Individual Therapy in Fort Myers & Cape Coral, FL

Individual therapy at Living Well Counseling is regular one-to-one work with a licensed therapist on whatever is making life harder than it should be. We provide it at our Fort Myers office on World Plaza Ln, at our Cape Coral office on SW 3rd St, and by secure telehealth anywhere in Florida. Sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly to begin with. People come to us for anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, burnout, relationship strain, and the times when nothing is obviously wrong and things still are not working. Most major insurance is accepted, and the private-pay rate is $175. Call (239) 940-7025.

Modalities

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), EMDR, Internal Family Systems informed work, solution-focused and strengths-based approaches, mindfulness and nervous-system regulation, faith-integrated counseling on request

Populations

Adults and teens (ages 12 to 18)

Format

In person at our Fort Myers and Cape Coral offices, and via Florida telehealth

Insurance

Aetna, Florida Blue/BCBS, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare/Optum, TRICARE, Medicare, Medicaid, Lee Health, VA Community Care, CHAMPVA. Private pay $175 per 50-minute session.

Session length

50 minutes

First appointment

We respond within one business day; there is no online booking for therapy; every appointment is set by a person who can answer your questions.

What Individual Therapy Helps With

You do not need a diagnosis to start therapy, and you do not need to be in crisis. Most of the people we see are managing something that is entirely understandable and has simply gone on long enough that carrying it alone has stopped working.

Common reasons people begin:

• Anxiety and worry that does not switch off, including panic, social anxiety and health anxiety. See anxiety therapy.
• Depression, low mood, or the flat feeling of going through the motions. See depression counseling.
• Trauma, recent or long past, including PTSD. See trauma and PTSD therapy and EMDR.
• Grief and loss, including the losses that other people expect you to be over. See grief and loss counseling.
• Burnout and chronic stress, particularly for people in healthcare, education and first response. See stress and burnout therapy.
• Life transitions: a move, a divorce, a new baby, a career change, retirement, an empty house, a diagnosis in the family.
• Self-esteem, boundaries and patterns that keep repeating in relationships and at work.
• Identity and meaning questions, including faith questions, which we can hold with you whether or not faith is part of your framework. See faith-based counseling.

Therapy is not the right tool for everything. If what you need is medical care, medication, or emergency support, we will say so and help you get to the right place rather than keeping you in a room with us.

Our Approach

We match you with a clinician rather than a method. Our therapists are trained across several evidence-based approaches and choose among them based on what you are working on and how you think:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), for the loops where a thought drives a feeling drives a behavior that confirms the thought. Structured, practical, often the fastest route for anxiety and depression.
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), a structured protocol for trauma that works on the memory itself rather than on talking about it repeatedly.
• Internal Family Systems informed work, useful when part of you wants one thing and part of you wants another.
• Solution-focused and strengths-based work, when the goal is concrete and near.
• Mindfulness and nervous-system regulation skills, for the physical side of anxiety and stress.
• Faith-integrated counseling, when you ask for it. It is never the default.

What that means in practice: the first few sessions are about understanding what is going on and agreeing what you want to be different. After that, sessions have a shape, and you should be able to describe what you are working on. If the fit is not right, say so. Changing clinicians is normal and we would rather move you than lose you.

What to Expect in Your First Session

The first session is 50 minutes and it is mostly conversation. Your therapist will ask what brought you in now, what has been going on and for how long, what you have already tried, what your life looks like day to day, and what you would like to be different. You are in charge of how much you say and how fast.

You will not be asked to relive anything you are not ready to talk about. Trauma work in particular is paced deliberately, and stabilization comes before processing.

By the end you should have a sense of your therapist as a person, an idea of what the work might involve, and a next appointment.

Practical notes: intake paperwork is sent in advance so the session is not spent on forms. Sessions are typically weekly at the start and often move to every other week as things settle. There is no fixed number of sessions and no contract.

What Confidentiality Actually Means

What you say in the room stays in the room, with a small number of exceptions that Florida law requires: if there is a risk of serious harm to you or someone else, if there is suspected abuse or neglect of a child or a vulnerable adult, or if a court orders records released. Your therapist will explain these at the start rather than leaving you to find out later.

If you want your therapist to coordinate with your doctor, your psychiatric provider, or a family member, that happens only with your written consent, and you can withdraw it.

In Person or by Telehealth

Both offices offer the same services, and every clinician who sees clients in person also offers video sessions. Many people mix the two: in the office when the schedule allows, online when work, weather or childcare says otherwise. It is the same therapist either way.

Telehealth requires you to be physically located in Florida at the time of the appointment. See telehealth therapy in Florida for how it works.

Insurance & Affordability

We are in network with Aetna, Florida Blue and BCBS, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, TRICARE, Medicare, Medicaid, Lee Health, VA Community Care and CHAMPVA. We are currently out-of-network with Sunshine Health and Ambetter but can provide a superbill for potential reimbursement.

Without insurance, a 50-minute session is $175. With insurance, most clients pay only a copay, which depends on the plan and whether the deductible has been met.

We verify your benefits before your first session and tell you what to expect, so cost is settled before you sit down. If cost is a barrier, our nonprofit partner, The Living Well Mission, provides therapy scholarships for those who qualify.

Therapists Who Provide This

Each clinician below lists individual among the specialties on their own profile. Not sure who to see? Tell us what brings you in and we will match you with the clinician whose training fits best, or browse the full team.

Frequently Asked Questions

Further Reading

• American Psychological Association — Understanding Psychotherapy and How It Works (APA)
• National Institute of Mental Health — Psychotherapies (NIMH)
• SAMHSA — Mental Health Treatment (SAMHSA)

Available at our Fort Myers office, our Cape Coral office, and by telehealth throughout Florida.