Thank you for your interest in an intake here at the TAP Clinic!
Please read below to better understand the specialist-model intake process, including steps to becoming a patient and estimated costs.
How to Start the Intake Process
To get the onboarding process started of becoming a patient (or we more often use the term “client”) at TAP, you can call our administrative staff at (919) 237-3321 or complete the Prospective Patients form. In this contact, it is helpful for you to include basic demographics of the potential client (name, age, gender, date of birth) and the general type of treatment you are looking for (individual therapy, group therapy, assessment).
Our administrative staff will then set you up with a patient portal and get you started with the required paperwork. Once your paperwork is complete, they will schedule you with one of our intake coordinators to begin the two-intake process. Please keep in mind that our intake coordinator’s schedules fill up quickly and the faster you respond to their communications, the sooner you will be able to be scheduled.
Intake Process for Individual Therapy
Intake Goals:
Intake session(s) are sessions designed to determine whether one of TAP’s specialty therapists best fits your treatment needs and preferences. This involves confirming that you are a fit for standard, outpatient treatment, have treatment needs in one of our provider’s specialties, and that we propose a treatment plan with which you are in agreement. Intakes are also a chance for you to learn more about our clinic, our providers, and determine whether you believe we are a fit for your needs or preferences. We truly believe that therapy is most effective (and efficient) when both parties agree on therapy goals (what you want out of therapy), what therapy intervention is needed (what type of therapeutic intervention is needed), and personality or style fit (whether we feel we can work well together).
For these reasons, completing an intake at TAP is not a guarantee for treatment. If our intake coordinators believe we are not a fit for our services, they will provide recommendations of providers or clinics that we believe will be a better fit.
Specialists vs Generalists:
Many therapy providers in the community are what are considered generalists. This means that they are trained in a wide range of presenting concerns (symptoms) or therapeutic interventions. Generalists can see most folks that walk in the door as they have training across many areas. As a result, their intake process tends to be shorter and is focused only on screening out a small percentage of prospective clients that are at a certain level of severity, unique type of presentation, or high level of complexity. Think of generalists as the primary care providers (PCP) of the therapy world. Generalists can help most folks with many things and only refer out when a level of specialty (e.g., a cardiologist) is needed.
TAP therapists are specialists. This means that they have a very high level of training in only a few areas. Think of specialists as the cardiologists or orthopedists of the therapy world. Specialists screen in patients only when their concerns are a fit for our areas of deep knowledge. Because of this “screening in” process, we typically have a longer intake process. Speciality therapy treatment tends to be more expensive and patients may choose to go out-of-network with insurance to receive it. We take this very seriously and want to make sure that we see folks for whom we think a specialist is needed and for whom we can make a difference. Therefore, TAP specialists conduct two intakes to confirm the specialty fit and make sure we are the best option for the treatment or changes you are seeking.
Intake 1 (50-55 minutes):
Your first intake is most often conducted by an intake specialist, which we call an intake coordinator. The intake coordinator has a particular specialty in assessing across concerns and quickly determining specialty fit and what care we would recommend. Your intake coordinator may be a fit as your therapist; however, it is more likely that they will connect you with one of our other specialists to begin treatment.
Following Intake 1, you will be given general treatment recommendations by your intake coordinator and be connected to your ongoing TAP therapist, or you may be offered referrals to outside resources that will be a better fit. Intake 1 is a great time to get your questions answered about our services and to let us know if you would like to work with a particular provider or intervention.
Intake 2 (50-55 minutes):
Occasionally intake two is conducted by your intake coordinator (if you have a particularly lengthy or complicated treatment or symptom history); however, most of the time it is completed by your matched therapy provider. The goal of Intake 2 is to assess your treatment needs in more detail to finalize the best course of treatment for you. During Intake 2, you and the therapist will discuss any remaining information not covered in Intake 1 and collaboratively identify which empirically supported intervention can help address your specific concerns, or whether referrals to outside resources may actually be a better fit.
Intake Process for Other Services
Couples, Family, and Behavioral Parent Training (BPT):
For our multi-client services, such as couples or family therapy, we also use a two step intake process to confirm fit and finalize treatment recommendations. However, these services do not require an intake coordinator and you will be matched directly with your therapy provider, who will conduct both intakes.
Group Therapy:
If you are a current individual, couples, family, or parenting client that would also like to participate in one of our groups, your TAP therapist will connect you with your group leader(s) directly. Some groups require a one-time intake to confirm fit; others do not.
If you are not a current therapy client and would like to join one of our groups, you will need to complete our group-only paperwork and be scheduled for a one-time group intake with a group leader to confirm fit and treatment goals.
Assessments:
Assessments are not part of our standard intake process for therapy and you will need to request an assessment if you are hoping to receive one. To learn more about our assessment process, click here.
We start all of our assessments with a 50 minute intake appointment aimed at understanding your goals for assessment and the questions you are hoping to answer. In this hour, we will discuss what has been helpful about previous assessments or therapy services and/or where you are feeling stuck or lost. Using this information, we will discuss an initial assessment plan and get further appointments scheduled.
Estimated Costs for Intakes
Please note that the TAP Clinic is fully out-of-network with all insurance carriers and therefore all of our services must be paid out of pocket at time of service. You may be able to file for insurance reimbursement, but we recommend you confirm the exact rates with your insurance carrier prior to completing an intake. Please refer to our Billing Process page for further detail about insurance and fees.
Please note that intake session fees are not refunded if you are determined not to be a fit for TAP, as you are paying for a providers’ time and treatment recommendations. If you are referred to a community provider, you are welcome to sign a release of information and we can provide a free coordination of care call with your new provider.
After you initiate the onboarding process with our administrative staff, they will confirm with you the exact costs of our two-intake process based on our current fee schedule. For most individual, couples, parenting, or family intake sessions, the intake costs range from $200-$250 per intake. As those services involve a two intake process, this is an estimated total cost of approximately $400-500 for our specialty intake process.
Group intakes typically bill at the rate of one group session, which ranges from $60-120.
If these intake costs will be prohibitive for you or your family, please let us know so that we can attempt to problem-solve and see if we have sliding scale options available. Of note, our trainee services are often billed at lower rates and sliding scale fees are often available with our trainees.
To Learn More
To learn more about our billing policies, our specialty areas (what we treat and how we treat), or assessment, please click below!