Communication skills
The Four Horsemen
An overview of four destructive communication patterns—criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling—with healthier alternatives for navigating conflict.
Open PDFCounseling resources
Understand the process before you begin.
Plain-language information can make it easier to ask good questions, compare options, and enter counseling with realistic expectations.
Guides & handouts
Helpful information you can read or print.
Client handouts are educational resources and do not replace individualized counseling, diagnosis, or crisis support.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
CBT Thought Record
A guided cognitive behavioral exercise for examining situations, automatic thoughts, emotions, evidence, and more balanced interpretations.
Open PDFCognitive behavioral therapy
CBT Thought Log
A landscape worksheet for recording several situations, automatic thoughts, emotions, alternative responses, and outcomes on one printable page.
Open PDFCognitive behavioral therapy
Common Cognitive Distortions
An introduction to common thinking patterns that can intensify distress, with questions that support more accurate and flexible thinking.
Open PDFEmotional regulation
Window of Tolerance
A self-reflection guide for recognizing regulated, hyperaroused, and hypoaroused states and identifying strategies that support regulation.
Open PDFCoping and regulation
Grounding Skills
A collection of sensory, movement, breathing, and orienting techniques that can help restore present-moment awareness during distress.
Open PDFGuided relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
A guided audio exercise for gently tensing and releasing major muscle groups while developing greater awareness of physical tension.
Listen and readDialectical behavior therapy
DBT STOP Skill
A dialectical behavior therapy skill for pausing, observing internal and external cues, and responding more effectively during intense moments.
Open PDFCouples and relationships
Love Maps
A relationship-building exercise designed to deepen partners’ knowledge of one another’s experiences, stressors, preferences, and hopes.
Open PDFInterpersonal effectiveness
Healthy Boundaries
A practical guide for clarifying personal limits, communicating needs directly, and planning appropriate follow-through.
Open PDFFinding fit
How to choose a therapist
A practical guide to fit, credentials, methods, identity, scheduling, cost, and the first few sessions.
Read or exploreUnderstanding care
What evidence-based counseling means
Understand how research, clinician expertise, and client goals work together.
Read or explorePractical details
Insurance, fees & billing
Questions to ask your plan, what common billing codes mean, and why coverage varies by clinician and service.
Read or exploreGetting started
Preparing for a first session
What to bring, what you may be asked, and how to raise concerns or preferences from the start.
Read or exploreTransparency
Client rights & professional credentials
Where to verify licenses and how ethical codes and complaint processes protect clients.
Read or exploreSafety
Crisis and urgent support
Know which resources to use when a website inquiry or routine appointment is not enough.
Read or exploreInsurance & fees
Most commercial insurance plans are accepted.
Coverage, clinician networks, deductibles, copays, coinsurance, telehealth benefits, and authorization requirements can differ even within the same insurer. The practice will help verify participation for your specific plan.
Graduate intern
Halle Poteet
$50
Self-pay counseling session. Insurance is not billed for Halle’s graduate-intern services.
Self-pay
45-minute appointment
$140
CPT code 90834. This is the direct-pay rate when insurance is not used.
Self-pay
60-minute appointment
$170
CPT code 90837. This is the direct-pay rate when insurance is not used.
Self-pay
Intake appointment
$210
CPT code 90791. This is the direct-pay rate when insurance is not used.
Commercial insurance
After applicable deductible requirements have been met, many clients pay only their plan’s copay for covered appointments. Some plans use coinsurance or other cost-sharing instead. Your insurer determines your benefits and final responsibility.
Employee Assistance Plans
ThisLife Counseling accepts many EAPs. Authorized EAP sessions are often provided at no cost to the client for the plan’s approved number of visits. Eligibility, authorization, session limits, and clinician participation must be confirmed with the EAP.
Your first session
Expect questions—and bring your own.
The first appointment commonly covers your current concern, relevant history, safety, goals, confidentiality, practice policies, and an initial plan. You do not have to tell your entire life story at once.
Professional transparency
Verify credentials
Use the Georgia Secretary of State license-verification system and relevant national credentialing boards.
Understand confidentiality
Your clinician should explain privacy and its legal and ethical limits before treatment.
Raise concerns
You may ask questions, discuss problems in care, request records as permitted, or use a licensing-board complaint process.
Urgent support
A website inquiry is not monitored as a crisis service.
Immediate danger: Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Suicide or mental health crisis in the U.S.: Call or text 988.
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.