FAQ

We are currently offering in-person, and online tele-behavioral services.

Our Client Care Coordinator is happy to answer any questions Monday through Thursday from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. Our clinicians’ schedules vary typically within this time frame. Calls are usually returned within 24-48 hours, except weekends & holidays, after which calls are usually returned the next business day.

Our office is in Downtown Redlands.

312 Brookside Avenue

Redlands, CA 92373

You can park on street or directly behind building (includes handicapped parking and ramp to lobby). You can enter through the side of building into lobby, and have a seat while you wait to check in with your clinician.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/jQ94vECsDmJi4TNw8

Yes! We are committed to providing accessible care in a real and tangible way and will do our best to get new patients in within a week. Our afternoon and early evening appointments fill up quickly. If you are flexible with your schedule, we can probably get you in more quickly. Call us today at (951) 271-0397 to set up an appointment.

You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical and mental health care will cost.

Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the expected charges for medical services, including psychotherapy services. You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency healthcare services, including psychotherapy services.

You can ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service.

If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.

For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises.

If you would like a Good Faith Estimate from Schaepper Psychiatry please contact us at: info@livelifeboldgroup.com 

Schaepper Psychiatry is a Fee-for-Service practice. We accept VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express cards, checks, or cash.

Also, we ask all new patients to provide your credit card information to keep on file to reserve your first appointment. That way your card can be quickly processed on the date of your appointment, and you will receive maximum session time from your provider.

We offer a free consultation call for therapy; it’s a chance to talk, share a little bit more about what has been going on, and make sure we feel like a good fit to you.

We do not bill insurance directly, so we are considered “Out-of-Network Behavioral Health Providers.” If you have any out-of-network benefits or if you have a health savings account you would like to use, we are happy to provide you with a Superbill receipt at each visit, so you can submit it to your insurance provider.

If using insurance is important to you, we recommend you call your insurance to verify ahead of time whether they would reimburse you and to what % for an out-of-network behavioral health service. Many of our patients have had success in getting some sort of reimbursement.

After years of working within the confines of insurance, where some services are limited and require more time spent on paperwork, we decided as a team to focus 100% on you. Because of this, we can provide accessible, high quality, up to date, and uniquely tailored services to you.

Call (951) 271-0397 or click on our contact page to set up any appointments, make changes, or to cancel.

Yes! We use both Doxy.me and Zoom  (HIPAA-protected) platforms and when needed phone calls for tele-behavioral services and coaching.  Because we are licensed in the state of California (CA), it is important to note that we can only provide psychiatry and therapy if you are a resident in CA. We can provide teletherapy if you are traveling short term.

Telecoaching services are not bound to CA.

SPECIFICALLY IN RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS

There is nothing more important to us than the health and well-being of our clients, and staff.  As the recent reports of coronavirus (COVID-19) within the US has emerged, all of us at Schaepper Psychiatry have been working hard to ensure we continue to provide a safe place for you and your family to come to for services.

How to explain Coronavirus to kids?

– Check out this great video –

Coronavirus Explained! (for kids), by Dr Michelle Dickinson

– If you have any questions about the coronavirus, we suggest you visit the CDC website.

We look forward to seeing you soon at your next visit to Schaepper Psychiatry. 

Yes, we can prescribe 90 day prescriptions, depending on the medication and whether your insurance will approve it. If you are nervous to go out, contact your pharmacy to see what provisions they offer.  If you or your pharmacy run out of medications, contact us and we will work with you and your pharmacy.

For individuals (both child and adult) seeking psychiatric treatment, there are three standard appointment types as follows (all include telemedicine options):

1. First appointment, intake or evaluation = 1 hour, $400

2. Ongoing appointment = 30 minutes, $200

3. Intensive therapy = 45 minutes, $300

If you are in need a letter or form preparation, you must schedule 2 sessions in advance with your clinician that will be billed at their respective hourly rate. Our clinicians want to ensure that you are receiving a solid letter, therefore will not provide letters without meeting more than once. The time required depends on the complexity of each case and may involve additional sessions. This may take 4-8 weeks to complete based on availability of the clinician. The rate for any psychiatric letters, forms and legal fees are charged at a rate of $400/hour.

Specifics for Dr. Schaepper and Dr. Carmona: Neither do one-time appointments for disability. They only provide the following letters for ongoing patients: 1) Individualized Education Plan (IEP) letter outlining psychiatric needs and recommendations for the student; 2) Disability Formsthat review the individual’s history and current psychiatric needs and recommendations; 3) Legal Fees including writing a summary or attending adoption, placement, treatment referrals, custody, court attendance, depositions, and travel time.

For individuals, couples, or families seeking therapy, there are four standard appointment types and all include Teletherapy options.

The rates, fees, and session times are as follows:

• Individual first appointment = 80 minutes, $360
• Individual subsequent appointment = 50 minutes, $225
• Couples/Family first appointment = 110 minutes, $450
• Ongoing couples/family appointment = 110 minutes, $450
• Intensive therapy = 2-3 hours at same visit (can be in home if needed), $450-650

Letter & Form Writing: If you are in need a letter or form preparation, you must schedule a session in advance with your clinician that will be billed at a rate of $225/hour.  The time required depends on the complexity of each case and may involve additional sessions. This may take 4-8 weeks to complete based on availability of the clinician. Please note that Dr. Estrella does not do one-time appointments for support animals or write disability letters.

At Schaepper Psychiatry we are committed to bringing you compassionate, high-quality care. Our team includes both licensed clinicians and associate clinicians (pre-licensed therapists who have already completed their graduate training and are now gaining advanced supervised experience on the path to full licensure).

Our associates:

• Have completed a master’s degree in social work, counseling, or psychology.
• Are carefully selected by our leadership team for their skill, warmth, and alignment with our practice’s values.
• Receive close weekly supervision from a licensed senior clinician to ensure the highest quality of care.
• Participate in ongoing training, case consultation, and mentorship as part of our multidisciplinary practice.

Clients who work with an associate receive the benefit of:

• The associate’s fresh, current training combined with the wisdom and oversight of a licensed supervisor.
• The full support of our practice’s collaborative team approach.
• The same dedication to your well-being and growth as you’d receive from any of our licensed clinicians.

Fees

Our session fees are the same across the practice, whether you work with a licensed clinician or an associate. We believe this reflects the value of the comprehensive support, supervision, and care you receive when you choose our practice.

If you cannot attend your scheduled session, please note that we ask for a 24-hour written notice prior to the time of your appointment in order not to be charged the full session fee.

We are a community-based, private practice and not an emergency clinic. Your clinician will let you know the best way to contact them in case of a crisis; but in a more immediate crisis, contact the police (911), a hospital emergency room, a crisis intervention service, or your primary care physician.

Psychiatry: English, French, and German

Therapy: English and Spanish (Rudimentary French)

We all struggle at times with our thoughts, emotions, physical body, and life’s circumstances –  and we all want to live our best life!

Psychiatry and therapy both deal with moderate to severe mental health issues, such as when sadness or stress have morphed into depression or anxiety. It’s important to note that your life does not need to be a mess to benefit from seeing a therapist or psychiatrist.

Our clinicians have extensive experience in life coaching and integrate strength-based, solution-focused, and mindful practices into their care. Still, it can be helpful to know what services are provided to aid you in making your decision.

Psychiatrists typically work with moderate to severe mental health issues that may require medication. Your day-to-day life functioning (mindset, health, family life, work) may be impaired, and you are unsure how to move forward.Challenges are spilling over into all areas, you can’t stop the anxious thoughts, or get yourself to care anymore.

A psychiatrist is trained as a medical doctor, can provide therapy and prescribe medications, conduct evaluations, and sign for educational, medical and disability related plans.

A marriage and family therapist (MFT), Licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), and a licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC) are trained to provide relational therapy for moderate to severe mental health issues. They are typically licensed with a masters, and some also have a Ph.D. in their respective fields.

MFTs, LSCWs, and LPCCs can provide evaluations to ongoing clients with additional training. For instance, they can provide a clinical and personality evaluation to assess what diagnosis may be the best fit, as well as severity, or offer a couples assessment for relationship health (typically done with premarital couples).

Coaching is used to help us close a gap between where we are and where we want to be. For example, I may be single and wanting to date again. Or maybe I’ve had a tough time advancing at work, and I’d like to move forward with support from someone who’s able to see the bigger picture and provide real time feedback and strategies to create transformation in my life.

Coaching is usually for someone who is already creating positive results in other aspects of their life but would like to focus on transforming an issue. While you may feel emotional at times or confront limiting beliefs, you typically have enough resources internally and around you to create your vision.

The success of your work with your clinician or coach is directly correlated to your participation in the establishment of your personal goals, your regular attendance of your sessions, and your follow through with any homework assignments. Your input and feedback are important to your clinician and are essential in order to provide the best possible care and service to you.

However, there are risks associated with doing any of this work, including but not limited to: you may cry, get emotional, face your fears, end a relationship, and may find that it gets tougher before it gets better.

You can count on us to walk with you through it all, reminding you of how far you’ve come and helping you stay focused on what matters to you.

One of the unique benefits we offer to clients is our multi-disciplinary team of clinicians. If you are receiving services from more than one clinician at Schaepper Psychiatry, please note that we regularly consult with one another regarding treatment plans and how to provide the best continuity of care.

We also recognize the importance of having choices. Therefore, we will gladly provide multiple referrals for outside services if preferred.

We work with infant to end of life and everything in between.

We welcome ANYONE that wants to get better. There is always room at our table. Our context, the different ways in which we identify ourselves, and how the world around us relates to us inform how we see ourselves and what’s possible.

If you find that these aspects of your identity need to be addressed in our work, please let us know.

Anyone not ready to work and only looking for medication. We have a broad range of experience, yet there are certain issues that are typically better seen by a specialist. The following are issues that we do not work with: therapy for sexual addictions; couples therapy for ongoing domestic violence; and disability summaries unless you are an ongoing patient; and forensic cases.

If divorced, we will ask that you provide court documents showing legal custody arrangement by the first appointment. Otherwise, we will refer out.

PSYCHIATRY – The Intake Appointment (1 hour) is for an initial psychiatric evaluation and includes reviewing your current problems, medical and psychiatric history, risk/safety evaluation, diagnoses, and setting collaborative treatment goals. We ask that you bring a list of any medications you are taking,

THERAPY & COACHING – The Individual Intake Appointment (80 minutes) is for an initial evaluation and includes review of current problems, strengths, medical and mental health history, risk/safety evaluation, diagnoses, and setting collaborative treatment goals.

Couples and Families Intake Appointments (80 minutes) – We ask that you plan on two to three sessions to complete the initial evaluation, which will include being seen together, individually, and then again as a couple or family to determine treatment goals. This is critical for an accurate assessment of the needs of all participating family members.

Intensive Therapy (typically 2-3 hours which is 3-4 sessions) is recommended for those that want to do specific therapeutic work in a condensed time period. Sometimes we need focused support in the short term to help set ourselves up for the bigger picture, which may include times of crisis or transition.

Intensive Therapy is commonly used by new parents adjusting to parenthood, couples going through major changes that need immediate attention, family counseling when family is in town, dealing with loss and grief, etc.

PSYCHIATRY – The Ongoing Appointment (30 minutes) is where the individual works on his/her goals, practices skills, and collaboratively determines if the treatment plan and medications are on point. Family members are asked to join in these sessions when needed.

The Intensive Therapy (45 minutes) is recommended for those that want to do specific therapeutic work in addition to medication management. It is not available for first-time patients.

THERAPY & COACHING – The Ongoing Appointment (60,80 minutes) is where the individual, couple, or family works on goals, practices skills, and collaboratively implement the treatment plan. For individuals, family members are asked to join in these sessions when needed. For couples and families, this may include being seen individually or together, depending on your goals, typically for an hour.

The Extended Appointment (80 minutes) is recommended when you would like to take something more in depth, in times of crisis, or for couple and family intake evaluations. Some couples prefer the longer appointments, depending on your needs.

We are not currently holding groups, yet plan to resume offering a variety of groups for relationships, marriage enrichment, business culture development, and anxiety later this year.

For many people, your treatment journey starts the moment you commit to making changes in your life. It is normal to experience nervousness before the first session, and we encourage you to spend some time reflecting what it is that you really want to accomplish or experience through our work together, as well as why this is important to you.

Trust yourself. Ask us questions and ask around. We’ve been in this area for quite some time! Read our pages here and feel free to call and set up a free 15-minute discovery call if you are interested in doing therapy with one of our clinicians.

In respect to our community, we are super friendly; so it might help to know that we do not work with family, close friends, or family of close friends. We will work with you if you decide you are comfortable entering a professional relationship, much like most of us don’t hang out with our OBGYN, yet we may see them around town at times. This may change the nature of our relationship, yet we will be sure to discuss this beforehand. If you are still unsure, you can always call or email us to confirm.

Please bring with you a list of any medications, assessment reports pertaining to your care, legal documents for children if divorced, or other paperwork that you deem important for your treatment. Be sure to complete your online registration and intake paperwork before your first session. Have a link to the portal at the top of website here too.

Anyone impacted significantly by the person seeing our clinicians is encouraged to attend the first session. Typically, the clinician will meet with all of you together, then one by one, and then gather together again to discuss next steps.

Psychiatry: All ages.

Therapy: All ages.

Privacy is crucial to successful progress in psychotherapy. Therefore, communication between clinicians and patients who are minors (under the age of 18) are confidential.

However, we recognize that parental involvement is also essential; parents and other guardians who provide authorization for their child’s treatment are encouraged to be involved in your children’s treatment.

Consequently, your clinician, in the exercise of his or her professional judgment, may discuss the treatment progress of a minor patient with the parent or caretaker. If there is information that the clinician feels might be beneficial for the child to share with the parent(s), the clinician will work with that child on how to appropriately share that information with the parent(s), including possible joint sessions with the parent(s).

Clinicians may discuss with a parent essential information pertinent to the child’s well-being or disclose behavior that puts them at risk.

We ask that when counseling minors (clients under the age of 18) that the parent or guardian remain in the building during the psychiatry/therapy session. If for any reason you feel uncomfortable with your child or youth meeting alone with the clinician, please make this known to the clinician so that other arrangements or referral to another clinician can be made.

Please ask questions! And tell your kid this before the first appointment so that they know they can share openly.

Yes, most definitely. Our therapist uses a modified conscious uncoupling process with couples that are splitting and can work with you both either individually or where possible together to create a cohesive story of what happened, what’s going to change, and ground rules for all involved to support rebuilding trust through this transition.

Yes, we will need any documents or testing reports from other professionals (school, MD, etc.), medications list, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) if the child has one, and any forensic reports, if necessary. If parents are already divorced, by the first session we ask that you bring a copy of your most recent court order indicating legal guardianship for our records. You can upload and attach to a secure message and send it to your clinician.

Couples therapy is more effective when both individuals in the partnership are working on cleaning up their side of the fence, as well as making room to tend to the actual relationship. Typically, in the first session we chart a path either toward strengthening the relationship and commitment or separation and divorce.

Couples are encouraged to plan on two-three sessions to complete the intake process, unless one or both are on the fence about the relationship. While together is preferred, one person taking a stand and showing up significantly different in their relationship can create powerful transformation. If you are wanting to come in individually first, it is important to note that your clinician may recommend you do coupes therapy elsewhere eventually in order to provide neutrality for both partners.

Yes, no matter your identity, often couples come in for differences in values or needing guidance as they enter unknown waters. Our clinicians will work with you typically to find a way to create an agreement that works for all involved.

It is important that you know that your clinician utilizes a “Secrets” policy when conducting family or marital/couples therapy. Please feel free to ask your clinician about his or her “Secrets” policy and how it may apply to you.

On occasion during the counseling process, individual partners may be seen for an individual counseling session. In this case, the individual session is still considered as part of the couple’s counseling relationship.

Information disclosed during individual sessions may be relevant or even essential to the proper treatment of the couple. If an individual chooses to share such information with your clinician, the clinician will offer the individual every opportunity to disclose the relevant information and will provide guidance in this process. If the individual refuses to disclose this counseling information within the couple’s session, the clinician may determine that it is necessary to share the information or discontinue the counseling relationship with the couple.

Sex therapy is a type of counseling for an individual or couple wanting to resolve some sort of sexual difficulty, often related to performance anxiety, pain, or relationship problems.

We meet in the therapist’s office and will first conduct a thorough sexual, physical, emotional, and spiritual health assessment. We also will look at how your context, emotional safety, sexual literacy, and values may be influencing your sexual expression or experience.

There are numerous mental and behavioral techniques found to support in resolving painful sex, increasing responsiveness sexually, decreasing anxiety, etc.

Our biggest and most overlooked sexual organ is our brain, and together we will deconstruct how you’ve related to sexuality and work to help you relate in a new and empowered way.

Our clinicians work with women and men who want to experience freedom from pain, anxiety, or shame in respect to sexual expression. Common issues we work with are mismatched desires, coming out of a sexual drought, low sexual desire, painful intercourse, sexual trauma, reconnecting after baby, and bedroom boredom.

No way! The sooner you come in the better! So often what might seem slightly annoying to feel or go without now and will only balloon into something larger over time. Often, we didn’t grow up with a healthy model for mutual love, intimacy, and vulnerability; and it can provide support to come in, set goals, receive feedback and strategies to improve your situation, and then bring your vision to life!

You can count on us to be present, listen closely, address whatever you are dealing with directly in a compassionate and focused way. We will work hard and ask you to stretch and do what you need to do to create change.

Both. You will get the best of both therapy and medication support from our psychiatric team.

Contact our CLIENT CARE COORDINATOR first; they will make sure we get your message, and someone from our team will be in touch within 24-48 hours.

Living with mental health challenges is not only tough for you, it is also difficult for your family. NAMI is a non-profit that provides resources for all of you. None of you need to go it alone. They offer groups as well. Dr. Schaepper is an active member of their San Bernardino Chapter board.

You can count on our clinicians to be authentic, open, compassionate, and direct. They will walk with you into whatever tough stuff with which you choose to engage and remind you of your strengths and whatever is calling you forward.

Contact our CLIENT CARE COORDINATOR first; they will make sure we get your message, and someone from our team will be in touch within 24-48 hours.

You can send an email to info@livelifeboldgroup.com.

Just shoot us an email or call our office at (951) 271-0397.