Getting Started with Therapy
How to start your journey
New to therapy and unsure where to start? We've got your back. Explore our free resources below.
Determining what you need
Helpful guides for different types of mental health care.
What to expect during therapy
What you need to know to make therapy work for you.
Understanding the fundamentals
The 411 on therapy and therapists.
Insurance Coverage
Know your costs
Discover how much your insurance will cover for therapy sessions with Octave. Simply select your state and insurance provider to see your out-of-pocket costs. Save time and make informed decisions about your care.
Change the future of how you feel
Our success is measured by the satisfaction of the clients we serve. See what some of them have to say about their experience.
My therapist is extremely kind, human-centered, engaged, and invested. I don’t feel like a transactional client, but rather, a human.
Octave Patient
Octave and the therapists are amazing. Everything from billing and scheduling, to the actual care, has been phenomenal.
Octave Patient
When I signed up for Octave, they provided me with an amazing in-network therapist within a day. This is truly life changing! I’ve had such an impossibly hard time — for the past eight years — finding a therapist both in my network and who I bond with.
Octave Patient
From the thoughtful intake, ease of dealing with insurance and on top of it one of the most thorough and eye opening therapy I have ever received — I cannot recommend Octave enough.
Octave Patient
It’s affordable, user-friendly and easy to be quickly matched with a therapist that matched my needs! Virtual appointments fit seamlessly into my schedule.
Octave Patient
My therapist is extremely kind, human-centered, engaged, and invested. I don’t feel like a transactional client, but rather, a human.
Octave Patient
Octave and the therapists are amazing. Everything from billing and scheduling, to the actual care, has been phenomenal.
Octave Patient
When I signed up for Octave, they provided me with an amazing in-network therapist within a day. This is truly life changing! I’ve had such an impossibly hard time — for the past eight years — finding a therapist both in my network and who I bond with.
Octave Patient
From the thoughtful intake, ease of dealing with insurance and on top of it one of the most thorough and eye opening therapy I have ever received — I cannot recommend Octave enough.
Octave Patient
It’s affordable, user-friendly and easy to be quickly matched with a therapist that matched my needs! Virtual appointments fit seamlessly into my schedule.
Octave Patient
Thinking about therapy?
We are in-network with most Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, Health Net, and UMR plans. At this time, if you are insured through Medicare, Medicaid, Medi-Cal, or Tricare we are not able to provide services to these beneficiaries due to associated regulatory requirements. To learn more about insurance at Octave, please visit our insurance page.
Octave takes the time to learn about you and your unique concerns. Upon signing up, you will complete a short questionnaire to indicate your specific needs and preferences. After completion, clients may have the opportunity to self-select a provider, while others may opt to be matched to a provider by our Care Navigation Team. Clients may also be asked to schedule a consultation with a Care Navigator if we require more information in order to match.
Our Care Navigation Team will thoroughly review your onboarding questionnaire to learn about your unique needs and preferences. Using specialized knowledge on Octave’s providers, your Care Navigator will match you with the best possible fit.
Our mission is to make high-quality therapy accessible by working with insurance companies to cover mental health services in-network. Over 96% of our clients pay an average of $28 per session through insurance.
While everyone’s experience in therapy is different, there are a few basics you could expect. During your first session, your therapist will take most of the session to conduct what is called an “intake assessment” which is just asking a series of questions to have a full understanding the concerns you want to address and how they impact you, your history of emotional concerns and how different aspects of your life (like work, social, family, health) are going. Next, your therapist will collaboratively create a “treatment plan” with you which will serve as a therapy road map for the following sessions for what to focus on to achieve your specific goals. What happens after that is where everyone’s experience can be different. Some people feel immediate relief from creating a plan and starting to address their concerns. For others, it can feel a bit challenging to talk about their struggles- an analogy to think of here is that you have to disinfect a wound for it to heal properly, and sometimes the disinfecting part stings before it feels better.
With your treatment plan and therapy goals set, you’ll have a guide to know when you are feeling better and when you have succeeded in making the improvements you desired when you started the therapy process.
All of our therapists are experienced and trained to treat clients in individual therapy. Depending on a client’s need, they can be matched with a therapist with specialized training to support their needs.
No, Octave is not a subscription/membership service. Clients are charged on a per appointment basis.
If you are thinking about canceling, we encourage you to speak directly with your Octave therapist or your Care Navigator.
If you wish to switch to a new Octave provider, your therapist will be able to initiate this process, and you can expect to be contacted by a member of the Care Navigation Team within 1-4 business days. From there, your Care Navigator will assist in rematching you with a new provider.
If you prefer, you can cancel your appointments by emailing [email protected] or by visiting your Client Portal to cancel.
Yes. Here at Octave, we believe client’s don’t need ongoing therapy. We focus on helping client’s meet their goals and once they are met, client’s can end care and return only when they need support again. The decision to end care or take a break is best determined by discussing this with your therapist