Counseling

Counseling can help you overcome mental, behavioral, and emotional barriers in your personal, social, and professional life. Our licensed counselors are trained and certified to help you and your family live your best lives.

What kinds of problems do your counselors see?

Our counselors can help you with a wide variety of mood and personality disorders, including depression, anxiety, stress, intrusive thoughts, self-harm, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emotional regulation issues, and many more. Remember that many of these conditions may also need to be managed with medication from a provider such as a psychiatrist or a substance use disorder treatment program, and that counseling may be only one part of the treatment path. We recommend you start by talking to your primary care provider at ICHC about your needs, and then schedule an appointment with our counselors to see if your needs and our licensed counselors are a good fit. 

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is a form of psychological treatment using talk therapy that focuses on changing harmful thinking patterns into helpful, problem-solving patterns. CBT has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of challenges including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. You and your therapist will work together to identify your thoughts and behaviors that are contributing to (or at least not helping!) your psychological challenges or making unnecessary barriers in your life. You and your therapist will also work together to learn new patterns of thinking and new skills to problem-solve and cope with difficult situations. 

How much does therapy cost?

Good news! Federal law requires that mental health services, including therapy, be covered by most forms of insurance, including private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. Talk to your insurance company or call our billing department at 907-455-4567, option 6, to find out what this means for you.

ICHC offers a sliding fee based on your income, regardless of your insurance. If you are having financial stress or worry about how to pay your bill, we recommend applying for our sliding fee discount, and if that isn't enough, talking to our billing department about further assistance. You can also check out our fee schedule to see our standard rates, in case you don't qualify for the slide or don't think your insurance will fully cover your bill because of deductibles or co-insurance. 

What is the difference between counseling and therapy?

Some people will give you a long-winded explanation about the technical differences between the two that really comes down to industry-related semantics, but for our purposes, there is no difference. We use those words interchangeably all over this site and in our office, and we encourage you to pick whatever word makes you most comfortable. 

Do you offer group therapy, couples' therapy, or one-on-one?

Right now, we only offer one-on-one, individual therapy with our counselors. If you need couples' counseling or group therapy, talk to your ICHC providers about where you can go for those services. 

Do you offer in person or telehealth therapy?

We offer both! You can schedule an appointment in person at our Fairbanks office, or by telehealth from anywhere in Alaska. Call us today at 907-455-4567, option 1, to schedule.