another three months. Right. Right. So we like to see you on a recurring basis. There is an exception to that. If you're in a pretty stable spot, but you're just wanting to move towards, you know, some things improving in life, get on our cancellation list. Our cancellation list is exactly what it sounds like. And that is that you receive a text, usually once the weekly, that says, Hey, these are Cassandra's openings for the week. If any of them work for you, respond and we'll get you scheduled.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So rather than you having to go and look for what you can sign up for, you have that reminder. So yeah, we have recurring appointments. We have the cancellation list. We also have intensives. So if you want to come in and do a large amount of work at one time, we have that scheduling option as well. So I go over scheduling options with folks. I also explain that we do not bill insurance directly. That clients can get on our website and look at our, we've tried to list out really specific directions on how to submit to insurance for themselves, utilizing a super bill that we provide, but that we do not submit to insurance ourselves. And so if there's any questions on that during the consult call, I do my best to answer those questions and let folks know that we can provide ongoing support there, even though we are not the ones that are taking those steps for them. So we like in-person appointments, recurring appointments if possible, or intensives where we're doing a lot of work at one time and we don't submit to insurance. We do self-pay only, right? That's what it means to not submit to insurance. And our self-pay rates right now, like I said, July 26th, range from 120 to 200 per 50 minutes. And I tell folks that, you know, we really work to be experienced EMDR providers. Yeah. I am an EMDR consultant. I've been doing EMDR for over a decade now. And though not everyone in the practice has that level of experience, we are not getting EMDR trained and then stopping. Yeah. Everyone is pursuing continuing education, both with me and outside the practice after doing their EMDR basic training. Yeah. And we don't do everything well. We do what we do as a practice and as individuals well. We're we're focused on that, you know. For I give the example often for folks that are coming, you know, and they're in active addiction and that's their primary concern. We are not the best practice to treat that. That is not what we do the best. There are other providers that do that the best. If you are in an active eating disorder and that is your primary concern, we are not the best providers for that. There are other providers we can refer to that that do that really well. So I go over that kind of whole description of the practice with folks when they call in for the free consultation that they have with me. Any questions? Because that's the next thing that I ask people on the consult call now that I've gone through the the quick bullet point.
SPEAKER_01Let's think here. Yeah, so what happens if I don't feel like I need EMDR? What in what cases would I be a good fit for your practice if I maybe I don't know what EMDR is, and maybe I'm not sure how that fits in. Let's say I'm coming in and I'm dealing with grief.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And how what what would you respond there? Would you say, oh, I actually know someone that's great with grief? Or would you say, what would you what would you say?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So oftentimes alongside grief is trauma. Not always, but you know, if we're talking grief associated with death, um death oftentimes comes with trauma. And so for that individual, I would say let's address the trauma associated with this. And then we do have great referrals for, you know, I actually just met with a clinician two weeks ago. All of what she does is grief. Yeah. It is her primary focus. You know, and so for me, I'm really moving towards a lot of intensives in the practice. So if she were he or she, if the client were seeing me specifically, probably work through the trauma of that loss and then refer them on to a grief account, the specific yeah, referral for grief.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, trauma is behind so many mental health concerns, even when we don't realize it. Yeah. It is at the root of so many folks that are presenting with depression-ish concerns, anxiety concerns. Some people do come describing what they're experiencing as trauma concerns. There are some conditions where OCD is another example. If your primary concern really is OCD symptoms and you're describing those to me in a consultation call, it's not that EMDR won't be helpful for you because even when trauma isn't the root cause, trauma exacerbates symptoms. So even when trauma isn't the root cause, trauma makes symptoms worse for folks. Yeah. Right. So if you have OCD and then you layer trauma on top of that, addressing the trauma is going to reduce your symptoms. However, if you're presenting with significant OCD symptoms, do you need to see me first or do I need to refer you to a provider who really specializes in OCD? Because that's not our practice. But I know providers in the area who do specialize in that specifically. Yeah. So if somebody comes to me and they're not looking for EMDR specifically, that's fine. That doesn't mean that we can't help. It I it just needs some more exploring.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, and I'm partial probably a little biased here, but I've seen you grow your network of other clinicians here in Springfield. You've got someone for everything almost at this point who like specializes. I try. Well, and and you're actively working to fill those areas where you feel like you don't have a good referral source to. And I also don't know if that's typical of most practices who you would call in and they would say, We're probably not the best fit, but I know who is. I think that's neat. And I'm just saying that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. A good standard of care is that we provide three referral sources for somebody. So if we're not the best option for you, that we do our due diligence to provide you three options that could be good options. And you know, and sometimes people are reaching out and it's just not feasible financially for them to see us. It's not that we wouldn't be a good fit based on their algae and they're presenting concerns. We're just, you know, they're in a season where financially it's not the the best option.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And even sometimes I'm I'm talking to somebody who maybe is two weeks postpartum and we want to provide some supportive care for them. And I also want them working alongside their OB. I'm hearing some some symptoms that I'm concerned about there. So sometimes it's not even just providing other therapist referrals, but providing other resources, other resources as well. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So all of that to say you're you're funneling into a free consultation call, whether you're calling us, whether you're going to our website, whether you get my name from a friend and you're Googling us, you're funneling into a free consultation call. In that consultation call, my goal is that if I don't provide scheduling options for you on the phone, that pretty quickly within an hour of getting off the call, I have texted over from our office line. I have texted over some scheduling options to you. And then from there, you're receiving a welcome email that goes over all the information that we just went over on the phone call. Yeah. And you're also receiving an email with a link to our portal to complete paperwork.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you're getting on our portal, you're completing paperwork, you have your appointment scheduled. Again, ideally a recurring appointment. A couple of hours before your appointment, you'll receive a what I call the directions text, which is really specific directions for how to not just get to our office building, but get to our office. So a couple hours before you receive the directions text, follow that sucker and you'll you'll find your way. Yeah. You hang out and wait for your therapist. You're coming back into our office, which I'm biased, but I think is uh a lovely space where it's you know, it's quiet or on a second floor of our building. And really, whether or not you're coming, whether or not you've sought us out specifically for EMDR or not, that initial session is really just two humans sitting together ultimately assessing like, is this going to be a good fit?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And for the clinician, it's assessing, you know, if if it's me and I've done the consultation call, was I accurate in assessing initially in the consult call kind of what the presenting concerns are here?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Or if it's another clinician them assessing, was Cassandra accurate and in determining what the presenting concerns are. So in that first session, we aren't going to figure out all of the root causes of why someone's presenting, but we're starting to hopefully get a good picture of what's going on.
SPEAKER_01What's the word you use for that? Case.
SPEAKER_00Case conceptualism.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. We're trying to conceptualize the case. Yeah. So, you know, what do we actually have in front of us? What has worked well for this person in the past? What if they've attended therapy before, even if they haven't attended therapy before? What has worked well for them in the past? What are the barriers for them to, you know, utilize some of the skills that they have utilized in the past? What pieces of their life experience have led them to, you know, sitting in front of me today? What supports do they have? How can we utilize those supports? And so, really, that first session, you know, I think sometimes, especially people seeking out EMDR, they're a little anxious that they're going to walk into something that's going to be very intense right off, you know, the get-go. And in that first hour, we really are just trying to get a larger picture of what's going on for this client.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so then after you have your your first session, again, in an ideal situation, you have recurring appointments. And so you already have that same time set up for you. If that's not the case, then you'll receive a cancellation text the next week. Or if you're coming in for an intensive, that is a different experience. It doesn't, you know, you're having that initial hour, but then you are getting into a lot of work that day.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And in the case of an intensive, you may not be back. You may be going back to a therapist that you have weekly appointments with somewhere else. And that's okay too. So, okay, that's a really quick summary of what to expect. What questions can I answer?
SPEAKER_01What's always asking me questions around in your job? Uh yeah, it is. Okay. It is my podcast duty. Let's see. I guess how long does therapy take?
SPEAKER_00I love that question. Yeah, I don't know. People do ask that often on the consultation call.
SPEAKER_01Think we'll get this bad boy knocked out in four or five sessions?
SPEAKER_00Right. Things that dictate that the most. One, how solid were your attachments in childhood? And two, how healthy were your attachment figures in childhood. Three, are you coming in to get the whole what's that saying?
SPEAKER_01An experience? Shebang? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's not what it is, but you're yeah, are you coming in to get everything done?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Or are you coming in to take an acute approach and just focus on one thing? Okay. So person that's gonna be in therapy the longest is gonna be somebody who did not have people in their childhood that they could develop healthy attachments with because either they were not present or they were present but not healthy enough themselves. And they are coming in later in adulthood, so not early adulthood. They have limited support still. And they are not wanting to take a an acute approach. They're wanting to take a developmental approach where they address everything. Yeah. We're looking at You know, two solid years of work.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like solid, solid work. All the way down to somebody had healthy attachment figures in childhood. They had two parents who were reasonably healthy that they were able to form healthy attachments with. And then fast forward, they are 25, they have a good support system in adulthood. They have a car accident and they come to me to work through that car accident. They're not able to get in their car and drive three to four hours.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So huge spectrum. Right. I mean, you know, there's but those are some of the factors that determine how long you're going to be in care.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And ultimately, we've talked about this in previous episodes before, but I like people to keep in mind experienced EMDR clinicians can contain certain things that you want to address. And so if you are the person who did not have people that you could form healthy attachments with in childhood and you have some support now in adulthood, you wouldn't say that you are overflowing with current supports. Um that does not mean that you have to come in for two years. Right. Yeah. You can say, you can come in and say, I have three months to budget time and money to address this. Yeah. These are the specific things I'd like to address. I'd like to remind clients, you are in control of what this looks like. And so don't think, well, I don't have the two years of finances or emotional energy or time to devote to this. I'm just not going to do it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You don't have to.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00I'm saying you could spend two years on really addressing everything.
SPEAKER_01And that's that was also kind of an extreme example, but it's a good examples are good in the extreme. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But both ends of the spectrum are like the the individual who comes in with a really super solid childhood, really super solid supports and adulthood, but has had the car accident past the extreme. And then yeah, both both ends in the extreme. What's your other question?
SPEAKER_01Okay, last last question that I can think of. Yeah. So I'm a client, I've got a recurring appointment.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01What if something comes up? How do I cancel?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You just text the office line. We do ask that you follow our 24-hour cancellation policy so that you cancel prior to 24 hours. And then by the time this podcast episode comes out, I am working on at least for my caseload, I will be implementing a Friday afternoon cancellation policy. So by 5 p.m. on Friday, you'll receive a reminder text on Friday that you have an appointment the upcoming week. Yeah. And then by 5 p.m. on Friday, I need you to respond if you need to cancel that. Or there will be a halfy. Yeah. Until the 24 hours. And the reason for that being that folks on my cancellation list are having a little bit of trouble getting in. And I want to make sure that at the end of the day on Friday, when my cancellation texts go out, that they are getting as many options as possible.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That I'm not sending my cancellation texts out Friday afternoon and then Monday morning more openings are popping up. Right. Yeah. If if you need to cancel your recurring, excuse me, you can absolutely do that. We just need it right now, 24 hours in advance. And then eventually, if you can look at your calendar.
SPEAKER_01A week ahead. Yeah. Yep. Okay. That's all I have.
SPEAKER_00Look at you. Well, guys, thank you so much. This is a little bit more of a a basic, like unconventional episode for us, but I do think that even though I love EMDR and love the EMDR talk, you know, I want to make sure that we're also acknowledging just kind of some of the basics of therapy. And so I wanted to do that in an episode today. And I think that we're going to see that theme pop up more as well. So today's episode, how does actually getting started with therapy look with us specifically? And if I can summarize it, any of the outlets that you're going to take to reach us are going to lead you to schedule a free consultation. And then I went over what the content of that free consultation is. But essentially, we're trying to determine without having you pay for an initial session, are we a good fit for you? Yeah. Always. And I say this genuinely. I'm happy to find you for referral. And then whenever you actually come into session, that looks like again, just a second layer in that first 50 minutes of case conceptual case conceptualization, what's actually going on here. Again, a second safety net of are we going to be a good fit? It is not very often, and I'm I'm proud of this. Most of the people I am able to screen in that initial consult call and get them to the right folks.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's not very often you're going to come to a first 50 minutes with us and we're going to refer you out. I think we've maybe done that three times in the last two years.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But that does happen. We're we're still conceptualizing the case and sending that on to a clinician that is a better fit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Okay. Thanks so much. Have a good one. Bye. Well, that's all, folks. Please see our show notes for ways to connect with us or go give us a follow on Instagram. You can find us at Simply Mental. If this episode resonated with you, send it over to a friend. Give us a five star rating, subscribe, download all the things the cool kids are doing these days. Thanks for having me listen.