• Lack of Confidentiality: Insurance companies require specific information on your mental health. A therapist who takes insurance is required to provide your diagnosis and treatment notes to your insurance company. This breach in confidentiality is one of the reasons I do not accept insurance.​

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• Lack of Insurance Coverage: Even if you don't mind your private information being shared with your insurance company, this could have unintended consequences in the future. Insurance companies require specific mental health diagnoses in order to cover your sessions. What happens if you don't have a mental illness and you're just seeking personal growth, relationship improvement, dealing with a difficult transition or need help with conflict resolution like the majority of people seeking therapy? Well, your insurance company doesn't see that as a valid reasons for them to cover the costs. If you don’t have an actual eligible diagnosis, they won't pay for your sessions.

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• Limited Choice of Treatment: When insurance pays for your sessions they require your therapist to use only use the treatment methods covered by your plan. This limits the frequency, types of therapy and individuals allowed in your session.

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• Limited Choice of Quality Specialists: I want to start by saying that there are some quality mental health "specialists" that do take insurance. However, most do not due to the labor & time intensive efforts a therapist has to spend trying to obtain approval and fighting with insurance companies to get paid...not to mention the low fee reimbursement making it difficult to make a living as a therapist in Santa Barbara. I am even more obligated to provide excellent service in order to develop a strong reputation as an effective Santa Barbara Therapist because I don't have big insurance companies promoting me and rely almost solely on word of mouth referrals.