Health and Psychology

The first thing I ask someone on the phone when they call to make an appointment is what the issue is that they are calling about. We have three divisions in the company so that question serves to filter and triage the call.

Is this a medical condition or medical issue contributing to a psychological condition?

These are the kinds of cases I take personally. So I want to know if this is what’s going on with the person so I can take the case and have time for it in my schedule.

•  Chronic illness 
•  Serious or life threatening illness 
• Terminal illness 
• Undiagnosed medical condition 
• Head injury 
• Hoarding up to stage 3 

 Is this a legal issue?

Legal issues are broken down into three types of cases.  

• Immigration issues are handled by Maria Martin, Ph.D. MFT. (psychological assistant) 
• ADA issues are handled by me, and may be assisted by Ziba Saatchian, PsyD, (psychological assistant) (Extra time or a private room for testing, Off work orders, service animals, emotional support animals are all ADA issues). 
• Other legal or disability issues are handled by me or Maria Martin. Is this a psychological issue? 

Where are you located? These are cases that will go to:  

• Catherine Edelmann, Psy.D. (psychological assistant), located in Culver City, CA. •
• Ziba Saatchian, Psy.D. (psychological assistant) located in Glendale, CA  
• Be referred out to other people in the community.

If you need to use insurance:

We can provide a superbill.

I will take some medical psychology cases and use e-Motional Change (a company I’m affiliated with) to provide billing and deal with insurance.

We are likely to refer you back to your insurance company so you can see someone in your network.

You need to have school testing for your child.

Request an Individualized Educational Program evaluation in writing from your local school district. The school district is required to do an evaluation for free under Federal Education law.

If the school has refused, or you want specific accommodations, I’ll need to see the information you have from the school and this is then an ADA case (see Is this a legal issue above). We can do this testing if needed, but we do not take insurance.

You want testing for Social Security Disability

The Social Security Disability Determination department will send you to one of their objective doctors (maybe me) for free. We can do this testing if needed, but we do not take insurance.

You want diagnostic testing

We can work with you to try to get a referral question. We literally have thousands of psychological and neuropsychological tests we work with, so I require a clear referral question prior to testing.

Feel free to contact us for more information.