On this page: Concerns · How it works · What to expect · Therapists · Fees
Seven
LICENSED CLINICIANS
60-minute
SESSIONS
$150
SELF-PAY
Free
15-MINUTE CALL
Plans we work with: Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, DMBA, EMI Health, PEHP, Select Health, TriWest, UMR, UnitedHealthcare and University of Utah Health Plans, with TRICARE coming soon. Not every clinician is in network with every plan yet, and several of the therapists who see children are still being credentialed. We check your plan against the clinician your child would see on the free call, before you commit to anything.
WHY PARENTS CALL US
The school year started fine, and then it did not
Sunday nights have gone bad. There are stomachaches on school mornings that vanish by ten. Homework that should take twenty minutes takes two hours and ends with a slammed door. A teacher has used the word “defiant,” and you are not sure it fits the child you know.
Or the opposite: nothing is going wrong that anyone can point to, and your child has simply gone quiet. Still gets the grades, still gets in the car, still says fine. And you can tell.
Children this age are old enough to hide things and not yet old enough to explain them. That gap is where most of the worry lives.
WHAT WE SEE MOST
What brings children this age here
Your child does not need to match every line of this. If something here sounds like your house, the fifteen minute call will tell you whether we are the right place.
Grief and loss bring many families in too: a death in the family, a pet, a move away from everything familiar. Children grieve in bursts, which adults often read as being over it.
What we see
What it looks like at home
Anxiety that shows up in the body
Stomachaches, headaches, trouble falling asleep, needing to know the plan for everything. Doctors keep finding nothing, because there is nothing to find.
School refusal and morning battles
When getting out the door has become the hardest part of the day for everyone, and the reasons your child gives keep changing.
Anger that lands on the family
Explosions over small things, aimed at the people who are safest, usually a parent or a sibling, and followed by shame.
Friendship trouble and being left out
Exclusion, a group that turned, a child who wants friends and cannot work out the rules. This is not a small thing at nine.
Divorce, separation and two houses
Loyalty binds, the child who becomes a messenger, and the ordinary grief of a family that changed shape.
Children this age are usually not trying to give you a hard time. They are having a hard time and have run out of ways to say so.
That distinction sounds like a slogan until you watch it change how a Tuesday evening goes. A child who believes the adult is on their side stops spending energy defending themselves and starts spending it on the actual problem.
Limits still matter. Consequences still matter. What we work on is making sure the child can hear them.
HOW IT WORKS
What therapy looks like at this age
Part talking, part not. A nine-year-old asked to sit across from an adult and describe their feelings will mostly tell you what they think you want to hear. The same nine-year-old, drawing or building or playing a game while they talk, will tell you the truth sideways.
Your child gets their own relationship with their therapist, and some of what is said in that room stays there. That is not us keeping secrets from you; it is what makes the room worth anything to a child. Safety, and anything a parent needs to act on, always comes to you.
You are not on the outside of this. Expect regular check-ins about what is working at home, what to try instead of the thing that is not working, and what your child is actually asking for underneath the behavior.
With your written permission, we will talk to a school. A teacher who understands what is driving a behavior usually responds to it differently, and that alone can change a term.
Depending on your child, the work may draw on play-based approaches, CBT skills, EMDR where there is trauma, TBRI, and parent coaching.
WHAT TO EXPECT
What parents expect, and what actually happens
Most of what stops parents from booking is a picture of child therapy that does not match what happens.
What parents expect
What actually happens
They will decide I am the problem.
Parenting gets discussed because it is one of the few things anyone can change. That is not the same as blame, and you will know the difference in the room.
My child will refuse to talk.
Most do, at first. Nobody is going to interrogate a ten-year-old. It usually takes two or three sessions before anything real comes out.
I will be told nothing.
You get the direction, the plan, and anything you need to act on. You do not get a transcript, and if you did, your child would stop talking.
They will want to medicate my child.
We are not prescribers. If medication comes up at all, it is a conversation to have with your pediatrician, and it is your decision.
This will go on for years.
Many children come for a few months around one specific thing. Ask at any point how long this should take. It is a fair question.
WHEN YOU CALL
What actually happens when you call
The first call is fifteen minutes and it is free. You will not be asked to give a full history to a stranger on the phone.
We want three things. What has been going on with your child. What your family’s week can hold, given school and everything else. What insurance you have, which we check while you are still on the line.
On that call, we cover
What has changed, and roughly when it started.
What your week can hold after school, and which clinician has that slot.
Your insurance, checked while you are on the line, with the copay figure said out loud.
Useful to have ready: your insurance card, any custody paperwork, report cards or notes from school, and anything a pediatrician has written down.
We do not do psychological or ADHD testing here. If that is what your child needs, we will say so and point you to someone who does it properly, rather than stretching what we offer to fit.
WHO YOUR CHILD WOULD SEE
Who your child would see
Four clinicians here work with children this age: Emily Scoffield, Brittany Taggart, Kristen Morgan, and Aubree Stock.
Emily has spent twenty years inside residential treatment for young people, most recently as Chief Clinical Officer at a residential treatment center for youth, and is a trauma-informed care master trainer. She is trained in TBRI, which is the model built for children who came through foster care, adoption, or a hard early start.
Brittany has trained and supervised therapists in youth residential treatment since 2016 and is a Utah Approved Supervisor. She does family work as well as individual, which matters when the thing that needs to change involves the whole household.
Kristen has spent about twenty years in social work with young people and adults, including therapy with adolescents in youth residential treatment since 2019. She is EMDR trained, a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional. Autism and ADHD are her main focus, and she sees children from age six.
Aubree spent ten years in Utah's child welfare system, first as a DCFS caseworker and then in post-adoption work, before joining us. She is trained in EMDR and TBRI and completed the Training for Adoption Competency. If your child came to you through foster care or adoption, ask for Emily or Aubree.
Emily Scoffield, LCSW · Children (6+), Teens, Adults, Couples, Families
Brittany Taggart, LCSW · Children (6+), Teens, Adults, Families
Kristen Morgan, LCSW · Children (6+), Teens, Adults, Families
Aubree Stock, CSW · All Ages, Couples, Families
If you already know who you want, ask for them by name. If you do not, that is exactly what the fifteen minute call is for.
Emily Scoffield
LCSW
Brittany Taggart
LCSW
Kristen Morgan
LCSW
Aubree Stock
CSW
FEES AND INSURANCE
Fees and Insurance
What it costs: Sessions run 60 minutes. Self-pay is $150.
If you use insurance, you pay your plan’s copay. We will tell you that number on the free call, so you don't have to guess or sit on hold with your insurer.
TRICARE is coming soon. We are finishing credentialing now, so call and we will tell you where it stands. Until then, military families can use self-pay and ask us about a superbill.
Good Faith Estimate
If you are uninsured or paying out of pocket, federal law gives you the right to a written estimate of what your care will cost before it starts. Ask us for one, and we will put it in writing.
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