For Your Information

Safety in the Times of Covid-19

Safety and the health of your family and my other clients is very important to me.  With that in mind, please read the following protocol.  1) When you arrive, please remain in your car or outside of the building and text me to notify me that you have arrived.  I will then reply or come outside to show you in.  This is done in an effort to prevent congregation of multiple individuals and families in the lobby area and hallways.  2) Please wear a mask at all times inside the building.  If you need a break from wearing the mask or need to consume something, please take a break and go outside to remove your mask. 3) If you or your close friends or family members feel ill in any way, please call to cancel the session as soon as you know.  If you have been traveling out of state or to high Covid infection areas, please follow the state guidelines with regard to quarantine or protection of others.  If you have been in the presence of someone with Covid-19 symptoms, please also cancel the session.  And finally, if you learn after a session that you had been exposed or test positive for Covid-19, please notify the therapist/evaluator by text, email or phone message immediately.  Thank you so much for helping stop the spread of Covid-19 and keeping my other clients safe.

Typical steps for a Psychological Evaluation

You will receive a text notifying you of the request for an evaluation, or you yourself have contacted Dr. Barneclo for psychological testing.  The first step is to schedule an introductory session by text or email.  The evaluator will provide the next available time slot.  This is a one-hour billable session, where history, symptoms, and specific questions to be answered by testing are discussed.  This may occur in person or via Zoom, and all members of the family are encouraged to be present but are not required.  Following this discussion, you will plan the in-person testing sessions with the evaluator.  A typical testing session is between 2.5 and 5 hours, depending on the complexity of questions being answered by testing.  Please consider the age and attention span of the individual when planning the testing session.  Younger children may need to have four separate one hour sessions, whereas adolescents and adults may be able to complete all of the testing in one half-day session.  Some individuals do best with some hybrid in between these two extreme options.  I will work with you to determine an appropriate and flexible schedule.  A report of the results and conclusions will then be sent to you by email approximately one month after the final day of testing.  I strongly encourage a follow-up session to review the results, as they can easily be misconstrued by non-professionals, and it is typical for slight miscommunications to occur in the clinical history section.  I am happy to make modifications to this section, and I enjoy having a discussion of your thoughts on the results.  I do not pretend to have all of the precise answers, but this evaluation can give an important professional snapshot of functioning at the time of testing, and can help future professionals understand functioning and ways to intervene in a helpful manner.

Attendance Policy

There are many clients in need, and there is typically a wait list.  In this regard, if you miss an appointment, someone else in need who would have liked that time slot is being denied service.  In the spirit of respecting all of the clients and their needs, I ask that you notify me with at least 24-hour notice if you plan to miss a session.  In that way, I can attempt to help another client during the missed time.  If I am not notified, and there is no emergency, out of respect for my other clients, I do charge a full session fee of $175.  This fee is used to deter people from not respecting the time, and out of respect for the needs of others.  I do hope that you understand that these boundaries are important in a business caring for so many.  Of course, all Medi-cal (Gold Coast) clients are exempt from the fee per the state insurance policy, but I do reserve the right to ask that those clients seek out other providers, or could opt to place them on the wait list.  Please be well and do not hesitate to cancel if there is an emergency or other concern.  I want you to be well and to stay healthy.  Best to you all!