Therapy in the Houston Heights

You have been at this a while. Not the therapy part, the finding a therapist part, which nobody warns you is its own small ordeal.

Somewhere around the sixth profile, they all start sounding like the same person. Compassionate. Non-judgmental. Safe space. All true, all fine, and none of it tells you the one thing you want to know, which is whether you would want to sit across from this person on a bad Tuesday.

Here is the thing we would guess about you, and you can tell us if we are wrong. You are good at this, at holding things, at being the steady one, and you have been doing it long enough that it has stopped feeling like a strength and started feeling like a job. And now it is eleven at night, and you are on your ninth tab, because there is no one to call about this.

We built this practice around that person.

Eight of us work out of the Heights, at 810 W 21st Street. We are private pay, and we will tell you what that costs before you have to ask.

Who Thrives Here, and Who Doesn't

Some version of this tends to be true of the people who do well with us:

• You are the one other people call when things fall apart, and lately, no one has thought to ask how you are.

• Your life works on paper. That has started to feel like a problem rather than a comfort.

• You are good at being fine. You have gotten so good at it that you are not sure who would notice if you stopped.

• You want a therapist who will ask you a question you have not already asked yourself.

• You are curious, a little skeptical, and allergic to being handled.

• You want to be met where you are, even if where you are is a mess. You don’t have to arrive with your ducks in a row. You are welcome here, duck-less.

And some honesty, because you have better things to do than fill out a contact form for a practice that was never going to work:

We are not the right call if you need in-network care. We are out of network with every insurer, and for a lot of people, that is the end of the conversation. It should be. Insurance is a real constraint, and there is nothing noble about pretending otherwise. The Psychology Today directory will let you filter by carrier, and several excellent Heights practices take insurance.

We are not the right call if you want to book online and be seen on Thursday. That is not how we work, and the reason is below.

We are not the right call if you are in crisis right now. If you are in danger, please call or text 988, or go to your nearest emergency room. We will still be here afterward.

Eight Clinicians, One Match

You aren't picking from a directory. There are eight of us, and we are not interchangeable.

Some of us work in words. Some in art, or in the body, or in the parts of the nervous system that talking never quite reaches. One of us sat on the same bench you did, before she was a therapist.

Read about each of us here.

Not sure which one? Neither are most people at this stage, and you don't have to be. Tell us what's going on, and we'll point you toward the person most likely to be right. Not the one with the soonest opening. The right one.

Friendship Therapy, Brainspotting, and Things Almost Nobody Else Offers

Friendship therapy is the one people remember.

Two friends, in a room, trying to repair something that matters. There is no cultural script for this. You can find a hundred people in Houston who will help you save a marriage and almost nobody who will help you save a twenty-year friendship, which is strange, because losing one of those can level you just as thoroughly.

Roughly a quarter of Barbie's caseload is pairs of friends. TIME, NPR, and The New York Times have all called her about it. It is a real service, not a novelty, and if you have been quietly grieving a friendship that went sideways, you are not the first person to walk in here with exactly that.

Brainspotting works from a simple premise, which is that where you look affects how you feel. Some things live in the body rather than in language, and talking about them can go in circles for years. Brainspotting goes at them another way.

Art therapy, therapeutic journaling, and sports counseling each exist here for the same reason. Talking is one door. It is not the only one, and for some people it is not the best one.

Calm Crusaders is a six-week after-school anxiety group for kids aged nine to twelve, run at their own school.

Who We Treat

• The everyday work and the methods behind it.

• Individual therapy

• Couples and marriage counseling, including premarital, LGBTQ+, and polyamorous couples

• Family therapy

• Anxiety, depression, trauma, and grief

• Parent coaching

• Supervision for LPC associates

How We Do It

CBT

This method looks at the thoughts running underneath the feeling and asks whether they hold up. We sometimes call it being a thought detective, which sounds cute and is harder than it looks.

Internal Family Systems

Treats you as a person with parts rather than a person with a problem. The part of you that overworks and the part that resents it are both trying to help. Neither is the enemy.

Motivational Interviewing

This one starts from the assumption that you already know things you have not said out loud yet. Barbie trains other clinicians in it.

Emotionally Focused Therapy and the Gottman Method

These methods are the couples workhorses. Both look at the pattern rather than at the argument, because the argument is rarely the thing.

A systemic approach, which is a fancy way of saying we look at the people around you, not just at you.

What It Costs, and Why We're Out of Network

Here are the numbers.

First sessions run ninety minutes. Standard sessions run fifty minutes.

We are out of network with every insurance plan. We will give you a superbill to submit for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and we will be straight with you: being reimbursed our full fee is rare. Plan accordingly.

The reason we work this way is not mysterious. Insurance requires a diagnosis to justify a billing code, whether or not a diagnosis is the truest thing about you. It caps sessions based on what a claims adjuster considers sufficient. It asks for a treatment plan written to satisfy a company that has never met you.

Our work answers to you. That is the whole trade, and it is a real one, with a real cost. You get to decide whether it is worth it.

What Happens When You Reach Out

You won’t find a "book now" button here, and that is on purpose.

Reach out, and a person will read it. Not a form router. Someone will talk with you for fifteen minutes, free, about what you are looking for, and then match you with the clinician most likely to be right for you. Not the one with the soonest opening. The right one.

It is slower than clicking a calendar. It is also the difference between finding a therapist and booking an appointment.

Ready When You Are

Be compassionate with yourself. Being human can be hard, and you've already done the part most people put off.

If you're old school, call us. 281-660-1351, weekdays 9 to 5. Leave a voicemail if we miss you, and we'll call back.

If you're comfortable with technology, send us a message, and La Jefa will point you toward the therapist most likely to fit.

If you'd like to send a messenger pigeon, that would genuinely make our day. We look forward to speaking with you.

810 W 21st Street · Houston Heights · In person and online across Texas

Common Questions About Houston Heights Therapy