Please read the below message in full before completing this application.
At The Gaia Center, we highly value community/collective care, which includes accessibility of mental health services. We also highly value being a workplace that compensates our therapists equitably and honors work/life balance. Because of these and other reasons (elaborated on
this page), we have chosen to remain out-of-network with insurance carriers.
How Reduced-Fee Therapy Works at The Gaia CenterWe know that many folks in the community can't afford typical out-of-network or out-of-pocket rates, so each of our staff therapists maintains a set number of reduced-fee spots in their caseload. Because of the community need, those spots are typically full, though if there is a specific clinician you'd like to inquire about, you can reach out on our contact form
here.
What we are very excited to share here is that— thanks to the work of our incredible Masters-Level Intern Therapists— we are now offering "Pay What You Can" therapy with those clinicians. This offering enables us to expand how we can meet the need of folks in the community who wouldn't otherwise be able to access our services.
Therapist assignment will be made based on matching your availability with the therapist whose clinical areas and schedule best match with your needs. We may be biased, but we believe every Gaia Center intern is very talented even with being new in the field; our internship program is highly competitive, so we bring on the best of the best.
Upon being approved for a Pay What You Can spot, we ask that you do your very best to honor the appointment times and frequency you establish with your therapist. Failure to do so would prevent us from being able to put someone else who needs a reduced fee into that spot. Thus, if you cancel or reschedule more than 5 times within a 3 month period, your fee will increase to your therapist's standard rate (extenuating circumstances can be discussed with our director).
Duration: Our graduate intern therapists work with us for at least a year. Often (but not always) they continue with The Gaia Center post-graduation; if they do, you'd have the option of either staying with them and discussing a workable rate change, or transferring to another graduate intern therapist and keeping your existing rate.
6-Month Review: For as long as you remain at a Pay What You Can spot, every 6 months you will be sent a different brief form to complete. It is important for us to do this periodic review, because otherwise we cannot ensure we are still meeting the most need possible with the spots we have available.
