fbpx

Counseling Services

Mental health is crucial to an individual’s overall health. Unfortunately, health insurance doesn’t always cover mental health services and, if it does, it either restricts access to care by limiting the number of covered visits or by slapping on excessive co-payments. 

 

In response to the growing need of mental health services and in an effort to address the shortfalls of insurance coverage for mental health, Direct Primary Care offers cash-pay counseling services at rates that are 50% less than typical insurance-billed pricing – heck it’s less than most co-payments!

Stefanie Dorman - Direct Primary Care, Social Welfare

Stefanie Dorman, MHP

“Direct Primary Care gives the patient control of their own personal mental health needs. DPC breaks down barriers typically seen in mental health treatment by allowing the patient to direct the amount of time spent in therapy and helps facilitate a strong connection between the client and clinician.”

Stefanie Dorman, SUDP-T (Substance Use Disorder Professional), CCTP (Certified Clinical Trauma Professional) grew up in Snoqualmie, Washington and eventually moved to Spokane and graduated from Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley. Stefanie has lived in many different states across the U.S. but found her way back to Spokane to finish her degree. She received her Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology and Addiction Studies at Eastern Washington University and is currently on track to graduate with her Masters degree in Social Welfare in June 2020.  Stefanie knew that becoming a dually licensed clinician LICSW & SUDP (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) was what she was meant to do when working at a psychiatric facility in Colorado. Her experience includes working in the mental health field for 9 years including working as an administrative assistant, case manager, court evaluator, and hospital social worker. Stefanie cares deeply about treating all individuals with the respect and kindness everyone deserves regardless of their mental health or substance misuse history. She treats an array of mental illnesses using different types of modalities including anxiety, depression, ADHD, family struggles, behavioral issues, emotional disturbance, self esteem, addiction, and mood disorders along with a strong focus on trauma and self-regulation techniques. Stefanie enjoys hiking, cooking, reading, and traveling. She has a passion for life and living in the moment, nothing worth doing is completed without risk and hard work!

Common Conditions Treated

  • Anger Management
  • Anxiety
  • Chronic Illness
  • Chronic Pain
  • Codependency
  • Coping Skills
  • Dissociative Disorders
  • Divorce
  • Domestic Abuse
  • Domestic Violence
  • Drug Abuse
  • Emotional Disturbance
  • Family Conflict
  • Gambling
  • Grief
  • Hoarding
  • Impulse Control Disorders
  • Infidelity
  • Internet Addiction
  • Life Coaching
  • Life Transitions
  • Narcissistic Personality
  • Obsessive-Compulsive (OCD)
  • Parenting
  • Peer Relationships
  • Personality Disorders
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD)
  • Relationship Issues
  • Self Esteem
  • Self-Harming
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Sexual Addiction
  • Substance Use

Types of Therapy

  • Art Therapy
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Mindfulness-Based Therapy (MBCT)
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Rational-Emotive Therapy
  • Strength-Based Therapy
  • Transpersonal Therapy
  • Life Transitions
  • Narcissistic Personality
Click HERE to learn more about EMDR Therapy

Pricing

Membership Pricing

Pricing for Direct Primary Care members
$ 40
00
Per 50 Minute Session
  • In Person or via Telemedicine
Sign Up Now
Discount

Membership Pricing

Pricing for Direct Primary Care members
$ 20
00
Per 25 Minute Session
  • In Person or via Telemedicine
Sign Up Now
Discount

Non-Membership Pricing

Those only receiving counseling services
$ 60
00
Per 50 Minute Session
  • In Person or via Telemedicine
Sign Up Now

Non-Membership Pricing

Those only receiving counseling services
$ 30
00
Per 25 Minute Session
  • In Person or via Telemedicine
Sign Up Now
Call Now for More Information

See How Our Prices Compare to Cash-Pay and Insurance Prices

Even if treated as a mental health benefit alone, Direct Primary Care’s rates beat cash pay rates and co-payments associated with insurance. Overall, Direct Primary Care can help you save $55 – $105 per month on your mental health services, plus your membership ALSO includes unlimited primary care services at no extra charge!!!

Insurance / Typical Co-Pay

Counseling Session - $65 Co-Pay

  • 1st Month - $260
  • 2nd Month - $260
  • 3rd Month - $260

Cash Pay

Initial Counseling Session - $140
Follow-up Sessions - $80

  • 1st Month - $380
  • 2nd Month - $320
  • 3rd Month - $320

Direct Primary Care

Monthly Membership Fee - $55
Counseling Session - $40

  • 1st Month - $215
  • 2nd Month - $215
  • 3rd Month - $215

Check out Stefanie's Mental Health Mondays Series

Stress on the body

Stress is more than just a feeling. It can cause significant physical and mental effects that can impact your quality of life.

Stefanie Dorman, MPH:

“So when you are constantly experiencing stress day-to-day, day in and day out at night, it can really affect your brain and your body. When you are having that stress hormone, called cortisol, pumping through your brain, pumping through your body, it can shrink different aspects of your brain that help control memory, emotion regulation, and relationships. And Also, when you have a long fuse and you are starting to experience stress every day, all day, that fuse becomes shorter, and shorter, and shorter so you are just going off, and off, and off, and that is one of the signs that something is wrong – that there might be something going on in your life. It is a significant thing, you have to really, really take it seriously, or else your relationships and yourself are going to suffer.”

Self Regulation

Learn about a technique that can help you manage your feelings and gain control of your emotions.

Stefanie Dorman, MPH:

“Self regulation is kind of when you are on this edge, you are on a cliff, you are stressed out, your fuse is about to blow, and you have to decide what you are going to go. Are you going to give into anger? Are you going to give into yelling? Or are you going to try and get yourself regulated? Are you going to try and get down off that edge? Are you going to try and breath? 

It is so much easier to give in to that anger and let it go and let it unleash, but here is the thing, when you are in the fight, flight, freeze mode, you are not going to be thinking clearly, you aren’t going to remember what you say, you aren’t going to care what you are saying. You are just going to act on it. You are going to act on emotion and you aren’t going to be yourself. So instead of saying things that you might regret, it is important to self regulate. So you have to step away from that situation. 

And with self regulation a great way to do that is to first get away from whatever that cause is and take a break. Some tips can be splashing cold water on your face. Another thing that has worked, for me even, is to place an ice pack on your forehead. It’s called a T.I.P.s skill. So you are basically tipping on the edge and you put that ice on your forehead or put that cold water on your face and you snap out of it.

The next step after that is breathing. One of the self regulation skills I have learned is just breathing out. You breath in slowly and then breath out very forcefully. And you even just push your stomach in until there is no air, feels like there is no air inside of you. You just do that over and over again until you feel better and can think clearly. Once you can think clearly and remember things correctly, it will just be a better situation for you in that moment.

Mt. Everest

What would you do? Climb Mt. Everest or swim across the largest great lake to save a life? Lives are at stake here! Not real lives of course… but theoretical lives! 

“If you were tasked with a mission in order to save your family and you either had to climb Mt. Everest or swim across the largest Great Lake, what would you rather try to do?”

Stefanie Dorman, MHP:

“I would rather climb Mt. Everest for sure. I love hiking, and yes that would be the hardest hike ever, but I don’t like the idea of being in the middle of water and not being able to get out. It stresses me out. Water. I love water. I love looking at water. I just don’t necessarily like being in water.”

Mindfulness

This skill sounds like a Jedi magic trick, but it turns out it is a really helpful technique to help improve your mental health.

Stefanie Dorman, MHP:

“Mindfullness is a wonderful, wonderful skill. A lot of people think mindfullness and meditation are the same and they definitely are not. Mindfullness is just being one with yourself and accepting the things that you cannot change and the things that you can change. We all have emotions, right? We all have these angry/sad emotions and with mindfullness you are saying, ‘I am angry right now. I feel this emotion inside of me. I’m angry, and that’s ok.’ And you let that emotion go.

I think the best way that I can think about it if you are laying in the grass and you are looking at the clouds and you are angry. You feel it, you feel it in your body, and you let it go up to the clouds and it flies away with the clouds. And you are just trying to be at peace in your brain and in your mind.

You are going to have thoughts come to you constantly and that’s ok. We are all going to try and have silence in our brain and those thoughts are going to come to us and we are going to accept those thoughts, accept that we are having those thoughts, forgive ourselves, and let them go. The whole point of mindfullness is to quite your mind and to be just in the moment. Everytime a thought comes to your mind when you are trying to be mindful – let it go.

Another way we can start being mindful is by practicing while brushing our teeth. So many of us are just about, ‘Go, go, go, go, go.’ If you are brushing your teeth, a great way to start, is just, ‘I’m just going to brush my teeth. I’m not going to brush my teeth while on the phone. I’m not going to brush my teeth while walking around the house.’ Or whatever it is you do. You are just brushing your teeth. Or when you are washing your hair in the shower, try not to think about anything else, but washing your hair. Think about the fingers on your head, the shampoo, the warm water on your skin, think about that. 

It’s just all about being in the present moment. When you do that again, again, and again, it becomes easier, easier, and easier.”

Physical Exercise

Did you know physical exercise has been shown to be as helpful as mood stabilizing medications? Now only if they could invent a squat jump that is as easy as taking a pill…

Stefanie Dorman, MHP:

“Physical exercise has been proven to be as helpful as antidepressant medication. If you are getting outside 30 minutes a day, whether that would be a walk, a jog, breathing air, moving your body outside, you are starting to increase the serotonin and deopamine levels in your brain, which are responsible for the happiness and wellbeing of your brain and body. Doing that every single day releases those happy feelings, those happy emotions that you are trying to seek.”

Would You Rather

What would you rather do?

Would you rather go scuba diving or sky diving?

Stefanie Dorman, MHP:

“I would rather go sky diving, heartbeat. I’m terrified of being underwater and not being able to breath. I have actually practiced diving in a pool and I was horrified and I’m even scared of snorkeling. So, skydiving I think is a great adrenaline rush for me and I can breath.”

Unhealthy Feelings

We all have unhealthy feelings. But how do we manage them!? 

Stefanie Dorman, MHP:

“A lot of times I like to incorporate DBT skills. DBT is dialectical behavioral therapy. It was written and created by Marsha Linehan. It is about the dialectics in your brain. There are two truths and there are two sides of your brain, and you have to meet in the middle. You may want to clean house, you may want to exercise, and you may want to be thin, but you don’t want to get up and clean house, you don’t want to eat right, you don’t want to move around. You have to meet in the middle and decide what you are ok with and what you have to accept. 

So if you are feeling angry, sadness, hurt, that type of thing, there is a really great skill from DBT that I use in my own life and that is called ‘opposite action.’ If you are feeling angry and you want to scream, the opposite action is to whisper and say something very quietly. If you are feeling like you want to shake someone, you can give them a hug instead. It forces your brain to really start thinking that way. As soon as you are whispering or give somebody a hug, your emotions change, those things can just completely shift in your brain. Acting that way, even if you don’t feel like it, is really important to start that process.”

COVID

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. Or just some really good mental health.

Stefanie Dorman, MHP:

“I think with COVID many people are facing anxiety, worry, stress, depression, depressive symptoms, because they don’t know what to expect. When you go into the unknown and there are no answers, you are going to worry. Day after day, the stress of that, can take a toll on your body. 

All you can do is work on is your affirmations. That means accepting things as they are, accepting that feeling, and trying to let that feeling go and trying to stick to routine as much as you can. Also not apologizing for where you are at mentally and physically. This is just how things are and that’s ok.”

"Very affordable and very helpful. They are amazing at communicating with each patient to make sure you are taken care (of). Unlike most places you can tell they do truly care about each patient."
-Makayla
DPC Patient
Learn MORE
total Healthcare solution
Sign up NOW

Contact Us

212 E Central Avenue, Suite 360 Spokane, WA 99208

(509) 553-0565

mattd@mydpcclinic.com

PROVIDERS

+ MAJOR MEDICAL

SERVICES / BENEFITS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

SIGN UP

CONTACT US

%d bloggers like this: