Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ)
Below are some frequently
asked questions with regard to goal setting
and my services. I hope some of these questions
are helpful to you as you search for the
ideal helper for your needs.
Q: You have used the term
“EAP” on your site, I am not familiar with
that acronym, what does it mean?
A: EAP stands for “Employee
Assistance Program.”
Q: What does an EAP do?
A: An EAP is a resource
that an employer uses to provide their employees
assistance with mental health issues. Unless
you have a wonderful employer providing
a comprehensive insurance program, the EAP
generally only provides 1-3 sessions. After
that, the employee must meet what is called
“medical necessity” to obtain more services.
This means that the employee must meet the
criteria for a mental disorder or have a
diagnosis using the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). More
common diagnoses are depression, anxiety,
obsessive compulsive disorder, addictions,
and so on.
Q: What if I am feeling
“stressed out” and would like to talk to
someone about it; wouldn’t it make more
sense for me just to use my employer’s EAP
instead of your services?
A: Well, yes it might.
But it depends on the EAP package that your
employer has purchased through the insurance
provider. In a general sense, you would
be afforded anywhere from 1-3 sessions to
determine the severity of your stress.
However, if you do not meet medical necessity,
you may not qualify for further services.
In this case you would be left to pay for
the services of a mental health provider
“out of pocket.” In other words, you would
be responsible to pay the mental health
provider their hourly fee that can range
anywhere from $90.00 – 200.00 per hour.
Or, you could try and find other programs,
books, or self-help groups to assist you
in this area.
At Affordable Personal
Encouragement Services, I can offer different,
forward looking, and positively motivated
strategies to help a person deal effectively
with stress management and other similar
issues. Another benefit to using my services
is that the only cap or limit to our working
together is your willingness to put in a
certain number of meetings (decided by you
– not anyone else), or your ability to afford
my very low fees. In most cases, my fees
will be lower by as much as $100.00
per hour!
Q: Is there a difference
between what you do and what a mental health
provider does?
A: Yes and No. I apologize
for that kind of answer but that is an accurate
answer. Can you be more specific?
Q: Yes. Are the services
you provide therapy?
A: No. I do not provide
my customers with therapy. I provide services
that are focused upon clarifying, setting,
and achieving goals. The charter or overarching
concept of what I do is to encourage, or
assist persons wishing to accomplish a goal
with my extensive and specialized training,
education, and experience as a therapist.
In addition, I also rely upon my 27 year
career experience in the civilian and military
workplaces. I also draw upon special life
experiences in my work with my customers.
Q: Okay, but what exactly
is the difference between therapy and what
you do?
A: Well, there is some
spirited debate by professionals in the
fields of coaching and therapy as to what
the differences are. In my opinion, therapy
is the treatment milieu where certain man
made, rigid, and fixed parameters exist.
For instance, a “therapist” is recognized
as a person who is specifically licensed
as such in the state in which he or she
practices their craft. They receive as
“clients” or “patients” persons who are
experiencing troublesome mental health issues.
The therapist then “treats” these persons
using only recognized treatment models in
that state to effect the treatment.
best site dissertation writing database Another reason there is
great emphasis upon the terms such as, “therapist,”
“social worker,” “psychotherapist,” “psychologist,”
and “educational psychologist,” is that
health insurance companies reimburse a certain
set fee to each category of
provider. Psychologists are generally reimbursed
more than a therapist, etc… Insurance companies
will not pay for a person to receive treatment
for their mental health issue from anyone
that does not fall into these specific categories.
On a personal note, I guess
I think the key difference between what
I do now, and what I was doing as a mental
health person is that I am not “treating”
my customers at Affordable Personal Encouragement
Services. I am assisting, coaching, or
what I prefer to call “encouraging” them
to achieve their goals. I am working with
persons who are not coming to me with mental
health issues. I am working for and with
persons who wish to achieve a goal or goals.
It is true that I rely heavily upon psychological
principles, techniques, and the experience
I gained as a therapist to assist me in
assisting you. I think this benefits you
greatly, but it is not therapy.
I hope that makes sense.
If it does not, please feel free to send
me an e-mail and I will try to make it clearer.
Q: I have heard that many
“success coaches” use a specific format
or formula when coaching their clients.
I read where you do not do that. Does that
mean you do not really have an organized
plan?
A: Excellent question!
As you can see from my web site, I have
certain areas where I tend to “specialize.”
In a general sense, I do have a specific
formula. For instance, if a person wishes
to work with me in the area of weight loss,
I have my own personal preference as to
how that should happen. However, it is
critically important to my ethics and personal
philosophy that I do not push my own beliefs
on my customers. Together, the customer
and I will explore the ways in which he
or she will be most comfortable achieving
this goal.
If a person wishes to work
on stress management, I have the knowledge
provided by my education, training, and
experience to draw upon. I will begin sharing
this information with my customers. However,
if a particular thing that I am sharing
with them does not “fit” for them, we work
until we find a strategy that is the right
fit.
So I work from what might
be called a “template” and then we personalize
the goal setting process for each individual.
This approach will work
exceedingly well for many people. However,
it may not be a good fit for others. I
hope as you read this you will garner a
sense of whether or not this style will
work for you.
Q: I’ve been looking into
getting a personal coach for some time now,
but have put it off because I do not want
to pay so much money for it. Why are your
prices so low?
A: Great Question! My
fees are low because I believe that as many
people as possible should have access to
sound, realistic, and ethical assistance
from a person with an advanced education
in counseling psychology, a strong mental
health background, and significant life
experience. I made a decision many years
ago that at the right time, I would offer
my services at affordable prices. I simply
think that charging $100 or $150 per hour
is too much. The fact is, goal setting
in any of the areas I mention on this site
takes more than one or two meetings to even
get properly clarified and set. After this,
the person then begins working toward those
goals – with, or without the coaching.
It seems like charging $100 - $150 or more
per hour a meeting would discourage a client
from continuing to maintain contact while
attempting to achieve their goals.
My business philosophy
is to provide the best possible quality
and the largest possible quantity of services
at the lowest possible prices. If you have
seen my fee schedule page, and note that
I provide a toll free telephone number for
my customers, you can see that I am quite
serious about my philosophy.
I hope you will consider
using my services; the price is right so
please act now!
Q: Isn’t conducting the
encouragement sessions on the telephone
kind of strange? Don’t you think something
is lost since you’re not in the same room
as your client?
A: Another great question.
Before I answer this question, I would like
to clarify something. First, I am intentionally
not using the term “client” so as not to
allow for confusion with mental health services.
So I have “customers,” and we have “meetings.”
Now to answer your question,
during the years that I worked as a therapist
I very much enjoyed being in the same room
with a person who was working on their issues.
There is so much to pay attention to! There
are little things like verbal and non-verbal
(you have to see these) communication,
facial expressions, body posture during
catharsis or silence. However, I have also
worked on a suicide prevention hotline where
I could not see the caller and it was equally
powerful to work with these people on the
telephone.
In my experience I have
found that there are benefits and deficits
to each medium of communication. It is
relatively easy to adapt to either method
and have positive outcomes. Some of the
benefits to using the telephone for my services
are:
- People
from all over the US can use my services
- People from other countries can use
my services via online chat
- The
telephone call and the online chat feature
is free to the customer
- People
can use my services from the comfort of
their own home or office
- There
is no travel involved, no traffic jams
trying to make an appointment, no added
travel time to and from the appointment,
etc…
- You even pay for services via computer
internet paypal link. The convenience
is incredible!
Q: You mention that your
education includes an emphasis in religion,
and that you use some spiritual resources
in your work. What if I do not want to
be exposed to any religious influences?
A: That is an important
question, thanks for asking. My undergraduate
work did include a significant amount of
education in a religious orientation. This
piece of my education is an important part
of who I am. However, as I stated before,
I have a strong ethical and philosophical
orientation in how I work with people.
I simply do not push my own agenda onto
others. Nor do I try to meet my own personal
needs through working with people. My charter
is to provide affordable personal encouragement
services to help others achieve their goals.
This does not need to include religious
information. However, there may be a time
when a person may wish to work on goal setting
in a religiously oriented way. I am completely
comfortable working with them in this fashion,
but it is their choice.
Q: You have mentioned
that you have “special” life experiences.
Do you mind saying what they are?
A: Not at all. One of
those “special” experiences is that I am
an open heart surgery survivor. On December
21, I had my natural aortic heart
valve replaced with a mechanical heart valve.
I was forty years old at the time. I must
say that it certainly had a powerful impact
on my life, and there were many, many things
that I learned from that experience.
Q: Many “success coaches”
offer get rich programs. Do you offer anything
like this?
A: No, I do not offer
any “get rich quick” programs. However,
if a person desires to set goals in the
area of income, I do help with those goals.
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