Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

In-person treatment is available in our New York City and San Francisco Bay Area offices. For telehealth treatment, our board-certified clinicians are also licensed to treat patients who live in the following states:

• California
• Connecticut
• New Jersey
• New York

If you are located outside of our qualifying states but are willing to travel to one of our offices, please select “New York, NY” or “San Mateo, CA” as your preferred office location on the request an appointment form.

If you are not able to travel to one of our office locations please refer to our Parents Guide to Getting Good Care or our 2022 Children’s Mental Health Report to learn about more ways to find care.

The benefits of treatment at the Child Mind Institute include:

• Our team provides all the services you need under one roof.
• We use therapies explicitly designed for children, teens and young adults.
• We partner with you to make the best treatment decisions for your child.
• We offer intensive treatment for kids in crisis or families who are traveling for care.
• We connect with kids and motivate them to work with us to get better.

No, we are an out-of-network provider for insurance. We provide all the information a family needs to submit claims to an insurance company for reimbursement. We also partner with two organizations that offer assistance in filing and managing insurance claims. They will also verify your benefits and manage pre-authorizations. Learn more about the Child Mind Institute’s Insurance Reimbursement Partners.

(We’re also partnering to build Fort Health, a new telehealth provider that accepts insurance in New Jersey and New York, with plans to expand nationwide. Fort Health’s clinicians offer telehealth treatment for children and youth aged 4–24 experiencing mild to moderate anxiety, mood, behavioral, or ADHD disorders. Click here if you’d like to learn more about the services offered by Fort Health and here to learn more about our relationship with Fort Health.)

Our clinicians are trained in evidence-based treatments, which are specialized forms of therapy that have been proven effective for children. Treatment usually takes place over 12–16 sessions. The cost of care varies by service:

• Psychiatric evaluation with a board-certified psychiatrist: $4,000
• Diagnostic evaluation and treatment with a clinical psychologist or social worker: $1,500-$3,300, depending on clinician seniority
• Neuropsychological evaluation for learning disorders: $5,500-$7,000
• Ongoing treatment: $300-$560/hour, depending on clinician seniority

The Child Mind Institute has financial aid available for families who qualify. If you have financial need, our intake coordinators will send you a financial aid application before scheduling.

The Child Mind Institute has physical locations in New York City and San Mateo, California. We also offer telehealth appointments for families in CA, CT, NJ and NY.

New York City – Midtown
215 East 50^th Street
New York, New York 10022
212.308.3118

San Francisco Bay Area
2000 Alameda de las Pulgas, Suite 242
San Mateo, California 94403

Our clinicians are experts in the diagnosis and treatment of social, emotional and behavioral challenges, including:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• Anxiety, including selective mutism, separation anxiety and social anxiety
• Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Behavior problems
• Bipolar disorder
• Depression
• Developmental disorders
• Learning disorders, including dyslexia, dysgraphia and non-verbal learning disorder (NVLD)
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Phobias and fears
• Sleep difficulties
• Speech and language disorders
• Suicidality and self-harm
• Trauma and stress

We begin by interviewing (either separately or together) the child and her parents or guardians, as well as gathering information from a variety of other sources including teachers, previous therapists and pediatricians. We also use gold-standard diagnostic measures to better assess the symptoms and concerns. After the evaluation is completed, we provide comprehensive feedback and treatment recommendations.

Yes. We will review the evaluation that your child has already received as part of our diagnostic evaluation but cannot rely on that report to determine treatment recommendations. Our clinicians need to meet with you and your child directly and make their assessment. An accurate and thorough diagnostic evaluation is the key to recommending the most effective treatment.

A diagnostic evaluation typically takes between two and three hours to complete. However, the length of an evaluation varies from child to child. If we have your permission, clinicians also spend time outside of the evaluation appointment reviewing our clinical questionnaires, previous medical records and contacting other important people in your child’s life such as teachers and previous providers.

Follow-up appointments are usually 45-60 minutes. After the diagnostic evaluation is completed, clinicians consider a child’s symptoms to determine the appropriate length and frequency of sessions.

The length of treatment depends on the diagnosis as well as the severity of a child’s symptoms. We evaluate the level of care a child needs during the initial evaluation, and then we adjust the level of care according to the child’s needs throughout the treatment process. Our goal is to get your child out of treatment and back to school and friends as quickly as possible.

Yes. When appropriate, many of our clinicians provide therapy in a child’s school and home setting. We also offer sessions through teleconferencing. 

Absolutely. We often see children who live outside New York City. After we’ve completed the evaluation process, we may be able to offer treatment sessions via video conferencing (depending on what we think is best for your child and the laws in your state). We can also help you find local specialists and/or collaborate with the clinicians from whom your child is already receiving care.

Our clinicians primarily evaluate and treat children, teens, and young adults up to 24 years old. However, parents and adult family members of our patients occasionally request care and we make every effort to accommodate their needs.

We can provide early childhood evaluations for children as young as 1 year old.

We create treatment teams and work with families to address all of a child’s mental health needs.