Rally Forward Counseling

08/08/2023

My youngest starts Kindergarten this September which means that I can take on 2 more clients soon. It’s the first time I’ve had openings in a long time and I’m looking forward to being able to extend my practice hours. I am currently only offering Telehealth, I also do not take insurance, but offer out of network reimbursement receipts. Here’s my background (in link). Please send anyone that you think could benefit from therapy services my way. (Note* I cannot work with anyone I personally know or have a relationship with). Thank you!!

Nicole Reis, Clinical Social Work/Therapist, Bellevue, WA, 98004, (425) 336-2185, 3 day time openings available, call me for a consult. I practice person-centered psychotherapy and healthy relationship counseling with adults (18+). Offering a shame-free space, I engage issues ranging from depression...

01/15/2022

Both Jason Dodd and Nicole Reis are out of the office for vacations. Nicole will return on Wednesday the 19th and Jason will be back the following week. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

07/02/2021

Jason Dodd and Nicole Reis will both be out of the office for vacation next week (July 5th-9th). We hope you all have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!! 

03/26/2020

Some suggestions and please share yours below:

03/22/2020

Quarantine tips and tools from a local mental health therapist, Nicole Reis-Flynn, LICSW @ Rally Forward Counseling (Seattle area). These past couple of weeks have been challenging from a mental health perspective. As we worry and plan for the unknown, folks who already have a mental health diagnosis have an additional set of stressors and symptoms to navigate. Our governing board the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is encouraging us to provide accurate information about COVID-19 and assist our communities in coming up with a coping strategy and plan. I spent the week helping my clients process and plan for quarantine and I wanted to share some tools and ideas that might be helpful for you and your families too.

Step One: Be informed and aware, but limit the amount of information you are taking in and processing throughout the day. We have a physiological reaction to stress. It’s not healthy for our bodies to be flooded with cortisol all day, and stress hormones can lower our immune response. Some ideas for an information limit are social media breaks, only getting news from selected resources and or choosing a time of day that you’re online getting updates oppose to reading everything throughout the day. I prefer to only read updates after I put my kids to bed, but not right before I go to sleep. I give myself 30 minutes of news and COVID-19 updates and then I watch a funny movie or show with my husband before bed.

Step Two: Planned spaces. Whether you live in a small apartment or a big house, the truth is most of us are not accustom to being together 24/7. Having a plan for shared spaces is going to be of even more importance when the Seattle area is expecting rain for the next 9+ days. Think about what you need (study space, work space, yoga space, work out space, etc.) and plan to combine spaces, move things around and make your space as functional as you can for you and your family.

Step Three: Routine and structure. Most people, but especially children feel a sense of safety and comfort through established routine and structure. The routine that most of us are used to has been dramatically changed. Even though we’re all at home, school is out, work loads are less or non-existent, gyms are closed and plans are canceled doesn’t mean that it’s not super important for us to plan our own new routines and stick with them. This is monumental in mental health management and planning for a long term quarantine. Try and wake up/go to bed at the same time everyday, get up and get ready even if you have nowhere to go, find a way to get exercise and implement self-care. Have regular meals and drink plenty of water. Right now a lot of us have the freedom to put a routine in place that works best for our family. For example, I have Mondays and Tuesday off work so I gave my daughter Mondays and Tuesdays off homeschool. She’s “going to work” on the days that I do. Another important part of these routines is fun and family time. Try thinking of ideas of things you can all do together and look forward to. Maybe a Monday night board game night or a Tuesday night make pizza from scratch or Friday night Wii bowling tournament. Give your family something routine to look forward to.

Step Four: Social Plan. Mental health professionals from Italy have been reaching out to us and talking about the huge impacts of long term isolation. Even if you don’t currently feel lonely or isolated I would still encourage you to come up with a Social Plan. I’ve seen so many great ideas this week from online happy hours to online zoom family sessions. People are getting creative with how they can maintain their relationships through quarantine. We have decided to regularly send letters to our friends and family who are in quarantine. This has been a perfect writing homeschool assignment for our first grader. My grandmother who lives alone, really looks forward to these and is loving her new pen pal.

Step Five: Busy List. It’s a good idea to make a busy list now before you feel the effects of cabin fever or isolation, that way when you need ideas and supplies, they are already there. I made a busy list for each member of my family, I wanted everyone to feel like they have a part. Sit down and make a list of everything you have ever wanted to do, learn, clean, organize, purge, or create. Spring cleaning projects? add them to the list! Gardening or landscaping ideas? Have you always wanted to learn sign language or how to salsa dance? There are so many resources online or videos you can purchase to teach yourself. Usually as therapists we’re talking about finding time to rest, relax and engage in self-care, but in quarantine it is also important to have a plan to feel busy and productive.

I know this is scary and unsettling, the unknown is difficult for us all. If there is one thing I know for sure in my 17+ years in the mental health field it is that humans are adaptable and extremely resilient. We will get through this and we are going to do it together. Sending love and strength to you and your families. ~Nicole

03/14/2020

Good Afternoon,

We are writing to inform our clients that as of Friday, March 13th, Rally Forward Counseling is moving to remote TeleHealth-only therapy sessions (more info on TeleHealth options below) for the next 6 weeks.

As a general rule, we typically follow local school district guidelines to help make decisions around how to best serve the safety of our clients and community. With Governor Inslee shutting down local schools and recommending that people work from home if possible, we will be following those recommendations. Further, as of yesterday, our governing board the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) also recommended that licensed mental health professionals utilize Telehealth in private practice settings.

We believe that following these public health safety precautions is in the best interest of protecting our medically compromised and vulnerable clients, as well as any potentially vulnerable family members and friends of our clients. So, for the next 6 weeks, we will continue to provide regular therapy sessions to our clients through Telehealth. We will reevaluate this decision after the 6 week quarantine period has come to an end.

TELEHEALTH OPTIONS

VIRTUAL THERAPY: The good news is that signing up for and using TeleHealth is free and easy, and we have already been conducting therapy via TeleHealth for over five years on the FREE, HIPAA-compliant (i.e. secure and confidential) video chat application, VSee. In fact, a combined average of 50% of our current caseload is already doing virtual therapy, and many even prefer meeting by this platform.

VSEE: If you haven’t already, you can register on vseedotcom and send your therapist the email address you used to sign up. You can do this through your computer, tablet, or phone. There is both a Vsee website and app. Next step is that we add you as a contact using your email address and call you through the app at the time of your scheduled therapy session.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Our TeleHealth clients need to find a confidential place to meet, like an office, bedroom, or car. (I myself prefer to use headphones while I am meeting with clients via Telehealth. —Nicole) Another recommendation is to use a noise machine outside of your confidential setting if you are concerned about other people in your home hearing the content of your therapy session (many digital services, such as Amazon’s Alexa, offer free/low cost access to ambient noise tracks).

TELEPHONE: If you prefer, we are also able to meet with you via telephone during this 6 week time period, though we have found there to be more therapeutic benefit when meeting on a video chat platform.

INSURANCE: We have been informed that clients using their out-of-network reimbursement benefits for therapy will qualify for the same compensation while using TeleHealth as they do for office sessions. If you are concerned about whether this will hold true under your insurance policy, please contact your insurance to gain information specific to your coverage.

We know that everyone in our community is being impacted by some massive changes and we appreciate your flexibility and understanding.

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to your therapist. Also, we are both open to calling you and walking you through the TeleHealth process.

Wishing you all safety and good health!

Sincerely,

Jason and Nicole, Rally Forward Counseling

Simple, Secure Video Telemedicine

03/10/2020

What parents and other adults can say to kids about the coronavirus COVID-19. How to answer their questions and keep kids feeling safe.

03/10/2020

For anybody who’s been feeling high anxiety these past weeks. 

03/06/2020

When a child feels connected

03/06/2020

03/05/2020

The limbic system is a group of brain structures that help regulate our emotional responses, memories, and more, and can act as a bridge between mind and body.