Frequently Asked Questions

We are currently offering both in-person and telehealth appointments for therapy, group therapy, and assessment services. All initial intake appointments are conducted via telehealth.

COVID-19 protocols for in-person services:

• Masks are strongly encouraged
• Do not arrive more than 10 minutes prior to your appointment time
• Practice social distancing while in our waiting room
• If you have experienced symptoms of COVID-19 within 24 hours of your appointment, are testing positive for COVID-19, or have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, please remain home and contact your clinician to reschedule or switch to telehealth.

Our address is 1200 Harger Road, Suite 600, in Oak Brook, Illinois.  We are located in the outskirts of the Oak Brook mall, kiddy corner from the Nordstrom’s parking lot in the Oak Brook North building.  Free parking is available.

You can complete our online inquiry form here or contact our intake team at 630-571-5750 x. 224.  One of our intake clinicians will contact you to gather preliminary information about your concerns and schedule an initial intake appointment.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: If you cancel your intake appointment less than 48 hours prior OR if you fail to show at your intake appointment, you will be charged a $120.00 fee.

REQUEST AN APPOINTMENT

We accept many major health insurance plans.  During your first phone call with our intake team, we will gather your insurance information and provide you with an estimate of your coverage for services.  Utilizing third party insurance will require some disclosures of your protected health information, which we will share with you.

We welcome you to call and are happy to talk through the understandable questions many have when first initiating contact for a mental health provider.  One of our intake clinicians will contact you by phone to discuss your concerns and interest in our services.  After ensuring that SVPS is the best next step for you or your family, we will gather some preliminary information over the phone, including your health insurance information if you plan to use your insurance coverage.  Our office will complete a preliminary thorough review of your benefits estimated by your insurance company and share those details with you.  We will then schedule you for an initial intake appointment with one of our intake clinicians at the soonest available date & time.

At this time, all of our intake appointments are conducted via Telehealth through our Client Portal. Upon scheduling your first appointment, you will receive more information on how to set up & access your portal account.

In the intake appointment, we will review the history of your concerns and map out together our recommendations for services that we believe will be the best match for you.  We will surely address any questions or concerns you may have and discuss our approach to the services we provide.  Following this initial appointment, your intake clinician will coordinate a plan for ongoing services with a clinician best fit for your unique needs. Throughout the preliminary intake process, we will help connect you to our vast network of professional connections if there are additional community resources that would prove helpful or a higher level of care is indicated for any of the concerns you raise.

At this time, all of our intake appointments are conducted via Telehealth through our Client Portal. Upon scheduling your first appointment, you will receive more information on how to set up & access your portal account.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: If you cancel your intake appointment less than 48 hours prior OR if you fail to show at your intake appointment, you will be charged a $120.00 fee.

For information about using & managing your client portal account, read “Using Our Client Portal”. 

Typically, sessions are held once weekly.  At times of heightened stress or crisis, your therapist may discuss meeting more often for a limited period of time.

The number of sessions needed depends on many factors. We can discuss this following the completion of your initial intake. Research demonstrates that therapy is most effective when treatment is consistent, people are motivated to change, and an open, trusting relationship with the therapist develops. You will find our approach aims to provide both the short-term relief from life’s current challenges, while also addressing underlying contributors to support long- lasting change, and open, collaborative conversations about the best treatment plan will be ongoing between you and your therapist.  If we are working with your child, your therapist will invite you into ongoing meetings to share updates, revisit treatment goals and gains, and discuss some helpful parenting approaches to some of the problematic patterns that first prompted you to seek some additional supports.

Yes, what you share with your therapist is held in confidence.  Should any situation where a risk of harm arises, your therapist may need to disclose information to ensure everyone’s safety.  In addition, utilizing your insurance will require a mental health diagnosis to activate your coverage.  Whenever a disclosure of your information is required, your therapist will clearly discuss that with you, and the protection of your protected health information is detailed in our Notice of Privacy Practices.

Therapy should become a trusted place where we feel accepted, known, and understood.  It is a highly personal space designed to slow us down from the pace of everyday life to explore how we feel, relate, and think in order to create greater fulfillment, stronger connections, and improved insight.  You may explore moods that feel problematic, ruptured relationships in need of repair, troublesome or confusing experiences from your past, or goals you would like to attain in life.  At times, therapy is focused on tensions or stressors of today; other times, the process more deeply explores our history to foster understanding to move forward in life with greater insight, healing, and agency.  Sometimes therapy explores memories, relationships, or realizations about ourselves that can be painful, though therapy will progress at a pace comfortable for you and carefully tended to by your therapist.

We rely upon an approach that both research and our clinical experience tells us is effective in creating meaningful, long-lasting change.  A comprehensive study revealed the following about therapy and its effectiveness:

• • Therapy led to positive effects in 92% of respondents;
  • The longer people stayed active in therapy, the better their results;
  • Active participants in therapy produced more meaningful outcomes;
  • Therapy alone produced similar results for most psychological challenges than a regimen of therapy plus medication;
  • Remaining in therapy until concerns were resolved over time provided the most enduring outcomes.
  • The sense of match between you and your therapist and the trusting relationship that results is the strongest predictor of positive change.

According to the Association for Play Therapy, “Initially developed in the turn of the 20th century, today play therapy refers to a large number of treatment methods, all applying the therapeutic benefits of play. Play therapy differs from regular play in that the therapist helps children to address and resolve their own problems. Play therapy builds on the natural way that children learn about themselves and their relationships in the world around them (Axline, 1947; Carmichael, 2006; Landreth, 2002). Through play therapy, children learn to communicate with others, express feelings, modify behavior, develop problem-solving skills, and learn a variety of ways of relating to others. Play provides a safe psychological distance from their problems and allows expression of thoughts and feelings appropriate to their development.”

Psychological assessments provide clear and data-driven answers and recommendations when concerns about social and emotional well-being, learning, attention or diagnostic accuracy arise. With various specialized evaluations available, our clinicians will determine the right fit for each situation and guide clients and families through the testing process and beyond. Learn more about our different types of psychological and neuropsychological assessments here.  

If you want to update the credit card you have on file, please email our Billing Manager, Dorothy Fees, at dfees@sharedvision.org with the subject line “Update Payment Information”. A Payment Authorization Form will be sent to your client portal account for you to complete and submit your new payment information.

If you need to update the insurance policy you have on file, please email our Billing Manager, Dorothy Fees, at dfees@sharedvision.org with the subject line “Update Insurance Information”. A Client Insurance Form will be sent to your portal account for you to complete and submit your new insurance information.