Parent Coaching
Partnering for Personal Progress
Insurance Benefits Consulting
Advising for Maximum Coverage
Mental Health Care Advocacy
Speaking Out for Change
Bio
Professional Insight with Personal Experience
Parent Coaching
Partnering for Personal Progress
We cannot change the behavior of others, but we can create room for change in our relationships and ourselves. Coaching is a great option for parents and individuals aspiring to achieve positive and meaningful change in relationships now. Through practical and creative coaching, clients clarify what is important, explore their own dynamic relative to their primary focus and identify next steps that move toward desired outcomes. Coaching focuses on the here and now, with an eye toward an improved future. During coaching, clients gain a sense of direction and purpose that allows them to progress toward critical goals by identifying and moving toward their next right step.
Through coaching we will:
- Identify area of primary focus (“What do I want to achieve?“)
- Advance situational understanding and clarity (“What matters to me and is within my control?“)
- Facilitate forward movement (“What is my ‘next right step’?“)
- Improve wellbeing (“What does ‘doing my best’ look like for me right now?“)
Insurance Benefits Consulting
Advising for Maximum Coverage
Insurers have intentionally created a complex system of health care benefits that works against the consumer, particularly when it comes to mental health coverage. My insurance consulting helps clients learn the ins and outs of their insurance plan and develop strategies to maximize benefits. Clients learn to identify critical insurance plan details, leverage support of providers and develop strategic responses to wrongful denials, stonewalling and other common obstacles. Clients utilize these skills and strategies to pursue mental health insurance coverage directly from the insurer (or in-network provider), with expert advice available as needed. Insurance benefits consulting is a proactive alternative to hiring an insurance advocate to file claims and appeals on your behalf. The primary reasons for clients to go this route are: 1) to reduce upfront costs to file claims and fight denials and 2) to become savvy navigators of the health care system. With the money saved and knowledge gained, clients become less susceptible to the unfair whims of the insurer and more capable of sorting out benefits on their own.
A primary goal of my insurance consulting is to assist clients who have been denied coverage to exhaust the insurer’s internal review process. With strategic advice and compassionate support, determined clients are empowered to persist rather than give up. Exhausting the appeals process increases the likelihood the insurer will reverse its adverse determination. In the event you remain unsuccessful after exhausting the appeals process, you will often be eligible for potentially less biased external review and/or a class-action lawsuit. My focus on helping families exhaust their appeals process is based on a core belief that insurers must be held accountable for providing fair and effective mental health care coverage. Until governmental policymakers institute policies that demand and deliver accountability, the best recourse families have may be to exhaust the insurers’ internal processes and flood the external review and legal system with a plethora of cases to demonstrate beyond any doubt that change is necessary. Now.
Common insurance benefit consulting topics:
- Plan review (“What type of plan do I have, how is it administered and who has oversight?“)
- Benefits review (“What treatments are covered, am I eligible and what is the process to file a claim?“)
- Claims review (“What does my Explanation of Benefits mean, and what might I do next?“)
- Denials/Appeals review (“What are the grounds for denial, what is the process to appeal and how do I develop a compelling appeal?“)
- Leveraging partnerships (“Who are my allies, and how can I engage their help?“)
- Strategic planning (“What is my best next move?“)
- Referrals (“Where do I go from here?“)
Mental Health Care Advocacy
Speaking Out for Change
I authored Health Care Coverage for the Relentless: Insurance Essentials from a Mother’s Quest for Mental Health Parity (Well Being Trust, 2021) based on my own uphill battle to secure medically necessary coverage for my child. This comprehensive guide clarifies the health care insurance benefits process for families seeking coverage for mental health care, starting from step one. It presents strategies for navigating the maze insurers have created to derail our efforts to access rightfully owed benefits. Through the guide I hope to equip families with the tools necessary to individually and collectively demand meaningful change from insurers and policymakers, one claim at a time.
I passionately believe that we have the power to create change — in ourselves, our families, our communities and our health care system. My goal is to share and build the knowledge base among families, individuals, programs, educational consultants, providers, advocates and policymakers so that together we can overcome the mental health crisis our nation is facing. I am available for speaking engagements, workshops, lobbying efforts, training and custom projects.
Bio
Professional Insight with Personal Experience
I am a Certified Parent Coach and Board Certified Patient Advocate (BCPA). I come to coaching and benefits consulting with a passion for helping families of adolescents and young adults who are struggling with mental health. I offer a unique combination of skills and competencies based on professional training and personal experience overlain on a highly technical, detail-oriented background. (I am a structural engineer by vocation.) My passion for mental health advocacy is spurred by a strong personal protest against the injustices and inequalities families face when seeking mental health care and associated benefits coverage. I believe that with the right support and guidance, families can accelerate change in their personal circumstances and that each family’s forward momentum contributes to a collective movement that will improve the broken system we call mental health care.
I am the author of Health Care Coverage for the Relentless: Insurance Essentials from a Mother’s Quest for Mental Health Parity, published by Well Being Trust (2021), a national foundation dedicated to advancing the mental, social and spiritual health of the nation. I have been invited to speak at events for The Kennedy Forum and The Carter Center Mental Health Program.
Education:
Stanford University, Honors Bachelor of Science, 1999
Columbia University, Master of Science, 2000
Partners and Collaborators:
Well Being Trust
The Carter Center Mental Health Program
The Kennedy Forum
Embark Behavioral Health
Rates
Parent Coaching
Parent coaching sessions are conducted by phone and are 50 minutes in length. New clients are asked to commit to a minimum of 6 sessions. Additional sessions are purchased in 4-session bundles.
- New client: 6 sessions, $800.00
- Additional bundles: 4 sessions, $500.00
Insurance Benefits Consulting
Benefits consulting is customized to each client’s needs. Billable consulting services include intake, plan review, strategic planning, client meetings, claims review, appeal planning and all associated tasks.
- Hourly rate: $125.00
- A minimum $500.00 retainer is required.
Consulting services are billed hourly in 0.25-hour increments.
Mental Health Advocacy
Contact me to discuss custom advocacy engagements and opportunities.
Let’s Connect!
I only take on a limited number of clients and advocacy projects to ensure every case receives my full personal attention. Please complete this form to contact me. I will respond to your inquiry promptly.