Our most frequently asked questions.

We have counselors that speak Spanish, Arabic, French, and Amharic.

Sessions last approximately 55 minutes. Most clients begin with regular weekly sessions. Therapists may work with clients to reduce sessions to every other week, monthly, or as needed, if appropriate

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Go to the Getting Started page found on the drop down menu under "Company", and follow the 2 steps.  You can easily schedule an appointment from our website, or you can call our office to schedule an appointment.  If you have any questions, please give us a call, and we will be happy to help in any way that we can.

Through integrating our Christ centered faith and clinical training, we offer biblically sound and psychologically skilled approaches to life’s struggles.

Counseling can be very helpful navigating life's struggles. As written in Proverbs, "The plans of a person are like deep water, but one of understanding draws it out."

Most of our therapists are contracted with different major insurance panels. Please go to our Rates and Insurance page to see if HCCC has a therapist that accepts your insurance plan. In addition, all of our fully licensed therapists accept all insurance plans as an out-of-network provider. This means you are responsible for the full session fee up front, but your insurance provider may reimburse you for a portion of that fee. Upon request, HCCC can provide specialized receipts (called “superbills”) that you can submit to your insurance provider.

Parent involvement is important in the play therapy process. Parents will be asked to meet with the therapist on a regular basis. A parent may become involved in play therapy by joining the play process, if recommended by the therapist. Parents also will be asked to contribute to their child's progress by following recommendations of the therapist which may include activities outside the play therapy room that support the therapy process.

Play therapy is a process that depends upon several factors in the child's past and present experiences. The two most important factors are the developmental stage of the child and secondly, the age of the child at the onset of the issue. Usually the more recent the events, the shorter the length of therapy. The further back in the child's development that the issue occurred, the longer the play process will take.

The basic function of play remains the same in both situations. Play, to children, is a natural way to rehearse for life's interactions. Play basically has three purposes. The first two are for cognitive and motor development. The third is for emotional resolutions. When facilitated by a trained play therapist, the play becomes focused on emotional purposes. This leads to understanding and reestablishment of balance in the child's sense of well-being.

Through the play therapy process, children create play that resembles the emotional experiences that they are struggling with internally. These experiences usually cannot be expressed verbally. Children will select special toys to include in their play and use those toys to recreate issues that represent emotional conflicts that are important to the child. Beginning with this expression, the child's play evolves until the child gains a sense of understanding and comfort over this situation.

Children like to play. Children are unable to understand and talk about their feelings the way adults do and this makes adult therapies inappropriate in meeting children's special needs. Play becomes therapeutic to children as they give expression to their experiences and emotions. Children can recreate, in play, the experiences that are part of their anger, fears, sadness or frustrations currently influencing their behavior. A benefit of play therapy is that children can create therapeutic play at their developmental level. The relationship with the therapist allows children a sense of security when recreating emotionally stressful experiences.

Play therapy is a special process that focuses on children's need to express themselves through the use of play and toys. Children are encouraged to play as they wish with a trained play therapist who provides a safe and understanding environment. In this process a wide variety of toys are made available to children to encourage the expression of emotional concerns. Children are given the opportunity to express themselves through a variety of styles including art play, sand play, dramatic play and fantasy play.

When considering if you are going to use insurance, here is information to consider. If counseling would be helpful and utilizing your medical insurance is the only option, then “yes” may be a good option. If insurance would be nice to use but not essential, then “cash pay” may be the better option. The reason is when choosing to use medical insurance, it is important to understand that when any claim is filed on your medical insurance, counselors/therapists are required to provide a psychiatric diagnosis. This is required by all insurance companies. It is helpful to know and consider because in the future a psychiatric diagnosis could be an important factor if applying for: medical insurance if self employed, life insurance, particular vocations where a psychiatric diagnosis could be taken into consideration, or a firearm license.

Do you feel sad much of the time for no apparent reason?

Do you often feel exhausted, even after a good night’s sleep?

Do you sometimes become so anxious that you have difficulty breathing?

Are alcohol or drugs interfering with your ability to enjoy life?

Do you have difficulty concentrating, staying on task, or finishing what you start?

Have you experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse?

Do you often end up in hurtful, unfulfilling relationships?

Have you or your children experienced divorce or the loss of a loved one?

Are unresolved issues from our past keeping you from enjoying today?

Do members of your family spend more time arguing than anything else?

Be assured that our staff is very professional and will respect your belief and value system. We are trained at integrating our clinical skills with biblically sound approaches to life’s struggles. We will meet you where you are in your beliefs.

Through the play therapy process, children can change their personal view of events in the world and begin to better enjoy their interactions with others. Children can recreate their frustrations or disappointments with a skilled play therapist and then change the experience of that situation in their play. Then they begin to enjoy more of their play experiences and therefore, more of life's interactions. This leads to higher self-esteem and more enjoyment of activities with family, friends and peers. We all know this makes parenting a more enjoyable process.

There are times when a medication evaluation is recommended. However, we believe that doing solid in-depth therapy can often itself be what is necessary. Often times addressing the root causes of trauma, depression, and anxiety resolves the issue without medication intervention.

A Licensed Profession Counselor - Associate (LPC-Associate) designation is similar to a medical resident. The requirements in the State of Texas to become a licensed counselor are very rigorous. After a person has completed both a bachelor and a master degree or a doctorate degree, they have to pass a national exam towards licensing as a state licensed counselor. Then a person is eligible to begin accumulating 3,000 hours of supervised experience. While they are in this process, which takes several years, their professional designation is LPC-Associate or LMFT-Associate.  During this time, similar to a medical residency, the counselor works closely with a LPC-Supervisor.

It is not unusual for a spouse to be unhappy in a marriage and the other spouse to not feel comfortable enough to go to counseling. However, one spouse can make a difference because we know if one part of the family improves, change is inevitable.

Yes. Most of our counselors are trained specifically in trauma resolution, and we have found the tools/ techniques used to be extremely profitable for individuals who have experienced trauma. Many of our counselors are trained in EMDR and in Trauma Resolution Therapy.