FAQ
Where are you located?
Anywhere in Texas!
Dallas Psychotherapy is currently a virtual-only practice, so you can have counseling from the comfort of your own home or anywhere you might be in the state of Texas.
What are your hours?
Unfortunately, we’re not available 24-7, as we are notably ineffective at therapy at 1 o’clock in the morning!
We are available between 9am and 8pm (when we’re not in session) most days of the week.
If you have an emergency outside of office hours or during the weekends, we encourage you to contact the suicide prevention hotline 800-273-8255, call 9-1-1, or visit your local emergency room.
How long are therapy sessions?
Most sessions are 50 minutes. If you wish to have longer sessions, 90-minute sessions are available as well.
The traditional frequency of therapy is a 50-minute session once a week. However, we know that life doesn’t always accommodate that. We are happy to meet less frequently after discussing how that fits in with your overall treatment plan. We are also happy to discuss options for more frequent sessions based on client needs.
How long will I need to come to therapy?
It’s a good question… and one that’s tough to answer.
We check in with our clients frequently about the progress they are noticing and their satisfaction level. We typically check in once a quarter to see if a client is getting what they need. If things aren’t going to your liking, we can make adjustments.
Is therapy confidential?
How do I set up an initial appointment?
What is your cancellation policy?
We require 24 hours’ notice before your appointment for cancellations.
If you aren’t able to provide a cancellation within 24 hours, a late-cancel fee will be charged.
What is the No Surprises Act?
Under the federal No Surprises Act you have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your health care will cost
Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have certain types of health care coverage or who are not using certain types of health care coverage an estimate of their bill for health care items and services before those items or services are provided.
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You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any health care items or services upon request or when scheduling such items or services.
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If you schedule a health care item or service at least 3 business days in advance, make sure your health care provider or facility gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing within 1 business day after scheduling. If you schedule a health care item or service at least 10 business days in advance, make sure your health care provider or facility gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing within 3 business days after scheduling. You can also ask any health care provider or facility for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service. If you do, make sure the health care provider or facility gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing within 3 business days after you ask.
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If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more for any provider or facility than your Good Faith Estimate from that provider or facility, you can dispute the bill.
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Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate and the bill.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit
www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers, email FederalPPDRQuestions@cms.hhs.gov, or call 1-800-985-3059.
Do You Take Insurance?
At Dallas Psychotherapy, we are out-of-network with all insurance companies. This means that we are a “fee for service” or private pay practice.
How much does therapy cost?
Below are the rates for each of our clinicians, which are payable on the date of the service provided:
Ryan Holliman, PhD, LPC-S: $145/session
Shea LoRocco, LPC: $150/session
Dominique “Nikki” Salinas: $130/session
With what kinds of clients do you work?
Do you work with men?
Sometimes it’s easier to have a counselor that is similar to you in some way, and there’s definitely a comfort in knowing your counselor understands the male culture. We love working with male clients by helping them to explore healthy masculinity in the 21st century. Both Shea and Ryan have a deep interest in helping men who struggle with the demands of being in high-responsibility positions while having to balance relationship and family committments.
Do you work with couples?
Yes! We love to help couples, and we know that couples need different things at different points in the life of the relationship.
Whether it’s premarital counseling, guidance through the first year of marriage, or supporting you through a crisis, we are here to help you have an intimate, healthy relationship.
Can you help those in “non-traditional” relationships?
Absolutely! We have experience working with couples on a wide spectrum of relationship types, ranging from traditional monogamy to “swingers” to various kinds of polyamorous relationships.
We affirm all forms of love and don’t demonize non-traditional relationship configurations.
What happens in the first appointment?
We typically spend our time doing four things in the first session:
First, we want to hear your story about what brought you into counseling. Then we’ll spend some time asking a few standard questions. Once we’ve done that, we’ll give you a general idea about our take on what’s going on. Finally, we’ll spend some time outlining what the treatment plan might look like moving forward.
What do you do in a typical therapy session?
Think of your life as a movie, and going to counseling is like watching the movie with the director’s commentary. We help you see what’s going on and why… and then give you tools to change how things unfold next time.
What techniques do you use in session?
While there are some counselors that operate from a single modality, at Dallas Psychotherapy, we integrate a number of different approaches to create a tailor-made experience for you.
We don’t want to leave anything off the table when it comes to finding ways to help you.
We draw from a number of relational models that emphasize the importance of your connection to your counselor, and we draw heavily from evidence-based approaches that have extensive data to support their efficacy.
What is EMDR?
We’re going to skip over all the neuroscience that will make your eyes glaze over, and we’ll tell what EMDR can do for you.
EMDR takes a painful memory from your past and drains the feelings out of it, so it’s less harmful to you. Then it helps remove negative beliefs about yourself that the memory created… and replace those beliefs with ones that are more realistic and positive.
We were initially skeptical of EMDR, but I’ve found it to be highly effective and efficient in my work with clients.
How does premarital counseling work?
Our premarital counseling consists of a few elements:
First, we spend some time exploring the families that you and your partner grew up with and what your relationship with your partner is like now.
Then we cover various topics that are important for couples like sex, money, children, career, and more.
Finally, we spend some time teaching you fundamental skills that will help you succeed as a couple like joint-decision making, how to argue in a healthy way, and how to maintain intimacy while setting boundaries.
If you are getting married in a faith community that requires a letter affirming you have completed pre-marital counseling, we are happy to provide that.
Do you give “homework” between sessions?
Yes, but it’s probably not what you’re thinking. You might be imagining worksheets or really rigid and specific assignments.
Typically, we might give clients something to “think about” or a new behavior to “try out.”
Do you prescribe medications?
All the therapists at Dallas Psychotherapy are licensed professional counselors who cannot prescribe medications in the state of Texas.
However, we have good relationships with several psychiatrists (who can prescribe medications) and are happy to help you find one.
We believe that your mental health is best served when you have both a therapist and psychiatrist, and we are happy to consult with your doctor.
What is your professional training and experience?
Ryan Holliman has a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in counseling from the University of North Texas, which is one of the only nationally ranked counseling programs in the state of Texas. He has been seeing clients since 2006 in a variety of settings, including couples and individuals that experience anxiety, depression, impostor syndrome, and stressful life events.
After receiving her master’s degree from Southern Methodist University, Shea LoRocco pursued additional training in pre-marital counseling and couples counseling from the Gottman Institute. She has worked in private practice and non-profit settings treating marital problems, anxiety, depression, trauma, and attachment issues.
What makes your practice special?
Three things make Dallas Psychotherapy stand out:
First, we believe in the power of having a human counselor. We have both been to counselors that seemed very mechanical and robotic. That’s not what you get with us. We are real, authentic, and transparent therapists.
Secondly, we are pragmatists. Counseling is only effective if it’s moving you towards your goals. We have an eye continually on progress and give you concrete things to help you move towards those goals.
Finally, we are voracious readers and learners. When you come to therapy with us, you get a counselor committed to remaining up to date on all the latest treatment modalities.
What does a client need to know to make the most out of working with you?
The best way to think of counseling is to view the counselor as a consultant. You may well have had a consultant visit your work to provide expert guidance. However, it was up to you to implement the guidance.
In the same way, we provide expertise that is invaluable but, as a client, you have an immensely important role of implementing the change we talk about. Counseling is most effective when we work together.
How do I know if I’m being a “good” client?
The truth of the matter is… we care deeply about everyone we work with.
What makes a “good” client is showing up to therapy both physically and emotionally.
We know the feeling of wanting your therapist to approve of you… or wanting to “win” at therapy. But as far as we’re concerned, you “win” at therapy by taking that leap and working with us.
What if I finish counseling and something else comes up?
If you need to come in for less regular “check-ups” once a month (or even less frequently), we are happy to accommodate.
You might also want to return for therapy periodically or need a one-time session after a particularly trying experience. We are happy to help you in all these cases.
After you thought you were done, returning to therapy isn’t a failure; it’s a sign that you’re listening to your emotions and taking responsibility for them.
What if I have a friend that needs counseling, too?
Do you have any suggestions about a book on…
Yes!
Dr. Holliman makes it a point to read a minimum of 52 books a year ranging in topics from history to mental health to really cheesy science fiction.
We love it when clients ask us for reading recommendations for their own betterment (or something to read on the beach). So if you want to read more deeply about a specific topic, don’t hesitate to ask.