WHY CHOOSE TO WORK with Tampa Therapy?
Tampa Therapy™ was founded to provide exceptional therapy services to the Tampa Bay area. From the start, the vision was to create an experience of warmth and wellness for our patients. Dr. Barbash started Tampa Therapy™/Tampa Therapy Group™ after leaving a coveted position at the VA Hospital to pursue her dream of providing sound psychological interventions in a warm, inviting, non-clinical environment. Her vision was to always provide services at the highest level of care following best practices. Today, we can proudly say that vision has been realized and is put into action on a day-to-day basis by our exceptional clinical team.
Some facts about Tampa Therapy™ and why you might choose to work with our office:
- We have been in practice the longest: Tampa therapy™ is the longest running group practice in the Tampa Bay area, and the #1 rated private provider of mental health and psychology services.
- When we opened our doors, there were no other group practices. Overtime, that has, of course, changed. Why would this matter? Because it means we are here to stay. It also demonstrates that our Tampa Bay community has trusted us, and continues to trust us with their mental health care, and that we are doing what we aim to do: providing the best mental health care possible. Our time in practice is also a reflection of our experience, specialization, and competency at treating our areas of focus.
- Our team is experienced – the most experienced in the area. This is a combination of the length and time that we have been in practice, as well as our hiring practices.
- Our clinicians are vetted, experienced, and specialized. We don’t hire those who just graduated. We don’t hire those who were recently licensed.
- As part of our quality practices, our clinicians have years of experience behind them before they join our team. Likewise, we don’t just purport to be specialized in our areas of focus, but we are the only practice in Tampa Bay that truly specializes in treating trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Barbash has authored national articles on what to look for in a trauma/PTSD therapist. Note, there are many who state they treat these areas; the reality is there are far less clinicians who actually do.
- We are a multi-disciplinary team that consists of psychologists and masters degree level clinicians.
- This unique aspect of Tampa Therapy™ allows us to provide a range of psychological services, increases accessibility for mental health care, and provides representation for different types of practitioners within the mental health and psychology fields.
- We are always focused on patient care. Truly, it is at the core of everything we do. This is evident in how the practice is ran, our policies, and frankly – the intentionally small size of our team.
- In full transparency, if we wanted to, we could have over 30 clinicians working in our practice. We could be running a full-scale operation that prioritizes churning out the most number of sessions possible, as we see other newer practices in the area doing. But that’s not why our practice exists, and that type of setup would never align with our focus on providing the highest quality services. We keep our team small because we prioritize quality clinicians over quantity. It is often the case that once businesses grow significantly, client care is impacted and the patients become a number rather than a person. We will never compromise the services we provide by misplacing our focus on the business itself, as our patients are the practice and why we exist in the first place: to do excellent clinical work.
THE THERAPY PROCESS
When potential new clients call our office, we are commonly asked about the “therapy process.” This question calls for a lengthy response, so if you called us and we directed you to our website to answer this question, you have arrived at the right page! The question itself can be answered in many different ways and is also largely dependent on the individual therapist who will be providing your treatment.
It is understandable to want to know about this, and to ask this question to feel comfortable scheduling an appointment and to prepare for that first appointment.
WHAT TO EXPECT DURING THE FIRST CALL
When you to call to make the first appointment, it is common to ask questions regarding the length of each session, cost of each session (and potentially insurance options including in-network or out-of-network, and the process for out-of-network), appointment availability, hours of operation, and about the therapists that provide services at the practice.
Some questions are easier answered through reading materials (such as this article), so the scheduler may direct you to our website for questions that require longer answers but yet are commonly asked.
To book the first appointment at Tampa Therapy, we do so with payment completed over the phone for the first appointment. This reserves the appointment time for you. The amount paid also completes payment for the first session, and is not an additional fee. We strongly believe you should only pay for the time you reserve.
PAPERWORK
At Tampa Therapy, our clients complete paperwork ahead of the appointment in the client portal. Paperwork is required to start services and will be reviewed at the first appointment.
No printing is required; everything is completed and submitted to us online. You will be sent a personalized link to the portal after scheduling the first appointment. Not only does this save some trees (a definite win!), but it benefits you as:
- You do not have to arrive early to complete paperwork
- You do not have to remember to bring paperwork with you
- The time during the first appointment can be spent on the reasons you are actually seeking therapy! Not filling out forms
- Your therapist will have an understanding of why you are seeking therapy even before they first meet with you, which will streamline the intake part of the therapy process and allow the therapist to ask questions more specific to you, your challenges, and your goals
THE FIRST APPOINTMENT
Trust us – it is not scary! Think of it this way – therapists, by nature and through experience, have a way of calming us. They tend to be down-to-earth, pragmatic, and soothing. At Tampa Therapy, we can genuinely say we have never had a client tell us their first appointment was anything other than “easier than I thought” or “relaxing.”
Your therapist will start the first session by going over key points from the informed consent – while this may seem unnecessary to some, it is an essential part of the therapy process that you can really consider part of the therapist’s due diligence. This allows you to have an understanding of what therapy is, and what it is not, as well as the limitations of therapy, your rights, etc. Not only does this part answer common questions about the process, it can also be a great opportunity to simply sit, listen (and possibly ask questions) while you get acquainted with the therapist, the therapy room, and can begin to feel comfortable.
After reviewing the informed consent, the general goal of the next phase is for the therapist to get an understanding of what brings you in for therapy. This looks different in practice based on the therapist, and (no surprise here), based on you! The therapist wants to understand your challenges, struggles, history, past therapy (if any), and develop a plan with you on how to treat the problem areas you are presenting for.
Sometimes the assessment/intake process takes more than one session, and this is completely normal and realistic. After all, your difficulties didn’t start overnight, so it can take some time for the therapist to get an understanding of what you are experiencing, how you got here, what you have or have not tried, and what will likely work best to help you. Remember: Therapy takes time; it is a process, after all.
Therapy that is rushed is likely to not be as effective. This is because things may be missed, skipped over, or not adequately addressed.
Treatment at Tampa Therapy is highly personalized – we don’t believe in a one-size fits all approach, and that is because how you got where you are today is different from the person coming in for an appointment after you. The actual approach your therapist will take varies greatly based on YOU and their therapy style, but the therapist will provide you with recommendations based on what they assess will benefit you the most.
THE REAL CHANGE HAPPENS
After the initial appointment (or first few), the actual work of therapy really begins. This is where the therapist is working with you to address the difficulties that you presented to therapy for. Again, this looks different for every client and between different therapists.
It is important to keep in mind that regardless of the approach taken, your therapist cannot do the work for you. You are the one responsible for coming to sessions open and ready to “work,” and even more so, for taking what is done in therapy and implementing those strategies and practices in your everyday life – when your therapist is not there! The therapist is there to guide you, teach you, motivate you, and point you in the direction of growth, healing, and change.
Take this analogy into consideration: The therapist/therapy session is the like the stove (or any other cooking appliance) in your kitchen – it will provide the basis for you to cook a meal, but it cannot initiate cooking a meal or correctly cook a meal without your direct, active involvement, and direction. But without the stove, cooking the meal would a lot harder, more complicated, and time-consuming.
Weekly Appointments: Why They Matter!
As mental health professionals, we fully understand how therapy works, and it is part of our job to educate prospective clients and clients. This largely includes having conversations about the consistency and frequency that you attend therapy appointments.
When clients do not understand how therapy works, this means sometimes people set out the with the plan that they will come to therapy appointments once every three weeks or once per month. And they plan to start out coming only once per month…
We hate to break it, but that’s just ineffective therapy. And this is supported by countless research studies and decades of clinical outcome reviews. We want you to get the most out of your therapy, and it is proven that weekly sessions are key to clinical outcome success. Likewise, we pride ourselves on using best practices, which means meeting with you on a regular basis to help you work towards those goals. Just like anything else in life, consistency is key. A person doesn’t reach their goals through erratic and inconsistent behavior.
After you have begun to make progress, we fully support lessening the frequency of sessions as this is a natural way to begin the termination process from therapy, and to enter into the phase where you can apply everything you have gained from therapy without a reliance on it.
Therapy is a marathon; not a sprint.
A RELATED EXAMPLE
The easiest comparison we can make is to that of weight loss. You simply do not lose weight by eating healthy and exercising one day per month, or even one day per week. You need to be consistent with how often you engage in the necessary behaviors to reach the goals you have. With therapy, it is largely the same except compared to weight loss, in most cases you only need one appointment a week (not five days a week!).
WEEKLY APPOINTMENTS ARE A MUST IN THE BEGINNING OF THERAPY
At no point in the process of therapy is this more important than the very beginning when introductions are being made, rapport is being built between you and your therapist, goals are being established, skills are being developed, and momentum and progress towards those goals are being realized.
IT’S ALL ABOUT OUTCOMES
We certainly agree that only needing to attend appointments on a monthly basis would be ideal, but it’s simply not practical if you’re looking for meaningful outcomes. At Tampa Therapy in particular, we pride ourselves in providing high-quality services, strong outcomes, and helping you to make the most of the time you spend *in* therapy and the money you spend *on* therapy. We would be doing you a disservice by only seeing you once per month or less, and we simply stand by providing the highest quality of care possible.
Further, any therapist who does care about the outcomes you get from therapy will also follow these guidelines (again, especially at the beginning of therapy), whether you are being seen for free or paying a few hundred dollars per session. Apart from your level of engagement in the process, therapy outcomes are related to consistency and frequency of attending appointments and doing the work of therapy, which cannot be achieved with only occasional appointment visits.
See you soon
If you have booked your first appointment with us, we look forward to meeting and working with you! If you haven’t booked the first appointment and are ready to get started, give us a call – 813-474-9395.