General Questions
Effective January 1, 2025, Dr. McMaster will not be in-network with any insurance provider. You will still be able to use your out-of-network insurance benefits to cover the cost of therapy. Check out the Rates & Insurance page for more information about how to use your out-of-network insurance benefits. You will also find on that page a calculator that will give you an instant estimate of how much you can expect to pay for therapy before and after your deductible is met.
Like most psychologists, Dr. McMaster does not prescribe medication. This is usually a service provided by a psychiatrist or a psychiatric nurse practitioner. If you are in need of help with an existing prescription or you are interested in obtaining a new one, Dr. McMaster can offer you a referral to help you in your search for an appropriate provider who can assist you.
Dr. McMaster’s policy is to use leave from work only as a last resort when it is medically necessary to address mental health disorders that are not responsive to standard care.
The following conditions must be met for Dr. McMaster to consider endorsing a request for leave from a place of work for a mental health disorder (this includes requests to complete private disability insurance forms, social security disability insurance forms, life insurance forms, worker’s compensation forms, or similar paperwork):
You have been in regular care with Dr. McMaster for a minimum of six months for the problem that is causing disability and preventing you from being able to complete tasks at your workplace. This gives Dr. McMaster time to assess whether or not leave is medically necessary while trying a few interventions with you first before resorting to pulling you from work to try more intensive treatment. If a client is so severely disabled by a mental health disorder at the start of treatment that they are not able to work, then teletherapy would not be appropriate for them and they will be referred to an intensive outpatient or inpatient program. That team would be able to provide an endorsement of leave right away to attest to the severity of the client’s disorder and the plan for rehabilitation.
You will remain in care with Dr. McMaster for the entire duration of the time you are requesting off. This is because you are agreeing to use that time off to rehabilitate your disability. Failure to show to treatment sessions or to complete treatment will result in a withdrawal of Dr. McMaster’s endorsement for your leave request.
You have completed all portions of the document that are to be filled out by the client/patient.
Also keep in mind the following when considering making your request:
- Dr. McMaster can neither guarantee any outcome nor guarantee support for leave or disability if evidence from her evaluation does not support it.
- A copy of your paperwork will be placed in your electronic medical record.
- When the original document is sent out to the employer/insurance company/other agency, a copy will be sent to your email address. If another facility or office requires a copy of this, it is your responsibility to forward it to that party.
- The cost of all postage will be included in the charges to you for this service.
- Any paperwork processed by Dr. McMaster will take up to 10 business days (from the date received) to complete and mail. Fax is not available.
- You will be billed in 15-minute increments at Dr. McMaster’s hourly rate of $262 per hour, with a minimum billing of 15 minutes. Your total due is determined based upon the length of time required to complete the forms. You will be notified of the exact fee when the forms are complete. Payment in full is due prior to your receipt of the completed forms.
- If you require a faster turnaround on paperwork (less than 10 business days), then the charge for this service will be twice the non-expedited fee amount plus any postage required.
- You will be required to read and sign a consent form which attests to the fact that you understand Dr. McMaster’s policy on documentation and leave requests and are willing to abide by the practice policies.
No, Dr. McMaster is not currently offering evaluation or testing services to clients. Some psychological evaluation may be integrated into your therapy sessions as part of your course of treatment. The use of psychological evaluation will be determined by Dr. McMaster based on your needs.
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Questions About Therapy
Research shows that the average number of sessions utilized by clients in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (the primary therapy that Dr. McMaster uses) is about four to six sessions. Clients may take less or more than that. Clients who choose to be in therapy for longer tend to work on one goal at a time and use around six sessions for each goal. You can also work on one goal, stop therapy, and resume at another time in the future to work on a different goal.
For clients interested in Personality-Focused Therapy, details about the number of sessions and phases of treatment can be found at the Services page.
No, you do not have to be a Christian to use Dr. McMaster’s services. The therapies Dr. McMaster offers (i.e., Personality-Focused Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy) do not require that you discuss matters of faith and religion. This is true for Christian and non-Christian clients. Dr. McMaster is a Christian, however, and her Christian worldview necessarily influences her work, including her approach to therapy and her beliefs about how much help therapy can provide and its limitations. Please keep these considerations in mind as you make your decision about whether or not Dr. McMaster would be a fitting therapist for you at this time.
Yes, Dr. McMaster does offer Christian therapies to clients. Go to the Services page and click on “Christian” to see all current offerings. These are treatments created and refined by self-identified Christian researchers and clinicians for Christian consumers.
For individual (teen and adult) and family therapies, Dr. McMaster does not provide an explicitly Christian therapy to Christian clients at this time. The therapy she primarily uses, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), was created in a secular setting. Dr. McMaster has chosen to use SFBT because it is very practical, it doesn’t overburden clients, and there is a lot of evidence from research showing that it works with different kinds of people who have a wide range of needs. SFBT can be helpful to Christian clients, and you are most welcome to discuss matters of faith with Dr. McMaster in sessions if you’d like.