FAQ

Contact me at (650) 590-9946 or email me at alyssa@thecouplesacademy.org.

Typically, I will contact you within 24 hours or less, Monday through Friday. I do not return the call on weekends until Tuesday at the latest.

I accept Zelle and Venmo. Zelle is alyssa.momtaheni@gmail.com. Venmo is @Alyssa-Alyssa-1

Once I receive payment, I will send you a response within four hours or as soon as possible saying I received payment.

I will kindly provide you a superbill after you request it within 24 hours.

You must notify me 24 hours before the appointment time. If you let me know less than 24 hours before your session, a fee of $150 will be due. You will receive a request to pay. There are exceptions for emergencies if you contact me via text or email. If it’s used more than once, expect to pay the fee.

Fifty minutes is the length of a visit. I charge $270 for couples and $250 for individual therapy.

You can request longer sessions if you feel you need more time. To make a request when booking the appointment, please let me know if you want a more extended session. For 100 minutes, I charge $500 for couples and $460 for individual sessions.

I welcome all ages, and I also have a certificate in Geriatric counseling.

Yes, I am very respectful of anyone and their religious preferences. I am from and raised in a Catholic family. If you would like to bring spirituality into the sessions, I welcome them and will use religious terms in the session. Please share any spirituality you believe in, and I am excited to support you.

Please expect an intake and for me to gather information to make the best diagnosis and treatment plan.

Yes, several do. Crying is a sign that you feel safe working with me. Trust is essential to my treatment, and I want you to feel secure enough with me to be vulnerable so we can get the work done. Crying is a strength.

Therapy is painless because I have had enough experience to know what works for individuals and couples. I know what approach to take to ensure you don’t feel pressured to do something you are not ready for or will not be the best treatment. However, treatment can go two ways – it works, and things are positive, or things can worsen before they get better. You will feel heard and seen in my sessions. I am very welcoming, and please remember that we are always in an equal partnership.

No, but I appreciate my clients being forthcoming with information when they are ready to receive the help they need and want.

The risk is things can get challenging. If you feel it’s going the wrong way, please let me know if this is happening. I typically catch on to this quickly and address it with you, and we will find a different route.

Alternatively, if things are going great and you see the changes you hoped for in learning about yourself or your relationship, such as couples wanting to invest and enhance their relationship, we will discuss them.

However, I am very confident in my work, but therapy can go either way. I cannot promise that anything will be successful.

There are two options because the notes are the legal property of the therapist. My notes are minimal and include information like the date and time attended, payment, and two sentences of the modality provided.

I can write a summary of the treatment and diagnosis addressed to you.

Another option is for you to write down whatever you want and review my notes taken during a session.

No, I do not. However, if I feel something I hear is not helpful or a type of negative behavior, I will address it kindly and explain why we should try a different approach.

Yes, and I may allow 5-10 minutes to gather an observation and assess my findings. Then, I will stop it! Otherwise, the couple would fight before me for the entire session, which would not be helpful. I will write down what I saw and what we can do differently on my physical paper. I will also provide coaching through the argument if one comes up and kindly direct in what I saw and what would be helpful to do differently.

Yes, I attend my sessions once a week and look forward to seeing my therapist. If I am practicing, I should also be taking care of myself. I see therapy as a luxury, and the skills I attain and the insight I gain help in my personal life. When I have clients come to me who have done the work, I am quick to identify it.

I attended Menlo College in Atherton, CA, for my undergraduate degree. Then, I received a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology at Notre Dame De Namur University in Belmont, CA, owned and facilitated by Stanford University. After that, I did a 3,500-hour internship in a private practice in San Carlos, CA, and The County of Santa Clara Medi-Cal with children 0-5 years old.

I have received the following training: geriatric population, perfectionism, anxiety, couples with the John Gottman Institute, trauma, children development, and neuroscience of the brain. I still am required to participate in continuing education annually to ensure I utilize the most accurate and newest information in my practice.

I take notes to record where we stopped and what we addressed. These are for me to use or see. They tend to be one to two sentences with arcmins that only I can read.

The answer is straightforward – I love what I do! I love seeing people succeed with the tools and work we do. Also, I can easily talk to you and let you know you are not alone. I will share it with you if it’s something I have done or worked on. I am a human like you, and my personal life still represents a work in progress.

Suppose it’s recent domestic violence and still occurring – no way! If it is something that happened in the past but is no longer happening and stopped, we can work together.

The reason I do not work with clients who actively commit domestic violence is that it’s against the law for a therapist. In addition, research has shown if you continue to commit domestic violence, it will happen more frequently. Also, please note that spitting on someone is considered domestic violence.

Yes, and I encourage you to ask questions so you do not feel this is a one-sided relationship. We are a partnership working together.

Yes, I currently have my Italian Greyhound Named Rocco, who I love dearly and is always in the room with me during sessions. If you want to see him, you can ask, and I am happy to show him off to you. Some of my clients have requested to see him in the camera during the session. I can place him behind me in his bed where you can watch him. He tends to be a sleeper or in the sun because he is 13 years old. I have owned four cats in the past and one lopped-ear bunny. I am a huge animal lover. I welcome you to show me your animal.

I love visiting Europe, and Italy is my number one place. Las Vegas is my second place for a quick, easy getaway with my husband.

Well, I am a mix of many things. I am Italian mostly, following Spaniard, a bit of Native American, and I found out I have some Jewish Ashkenazi. I learned of the others from 23 & Me. However, to keep things simple, I will say Italian and Spanish because, before 23 & Me, that’s what my family told me.

Rocco is a Velcro dog, stays glued to me, and follows me all around the house. He is a sighthound, and his sight is still pretty good for a 13-year-old.

When Rocco sees any squirrel, bunny, rat, bird, or lizard, he believes he must alert me and chase them off. He also has issues with the mailman and person on our property. He only barks for those reasons; otherwise, he is a quiet dog.