Frequently Asked Questions
Logistics
We see clients Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with Tuesdays and Fridays reserved for “as-needed” cases and making up sessions.
Sessions are available by appointment only. Please see our contact page if you wish to become a new client.
TOPS is currently located on the 2nd floor of the Medical Dental Building in Downtown Seattle as part of the Associates in Behavioral Health Clinic.
Both! We actually prefer in-person sessions, and in most cases, require in-person for the intake process and any assessments completed. The appropriateness of in-person, telehealth, or hybrid sessions is determined in collaboration with your TOPS provider.
Yes, but on two conditions:
1) Sessions will have to be remote.
2) Your state has to be a part of PsyPact and your provider has to remain authorized under PsyPact to practice within partnering states.
For Individual Therapy/Services
It depends on what you are seeking services for.
Nearly all sessions involve a review of policies, brief introduction to myself, and then assessment which may involve tests, exercises, or just interview questions about what you are needing support services.
But there are some differences for certain circumstances:
- If you are a parent seeking services for your teen, you may be involved in the first session but the amount of involvement is determined by your TOPS provider and based on the circumstances.
- If you are seeking coaching services, the session will immediately involve some assessment of your resources, tasks, and schedule.
As long as cancellation is received 24 hrs prior to your session, you will receive no cancellation fee. If it is within 24 hrs and it is an emergency situation, TOPS reserves the right to waive the fee.
No-shows are treated similarly. Your first no-show is waived. All other no-shows are charged at 66% of the service scheduled, and TOPS providers reserve the right to waive or modify this fee based on circumstances, although they will attempt contact with you in such situations.
ADHD Assessment & Support
You just might! But no, TOPS does not currently have any prescribing providers. However, if you have a standing diagnoses, we have many prescribers we work closely with that can help.
Neurodivergence is an increasingly recognized and supported experience for many people. ADHD is just one way in which neurodivergence manifests.
However, we have very clear data that suggests ADHD is simultaneously overdiagnoses and underdiagnosed. How is that possible?
ADHD diagnoses is not a well-understood presentation of neurodivergence and can easily be slapped to any diagnosis list. So many people are being given the diagnosis with no real oversight. Often times, these individuals do have difficulties with planning, emotional regulation, task completion, etc., but the root cause isn’t ADHD.
Meanwhile, because our understanding of ADHD continues to evolve, those who truly do have it go missed and sometimes do so for years. ADHD can look very different for many people. A proper assessment can help clear up the confusion.
For children and teens, an assessment is a multi-step process, not a one-time test. It usually unfolds over several weeks (often around 6–8) so we can get a careful, realistic picture of what’s going on at home, at school, and inside your child’s experience.
We start with a brief phone or virtual consultation with a caregiver to clarify concerns, talk through whether an evaluation is the right fit, and review logistics. If we decide to move forward, caregivers complete intake forms and questionnaires, and—with your permission—we may also send rating scales to teachers or other adults who know your child well. This helps us understand how your child is doing across settings before we ever ask them to sit for testing.
Next, we meet with caregivers for a longer interview to go over developmental history, medical and mental health background, school experiences, family context, and your goals. Your child then comes in for one or more in-person sessions, where we use a mix of age-appropriate tasks, activities, and conversation to understand their learning profile, attention, emotions, and behavior. Younger kids may do more play-based or activity-based tasks; older kids and teens may do more structured testing and discussion.
Once everything has been gathered and integrated, we schedule a feedback visit with caregivers to walk through the results in plain language, discuss any diagnoses if they’re appropriate, and focus on what this means for your child in daily life. You’ll receive a written report after that meeting with clear recommendations you can use at home, at school, and with other providers.
Group Services
Groups are held on a rolling basis when interest and enrollment are high enough to sustain them.
Groups are arranged according to topic and interest. Common groups focus on relationships, men’s groups, and similar topics.
Consultaton & Clinical Growth
Much of our consultation work is grounded in Implementation Science and focuses on strategic efforts to shift system behaviors using psychological principles. On occasion, consultation can be for more limited efforts like professional development workshops, speaking arrangements, and evaluation.
Supervision is grounded in a collaborative Supervisee-driven model popular in pediatric psychology training institutions. If we decide that a supervision/mentorship relationship is appropriate, we begin first with an evaluation of our relative strengths and weaknesses. We align these to see what can be covered in our arrangement, with gaps addressed as best as possible through referrals to other training opportunities.
Once our target domains of professional practice are identified, we establish various goals and metrics aligned with those domains, and being implementation intention action plans to make progress on those goals. Progress is regularly monitored, and barriers–knowledge, skill, emotional readiness–are addressed all along the way.
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