The Cardigan Approach

“Building understanding for children and families.”

Whether you are seeking therapy, assessment, or consultation, you will be treated with a person-centered approach aiding you in ensuring that you will get the necessary mental health service. Finding mental health services and seeking therapy can be hard, so we will do our utmost to ensure that you will be treated with the dignity and respect you deserve in all your interactions with us. Let us know how we can best help you obtain the services you need.

Our services:

Below is a list of services with a brief description of the nature of how the services work. Attached to the service are also the out-of-pocket costs for these services. We do accept most major insurances (depending on provider) including UPMC, Highmark, United, Aetna, Cigna, along with Medicaid (Allegheny County only) and CHIP.

If you do not have these insurances and would like to still receive services, feel free to contact us to see if you qualify for discounted rates.

Therapy

We currently provide individual therapy, family and/or couples counseling, and group therapy. Our therapists use a wide variety of treatment modalities (see the FAQS section below) to aid client’s in reaching their mental health goals. Your first session with a therapist will include a biopsychosocial intake to aid in the development of an individualized treatment plan. The amount of sessions needed is unknown and a dynamic process that you and your therapist will determine together.

Individual 60 mins |  $250

Family/Couples 60 mins |  $250

Group 120 mins |  $25 per group session  

Assessment

While each evaluation is tailored to the patient’s needs and their reason for the evaluation, a psychological assessment may evaluate a number of areas, including intellectual functioning, language, executive functioning, attention, academic skills, personality, social perception, and emotional/behavioral functioning. The evaluation process will include both diagnostic interviewing and testing, and we may collect and review information from other professionals involved in your case as necessary. A feedback session, during which the evaluation results will be explained, and a written evaluation report with the results and recommendations will be provided afterwards.

60 mins |  $400  

Consultation

We have already partnered with schools and educational institutes to provide consulting for various mental health needs. Consulting with us can include developing systems, protocols, trainings, and more to support the mental health needs of your organization. We also provide educational consultation for parents. Contact us today to see how we can best support you!

Consultation fees for our clinicians depend on a wide variety of factors. Hourly rates range between $150-$400 depending on the nature of the consultation.

Consulting with our educational consultation department fees are:

  • Initial Assessment and Evaluation (for reading and math, not a psychological or neuropsychological evaluation): $150

  • Educational Plan Development: $200 (fixed fee per plan)

  • Training and Support Sessions: $75 - $150 per hour

  • Direct Intervention Tutoring: $80 per hour

  • Continuous Monitoring and Adjustment: $75 monthly retainer

  • Package Deal: E.g., Assessment + Plan Development + First Training Session: $300  

FAQs

  • It depends on each individual therapist, but in general, you will find an eclectic mix of the following modalities:

    • Art-based Therapy

    • Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

    • Dialectical Behavior (DBT)

    • Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

    • Expressive Arts/ Mindfulness

    • Family Systems / Structural Family Therapy

    • Interpersonal

    • Narrative

    • Parent-Child Interaction (PCIT)

    • Play-based Therapy

    • Positive Psychology / Strength-Based

    • Psychodynamic

    • Trauma Focused

  • In general, our team takes a person-centered approach which takes the focus away from the specific diagnosis. However, we have experience working difficulties associated with:

    ADHD

    Anxiety

    Autism

    Behavioral Issues

    Bipolar

    Depression

    Toileting issues

    Emotional Disturbance

    Family Conflict

    Parenting

    Complex Trauma/ PTSD

    Relationship Issues

    Self-Harming

    Spirituality

    Suicidal Ideation

    Mood Disorders

    LGBTQ+ needs

  • Depending on need and ability to pay at time of session, we sometimes provide discounts. These are on a case by case basis, and are not guaranteed. We will try to connect you will services who would be able to help you if we cannot serve you due to a financial constraint.

  • Upon scheduling, you will receive an email from our secure Electronic Health Records system, Simple Practice, with documents for you to fill out and sign with added details for you to peruse.

  • The process is slightly dependent on your insurance. In general, assessment is split into three parts, initial interview (60-90 minutes), psychometric data gathering (3-6 hours), and feedback (60 minutes).

    Some insurances may require each one of these to be on different days, while others may allow for the initial interview to take place on the same day as psychometric data gathering. In between sessions, additional time is used for scoring, integration and diagnostic formulation, and write-up. You may be required to fill out some measures at home, and or have collateral information collected from other sources (e.g. teachers, parents) in between sessions.

    In total, the average amount of time between the initial session and the final report securely emailed to you (via our client portal) is about six weeks. Please note that any co-pays etc. are due before the final report is released, which is typically about two weeks following the feedback session.

  • Generally, we can provide therapy for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. We do have some slots for older adults, but this is not a primary focus of our practice at this time, so we have limited slots. Assessments are provided through college age. There is no age limit to consultation.

  • In short, Yes! We know that people do not exist in a vacuum so parents are an active part of sessions. Each therapist has a different style in how they incorporate parents, so make sure to ask your individual therapist. We work with you and your child to ensure that the family system works for everyone.

  • We currently provide a modified version of PCIT as we do not have a space at this time.

  • Yes! Our therapists ensure they have a trauma informed lens even if you are not seeking services for PTSD itself. If you are seeking services for PTSD, we also provide EMDR, TF-CBT, PCIT, CPP and other trauma-based interventions to aid in PTSD treatment.

  • We do not utilize a waitlist system. If we have space in our schedules, we will try to fit you in for therapy within one month of your initial contact. For assessment, we book out as long as there are slots. We currently have availabilities relatively shortly, so contact us today! This can change quickly, so ensure you contact us when you are ready to receive services!