Now taking private insurance for short-term evaluation and consultation for children, adults, and families

I am now taking most Massachusetts private insurance in order to provide more people with affordable access to care. I am unfortunately having a difficult time taking MassHealth as a solo clinician, but I will keep trying. 

More about types of services I provide and my general philosophies can be found here.

I am particularly prioritizing brief short-term work with individuals and families who are finding themselves on someone's radar and needing to connect with services quickly in order to receive an initial evaluation and recommendations for pursuing further services (or assurance that nothing formal is needed at this time). I can provide brief developmental and psychological assessment of infants and children of all ages with and without disabilities, brief diagnostic and clinical assessment for adults with and without disabilities, and other related types of brief assessment and recommendations. I also specialize in working with adults, particularly parents, who may have undiagnosed neurodivergence and may be facing misdiagnosis or misconceptions as to the reasons they present as "a bit different" and are in need of an affirming evaluation. My evaluations are disability-positive, neurodiversity-affirming, and respectful of family culture including subcultural affinities. 

I also offer flexible consultation models for children and adults with disabilities who have no pressing clinical concerns, but find themselves needing an established connection with a clinician for verification of disability status or other systems-related reasons. I believe that most people who have had psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disabilities all of their lives do not need treatment, but I also understand that the medical model believes that disabled folks "are followed by someone for that" and I am happy to be that someone. 

Similarly, I offer flexible consultation/training models for children for whom frequent talk therapy is not the best model due to trauma, neurodivergence, culture, or some combination, and who may do better with a model in which the clinician teaches the family and familiar providers to support the youth more indirectly. 

I understand that when working with systems, time is often of the essence in terms of establishing an initial connection with a provider and having someone on record. I make it a point to see folks for an initial appointment usually within the week, though subsequent meetings, collateral contacts if appropriate, and written evaluations unfortunately always take some time. My main goal is to prevent families from being referred to crisis services in the absence of an actual emergency and/or reported to DCF "to make sure services are in place" absent concerns of actual abuse or neglect, as these types of contacts are traumatic and an unnecessary use of services that should be reserved for emergencies. 

photo I took of a red maple leaf on rocky pavement

Accepting most Massachusetts private insurance for gender-affirming care letters

More info here.

I am currently accepting Aetna, Cigna, Carelon, and soon will be accepting most of the other private insurance plans, except for BCBS unfortunately.

I will typically write a gender-affirming care letter in 1-2 sessions. I believe in personal autonomy and client-directed care. I may require documentation or collateral consults in a few instances, but there is very little about someone's presentation or history that I would consider a barrier to a grown adult pursuing care that has been shown to improve quality of life and stability in almost all instances. I am very familiar with the diverse presentation of autistic and other neurodivergent adults and make it a point to be sensitive and educate myself about clients' ethnicities, religions, and other cultural aspects when performing assessments. 

Naming and shaming: Mental health companies using obnoxious spammy recruiters

Like an increasing number of us, I have added to my LinkedIn profile that I do not wish to hear from recruiters. For years, I have had in my "about" section that I do not provide ongoing therapy and do not wish to hear from recruiters regarding therapy jobs. I do also of course explain what types of services I do provide, and that I am happy to discuss sliding scales and creative solutions for those who, you know, actually have some idea what I do and are looking for something in that ballpark.

The recruiters don't actually read the profiles though, despite sending messages stating they are extremely impressed with my profile and thought I would be a good fit. 

Since the "about" section text wasn't working to get them to stop, I moved my message to recruiters to the headline: 

Image: My LinkedIn profile, showing a white middle-aged person with pink hair. Text reads Erika Shira (Ask me my pronouns) LMHC, MT-BC. Not interested in hearing from recruiters about services I do not provide. Messages from individuals or businesses who ignore boundaries will be reposted publicly.

They kept messaging, so I added "messages from individuals or businesses who ignore boundaries will be reposted publicly" and now will be doing so. I certainly would not want to seek mental health care nor employment with a company that doesn't know how to treat humans like humans, so I will be calling them out when I see them. Honestly, doesn't it seem like basic human decency to browse someone's social media or public online presence a little bit before contacting them? I make it a habit to always do this when messaging people with whom I do not have regular contact; more than once, I have seen that someone I was considering messaging has posted about a loss in the family or something similar that is occupying their mind. I've been grateful to see this so I knew not to message them some annoying question, but rather to send them a message of support if we have that sort of relationship and to leave them in peace if we do not. Some of these recruiters apparently don't even read people's headlines before spamming them, and may be using bots.

Here's one I got recently:

LinkedIn message from Ali Turin, asking me to apply for a job at Charlie Health

Ali Turin, a Senior Clinical Talent Acquisition Specialist at Charlie Health, messaged me with a job listing. The message reads, in part, "Our Creative Arts Programming Leadership flagged your profile as a great fit for Charlie Health..." 

How? They saw the headline that says I don't provide therapy and don't wish to hear from recruiters, yet thought they'd try anyway? Interesting. 

LinkedIn message with my response, which is in the text below

I replied, stating "Is there a reason you are ignoring where my profile clearly states I do not provide therapy and not to contact me with such offers?" I did not receive any reply.

I did, however, receive not one but two e-mails from Ali Turin of Charlie Health, apparently just wanting to make sure I was not interested in working for such a ridiculous organization:

E-mail from Ali Turin, which I detail below

The e-mail reads, "Hey Erika, I hope you're well! I just shot you a note on LinkedIn but also wanted to follow up via email in case you don't check your LinkedIn often," then proceeds to discuss the job listing and has a Calendly link to schedule a 30-minute chat in case I just hadn't gotten enough of Ali Turin.

Another e-mail from Ali Turin and my response, which I detail below

This e-mail reads "Hey Erika, Wanted to quickly double down on my last note, in case it slipped through the cracks. I'm excited to share more about how we have built a world-class clinical team and model. It would also be great to learn more about you (your online profile can only tell me so much!). Are you up for a call?"

My response reads, "Hi, I responded to you on LinkedIn. I don't appreciate the spamming and ignoring of boundaries, though it does let me know something about your company's values in case anyone asks."

So yeah, if anyone is interested in knowing more about Charlie Health, there you go.