Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Timeline
Sessions are 45-minutes long.
Sessions are usually once a week or once every two weeks. We make a personalized recommendation for each client.
It depends on a lot of factors. Clients who have prior experience manipulating their voice (i.e., singing, acting, etc.), lots of time to practice, and a starting voice that is close to their ideal voice tend to require fewer sessions compared to clients without these factors. Clients looking to fine-tune their voice may take 1-5 sessions. Clients starting at the beginning may take 8-12 sessions.
About half of our clients are satisfied within 3 months of starting voice therapy. Most clients are satisfied within six months. When you are satisfied with your voice, you graduate yourself. Our time together varies depending on how many sessions you need and how often we meet.
Regular practice outside of sessions is necessary in order to make progress. We strongly encourage clients to practice a minimum of 30 minutes per day at the start of therapy and to increase towards full-time practice as you progress through therapy. Establishing practice routines can we difficult – we can help you problem solve!
Clients learn in each session techniques that they can start to incorporate into everyday conversations. Your speed of progress will depend on your aptitude and how much practice you complete.
We work with clients at all stages of their transition. We work with people who are questioning or exploring their gender, on one end. At the other, we work with people who come to voice therapy as the final step of their transition. Most of our clients are in between. If you believe that voice training will improve your quality of life, we are happy to work with you wherever you are.
Payment
Our rate is $100 per session.
Clients provide a credit or debit card that we charge at time of service. Clients can use their HSA debit card.
Maybe. There are two parts to this question: 1) the part about your specific plan and 2) the part about our practice.
1) Some healthcare plans categorically exclude gender-affirming voice therapy. Other plans cover gender-affirming voice training but place limits on the number of sessions that they will cover and have specific requirements such as a referral from a physician and pre-authorization. You must reach out to your health insurance company and ask if these services are covered and what steps you would need to follow in order to have them covered.
2) We are out of network with all health insurance companies. This means that we do not participate in any health plans and do not bill insurance directly. Upon request, we can provide you with a “superbill” detailed receipt that you can submit to your insurance to request reimbursement. Clients must still pay upfront for services.
If you are interested in having the cost of your sessions potentially reimbursed by your health insurance company, please let us know during your consultation.
Yes! We participate in a local therapy assistance program. You may qualify for reduced cost services based on your household size, annual income, and physical location. Please inquire at your consultation call.
We understand that our clients’ personal and financial situations can change unexpectedly, and this can make continuing voice therapy difficult or impossible. Please let us know when things change and we can talk through options. For example, clients may newly qualify for therapy assistance programs. Clients may reduce the frequency of their sessions. Clients may opt to suspend therapy services until a better time. Let’s talk about your situation.
Technology and Accessibility
We use SimplePractice for our client portals and telehealth sessions.
Telehealth requires that clients have access to a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. The device must have a webcam, speakers, and microphone. The device must have Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. The Internet or data connection should be at least 10 Mbps. Please reach out with any specific device concerns.
The optimal set up is to join the telehealth session from a computer and to have a smartphone ready with the voice apps installed.
Please join your telehealth session in a physical space that is reasonably private, quiet, and free of distractions and interruptions. This space should allow you to practice your voice at a conversational volume.
Clients who access their telehealth sessions via desktop or laptop do not need to download a special program. Clients who use a mobile device will need to download the free SimplePractice app. We use various voice analysis apps during the therapy session and strongly encourage clients to have these app(s) on their mobile devices for practice outside the sessions. We will walk you through the installation process.
Both our telehealth platform (i.e., SimplePractice) and our software for end-to-end email encryption and forms (i.e., PauBox) are HIPAA compliant and HITRUST certified. We take your data security seriously.
We strongly encourage clients to participate in sessions with both audio and visual connection. We find that this works best for most clients. However, we respect that there are many reasons why a client may not want to appear on camera, and acknowledge that requiring all clients to appear on camera would an accessibility barrier. Please communicate any concerns with being on camera so that we can plan for audio-only sessions.
No, we respect clients’ autonomy to dress and style themselves as they see fit. We do not require, for example, our trans women clients to come to “sessions adhering to “en femme.”
Yes! When you complete your new client paperwork, the client portal will ask for your ‘legal’ name and give the option to add a ‘preferred’ name. The ‘legal’ name will appear only on documents generated for your insurance company, if you ask for a superbill. The ‘preferred’ name will appear throughout your client portal, on your invoices/statements, on appointment reminders, and during all communications with your clinician. Both ‘legal’ and ‘preferred’ names can be updated in the system if they change during therapy.
Our goal is for our services to be accessible for all people. Sometimes we fall short of this goal. Please reach out with specific accessibility concerns and we work to remove those barriers.
Location
We provide therapy only online via telehealth. We do not see clients at a physical location. We strive to make our online platform as assessable as possible.
Yes! Speech-Language Pathology is a licensed profession in all 50 states. TJ is licensed to practice only in the state of Michigan. Telehealth laws require the clinician to be licensed where both the client and clinician are physically located at the time of service.