Frequently Asked Questions

For all new clients please email your chosen clinician, about availability of sessions before scheduling. If you aren't sure who is a good fit would, reach out to the practice owner, Asha Gray LPC, at asha@ashagraylpc.com . Please include a few words about your current needs in therapy, your insurance plan, preference of therapist, gender or ethnicity, desire for in person or telehealth sessions and requests for sliding scale, if needed.  

We ask that folx cancel or reschedule at least 48 hours before their appointment time so they are not held financially responsible for the session fee. Insurance does not cover missed or late canceled sessions. Missed or late cancelled sessions will be charged at the full session fee. 

We offer 50 minute and 90 minute sessions, depending on the goal of the session and the clinician you are seeing.

In person sessions would occur in Old Town Alexandria for all but Ashleigh Joyner resident, who is telehealth only, and Kay Lewis MFT who's office is in downtown DC.  

When booking a session you will be asked for a credit card or HSA/FSA card to put on your account to cover session fees. This will be used to charge for patient portion's identified by insurance or sessions fee's if out of network.

This can be updated at anytime by using the patient portal or completing a new payment agreement. If you do not have a payment method to put on file, please contact owner, Asha Gray LPC, so another arrangement can be made.

We provide counseling to adult individuals, partners, and partnerships of more than 2. Adults are defined as individuals over the age of 18. We do not provide family therapy or therapy to children. 

We have experience providing Queer and neurodivergent affirming therapy. Therapy focused on sexual and gender identity growth. Which includes folx in or considering monogamous, Mono/Poly, or consensually non-monogamous relationships and kink, exploring gender identity,  experiencing desire discrepancy, pain, or other barriers to sex, and sex workers. Therapy for those experiencing depression, anxiety, bipolar, and other mood disorders. Therapy focused on trauma healing. Therapy supporting parents, neurodiverse parents and parents of neurodiverse kids. Therapy supporting folx experiencing hormonal changes.  

Yes, we do provide letter's of mental health support. Often this is within the course of therapeutic treatment but we are also open to providing letter's of support to those who are not current client's of the practice via 1-2 assessment sessions. The latter service of assessment for letters is dependent on clinician availability and licensure. Please reach out to Asha Gray LPC, at asha@ashagraylpc.com for questions and to determine availability. 

It means when you come into a session with us, we will not judge you based on how you look, what you are into, who you are into or how your brain works. Seems basic right? But, as we all know, not every therapist is created equal, and some harbor internal biases against what they consider non-normative. You’ll have no issue with that here. We believe if you are engaging in a behavior that fulfills you and does not cause you or anyone else non-consensual harm, then you should continue to do so. However, if you are having difficulties navigating this allistic/neurotypical world, are feeling negatively about a desire, activity or behavior you’re engaging in, or how others engage with our perceive you, then we can assist you determine what the best course of action is for you and support you along the way.  

Yes, Asha Gray LPC, Rachael Stern MSW and Alexis Logan MSW, can provide non-religious, sex positive, neurodivergent affirming, premarital counseling. Our practice also provides relationship counseling for individuals, couples, partnerships of more than 2, and marriage counseling. These services are not covered by insurance. 

Telehealth services have become much more popular and common since 2020. But there's still a lot of confusion about how it works. Telehealth means you can receive your therapy services via video on your phone, tablet or computer via an internet connection. We provide telehealth services via a HIPAA compliant platform. To receive telehealth services you must be located in your therapists state of licensure at the time of the service. For example, that means if your clinician is licensed in Washington DC you must be located in DC at the time of your services. 

We ask that you be in a therapeutically appropriate and safe space for your services. That might be your home, a non moving car, your office with a closed door, sitting or walking outside when you aren't near other people, who could hear you. If you are in a place that is semi-private, we ask you use headphones and take every reasonable precaution to assure privacy and safety. If you are not in the state of your clinicians licensure or the clinician believes the space is not private enough or safe, your session will be ended and rescheduled. 

A residential counselor, sometimes known as a graduate or master's level counselor, is a provisionally licensed counselor. The purpose of the residency period is to train residents to become fully functioning independent professional counselors, therapists, or clinical social workers. While in residency counselors are provided clinically supervision on all cases by a fully licensed counselor.  Residency occurs after clinician has completed an internship of 600 or more hours at an accredited university or college. 

An Intern is a masters or doctorate level student working on the therapeutic practice portion of the degree. Their internship is the last step before graduating and receiving their limited license. They are supervised by a site clinician. At Blue Box Psychotherapy the site clinician is owner, Asha Gray LPC. They additionally receive support and supervision by their internship professor and university advisor. When working with a psychotherapy intern, their supervisor’s information will be included on the superbill. So for insurance purposes, you’d be able to submit a claim under the intern's supervisor's name. If you don't have insurance, interns offer a low sliding scale. Finally, an intern is usually only with the practice for a total of a year. Once their internship is completed you may choose to continue on with your clinician or will be given referrals of other therapists to reach out to, if needed.  

For the safety of our staff, we can provide in person sessions to anyone who is fully vaccinated, boosted, past the 2 week immunity window and willing to provide us with validation via their vaccination card. Masking is not required for in person sessions but absolutely allowed.