Clinic Origins, Values, & Mission
The TAP Clinic was founded in October 2018 by Dr. Lorie Ritschel and Dr. Kathryn Byars. Dr. Chris Sheppard joined as a partner in September 2020. Our foremost goal in establishing TAP was to create an exemplary group practice with a strong team of providers dedicated to providing empirically-supported treatments to clients and to training the next generation of clinicians. We set a goal of becoming a gold standard clinic for the provision of empirically supported practices, including CBT, DBT, and other third-wave psychotherapies. We also aimed to create a clinic where employees really want to work – where people are intellectually stimulated, feel that they are truly part of a team, and are supported to contribute to the field in any number of ways beyond traditional psychotherapy.
Even before opening our doors, we established longer-term goals for the clinic, and we continue to work toward (and add to) those goals. For example, we hope to continue building our training and consultation services; to build a research infrastructure that allows us to gather and analyze data relevant to treatments we are offering or developing; to create meaningful ways to give back to the community; and to strive to make mental health services available to those in need by identifying barriers to access and ways to overcome them.
Intake & Billing Processes
The TAP Clinic has two important attributes that are important for all prospective clinical patients to know about. The first is that we are out-of-network with all insurance. This means that we do not directly accept insurance payments, nor do we file them on your behalf. While it is possible that you will be able to receive reimbursement for our services, that is something that you will negotiate with your insurance provider directly. To learn more about insurance, our fees, and how to file for out-of-network benefits, click here.
Secondly, as a specialty clinic, we have a two-part intake process. The first intake is likely to be with an intake coordinator whose specialty area is an ability to assess your fit for services here at TAP and best match you with the provider that can best help. To understand more about this process and why we think it helps, click here.
Contact Us
The Clinic itself is located in Durham, North Carolina near Southpoint mall. It is easily accessible by car from I-40 and NC54. Durham bus lines also stop on our corner. We also provide virtual services, though most providers are only able to provide virtual clinical care to clients physically located in North Carolina.
For directions and ways to contact us, click here.
