Emmett Velten, PhD, therapy & consultation, rebt-cbt.com

Frequently Asked Questions:
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Why Record My Sessions?

Why Does Therapy Involve Homework?

What about Medication?

Are Telephone Sessions for Me?

Can You Do Therapy by Email?

What about the Privacy of Phone Sessions and of Email Exchanges?

How Long and How Frequent Are Sessions?

What about Fees, Insurance, Payment?

How Do I Make an Appointment?

What Are the Limits of Confidentiality?

What Is Your Cancellation/No-show Policy?

Training, Case Conferences, Workshops?

Coverage, Emergencies?

Why Record My Sessions?
If you record your sessions, you can review them later to reinforce and clarify your therapy.

Recording your sessions therefore gives you more for your money’s worth. My impression is that people who record and then review their sessions progress faster in therapy than do non-recorders/non-reviewers. However, it is your choice. If you do record your sessions, the tapes are your property.

If you do not record sessions, I recommend that you make session notes and review them.

Why Does Therapy
Involve Homework?
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and other cognitive behavior therapies often use "homework" experiments and other outside assignments.

Why? Because progress, or so we think, does not depend on mere insight. Instead, progress requires actively tackling one’s self-defeating habit patterns, and it also requires sustained practice in building more helpful habits in their stead.

If we work together, we will collaborate to develop homework experiments that target specific objectives. At each session, we review what you experienced and learned when you did the homework. And if you did not do the homework? We take a look at that and go back to the drawing board.

Research findings suggest just what you would expect: homeworkers tend to make greater gains in therapy.

What about Medication?
It’s OK to be on medication under a medical supervision while you are in therapy.

As a policy, I am neither for it nor against it. Whatever works for the individual is what I favor. The goal is to intervene effectively against problems, not to adhere to a particular ideology.

If you mainly want medication, or if you have a condition where medication is likely to be the main treatment, then it is likely that therapy with me would not be a good investment.

Are Telephone Sessions for Me?
There are a number of reasons you might consider the option of telephone sessions. They include:

your preference
your busy schedule
out of town trips
desire for the sort of therapy I do but lack of practitioners near where you live
physical handicaps that limit your mobility
agoraphobia, other phobias that initially limit your mobility
privacy concerns
illness, but you feel well enough for a telephone session

Clients call me at our appointed times. Telephone sessions cost the same as face-to-face sessions and the same cancellation and no-show policy applies.

Telephone sessions have become more popular recently and raise complicated (and so far unresolved) issues. The best I can say at this time is that both the provider of services and the consumer need to be aware that this is a rapidly-developing area of practice, with several issues and concerns, and there is no single accepted standard of practice.

Can You Do Therapy by Email?
Unquestionably, people often change themselves based on reading. And people also change by writing about themselves and their concerns.

Where the reading and writing goes back and forth with a psychotherapist, and when you have established a relationship with that therapist, I think it is fair enough to call it therapy. I am open to occasional, brief, such exchanges with established clients.

Clients sometimes email me to report progress, ask a question to keep in mind for the next session, or suggest agenda items for a session. I read these messages and save them.

What about the Privacy of Phone Sessions and of Email Exchanges?
In telephone sessions, my end of the conversation is always completely private. That is, there are no third parties within earshot.

I do not use a cell phone for sessions. If necessary, I will use a cell phone or pay phone, at an airport for instance, to respond to messages from clients.

Email exchanges between me and my clients are no more, or less, private than any ordinary communication over the internet. I suggest that clients be cautious about sending or receiving therapy-related email messages at work or in other situations in which communications may not be private.

How Long and How Frequent
Are Sessions?
Full sessions are 50 minutes and half-sessions are 25 minutes.

There is nothing sacred about any particular frequency of sessions. More important is what you do between sessions to tackle the problems you have targeted in your therapy Most often, at the beginning of therapy it works better if sessions are more frequent, sometimes a number of weeks in a row. After that, the frequency of sessions may taper off as you become more and more your own therapist. Some people then have occasional booster sessions or sessions when a particularly tough problem arises.

REBT tends to be relatively short-term, with most clients having between five and 20 sessions. Some people get what they need in one session. Others prefer a maintenance schedule of sessions over a longer period of time.

What about Fees,
Insurance, Payment?
My psychotherapy practice is private pay. It is free from the concerns about confidentiality and hassles that go with managed care.

I will provide a statement if you need to file a claim with your insurance carrier, but I do not accept insurance payments or file insurance claims.

I have two fee levels in my private practice. If your gross income is more than $100K a year, I charge $150 a session; if less, I charge $110 a session. Half-sessions cost half those amounts.

Payment at the time of sessions is expected unless we make another arrangement. If our session is by phone, then you mail me a check.

With consultation and training, I either set a flat fee or bill by the hour as well as for the actual cost of other arrangements, such as travel, lodging, audio-visual equipment rental, and the like.

I am a trainer in REBT/CBT through the Albert Ellis Institute. If you are working on a certificate in REBT/CBT through the Albert Ellis Institute, my fee for critiquing a taped or in-person session is the standard fee of the Albert Ellis Institute.

How Do I Make an Appointment?
Call (602) 254-7009, to make our first appointment by phone and we set up subsequent appointments in person or by phone.

If you leave a message for me on my machine and I have to call you back, make sure you have told me whether I can leave a message if someone other than you answers the phone or if I reach your answering machine.

What Are the Limits
of Confidentiality?
I cannot release any information about you without your permission.

There are several exceptions to this rule: In case of suspected child or elder abuse or neglect, I am legally obligated to make a report. In case of threats to harm someone (including oneself) or damage property, I am legally obligated to “warn and protect” the intended victim.

As part of keeping up-to-date professionally, I consult with colleagues regarding people I see in therapy. When doing so, I do not reveal names or any other identifying information.

If you have had psychotherapy previously, it can be useful for me to obtain at least a summary of treatment from the therapist(s). We can discuss that possibility.

In a “Biographical Information Form” I ask clients to complete at the beginning of therapy, you can let me know how to leave a message for you by telephone (or email) if I need to cancel a session and cannot reach you in person.

What Is Your
Cancellation/No-show Policy?
I prefer 24 hours notice for non-emergency cancellations.

A non-emergency cancellation with less than 6 hours notice (by telephone) is charged as a session, and the same is true of a no-show.

Training, Case Conferences, Workshops
I am a trainer in REBT/CBT with the Albert Ellis Institute.

In addition, I have a wide range of experience in providing service in community mental health agencies, schools, and addiction treatment and dual-diagnosis service settings, and in writing grants. I enjoy helping professionals get a cognitive-behavioral perspective on their difficult cases.

In consulting and workshop presentations, my interests include

development of cognitive-behavioral models and interventions;
program design and protocol development
staff training and case conferencing;
difficult cases.

Coverage, Emergencies
I share offices with other professionals, and we have an office manager, I am in solo private practice.

If you wish to reach me between appointments, leave a message for me, including your phone number, at 602-254-7009. I check for messages frequently whether I am in town or traveling. I will return your call as soon as I can. If you anticipate you may need to see someone at a time when I am out of town, let me know ahead of time if possible and we will make arrangements.

If you experience an emergency and cannot reach me immediately, (a) call the suicide hotline at 480-784-1500 or the Crisis Team at Value Options to ask for a crisis specialist, at 602-222-9444; both numbers (in the Phoenix area) are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; (b) go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital; or (c) call 911.

Got Questions? Email them to Dr. Velten.

	FAQs for Dr. Emmett Velten
	rational emotive behavior therapy & cognitive behavior therapy
	Emmett Velten, Ph.D..
	CONTACT: (602) 254-7009 or Email