Adult Psychological Testing & Evalutions

Psychological Assessments for Adults in Kentucky

I provide thorough psychological evaluations for a range of mental health problems to adults living throughout Kentucky via telehealth.

My approach to testing goes beyond matching your symptoms to a set of criteria, but using a combination of methods to better understand a broader picture of you: how you think, feel, and relate to others, your personality and how you regulate emotions, your developmental history and your current functioning.

The result is not only receiving a diagnosis, but highly-personalized treatment recommendations that can address your specific problems and needs.

You'll receive a thorough written report designed to help you, your loved ones, and your treatment providers better understand and assist you, and a feedback session where we discuss your results together to make sure everything makes sense.

I can evaluate for:

ADHD
Autism
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder
Panic Disorder
PTSD and Complex PTSD
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Personality Disorders
Depression
Bipolar Spectrum Disorders

Including high-masking & twice-exceptional (2e) presentations, and young adults experiencing unexpected difficulty with functioning or independence

How is it different than a screening?

Going beyond the symptom checklist

Many psychological evaluations focus narrowly on whether you meet criteria for a specific diagnosis, typically based on a list of symptoms identified in the DSM-5-TR. This can be useful, but it sometimes misses the bigger picture, important context like your personality patterns, how you respond to emotions, and how you relate to others, as well as how all of that interacts with whatever brought you in. This approach also does not account for very high rates co-occurrence and overlap in symptoms amongst mental health disorders, which can lead to misdiagnosis or failure to identify an important co-occurring problem.

To ensure accuracy of your diagnosis, each of my assessments include an evaluation of your broader personality functioning alongside targeted diagnostic testing. This traits-based approach is foundational to how I work because understanding the full picture can change what your diagnosis means in practice: a person with ADHD who is highly anxious and socially avoidant needs a different approach than one who has ADHD and is struggling with high levels of impulsivity and substance use.

This approach is also especially helpful in situations where the diagnostic picture is complex or ambiguous. In these cases, in-depth testing can aid in pulling apart the complexity. For example, discovering what you thought was treatment-resistant depression is actually PTSD or a bipolar disorder.

My approach:

I like getting down into the details of psychological measurement, and I'm passionate about using psychological science and tools to help people better understand their patterns, clarify what that means for the difficulties they're experiencing, and identify strategies or support that will actually help. Diagnosis in my practice is a tool for self-understanding and moving forward with less friction instead of pathologizing, with the recognition that psychological frameworks are just one way of understanding yourself.

I'm attentive to how other dimensions of identity and experience--things like race and cultural background, sexuality, gender, and religious beliefs or lack thereof--can shape how people relate to the assessment and psychotherapy process and what the results mean in context.

Finally, I'm mindful that many of the people I work with have experienced significant trauma and that trauma impacts how people present on testing, how they relate to evaluators and therapists, and what they need from the assessment process. I take care to be attentive to individual trauma needs when working in both assessment and therapy contexts.

Psychological testing costs & options:

Focused Assessment - $1500
This evaluation is appropriate for focused referral questions regarding a single diagnostic question. For example, "Do I have ADHD?" or "Do I have PTSD?" Although this evaluation will include broader personality information, it will not provide in-depth information about co-occurring problems, and treatment recommendations will likely be more limited.

These evaluations are not well-suited to people with concerns in multiple areas such as ADHD co-occurring with significant problems in other areas (e.g., mood, anxiety, trauma, etc.) or ADHD and autism.

Comprehensive Assessment - $2500
This evaluation is appropriate for referral questions involving concerns in multiple areas such as ADHD alongwith problems due to borderline personality traits and depression or autism co-occurring with trauma and obsessive-compulsive concerns.

Not sure what type of evaluation is right for you or looking for something else?
That's what I'm here for. Many people aren't sure which type of evaluation would be best at first, but these options are presented for those that are seeking a specific type of testing from the start. You can reach me by email or phone for a consultation about your particular needs if you are unsure, and I'm happy to consult about individualized testing needs outside those listed above.

I also begin every evaluation with a clinical interview that determines the ultimate testing battery. If at the end of that interview, it's discovered that a different type of evaluation would be most appropriate, I'll communicate that information to you and we can discuss options.

Costs of the assessment can be split across multiple sessions (e.g., 50% at time of intake, 50% at first testing session or 33.3% at intake, first testing session, and feedback session).

Insurance & Payment: I am not in-network with any insurance plans. However, I am happy to provide you with a superbill for submission to your insurance company for out-of-network reimbursement. I accept electronic payment methods including major credit, debit, FSA, and HSA cards.

Every evaluation includes:

A thorough review of your history and experiences
This is more than just a checklist or list of questions. I want to understand your upbringing, relationships, experiences, what you’ve noticed about yourself, and what brought you here. This is done through extensive clinical interviewing covering your personal history, as well a diagnostic interviewing covering DSM-5-TR conditions relevant to your presenting concerns.

Collateral information such as school records, prior examinations, and information from loved ones and other providers is welcome. These things are especially helpful in evaluations for ADHD and autism, where a loved one who knew you in childhood is ideal. If you do not have records or loved ones you would like to involve, that's okay, we can do the testing without them.

Psychological testing
Tools that help you understand how your traits, functioning, and experiences compare to norms. Each testing battery is designed to balance comprehensiveness and efficiency, using a broad measure for coverage and selecting additional measures based on the needs of each case. This helps to ensure we don't miss anything, but prevents you from being subject to unnecessary testing; No one wants to waste time filling out forms or doing tasks they don't need to.

A written report
A detailed, clear report explaining what we covered, what we found, and providing tailored recommendations for what comes next. You keep a copy of your report and may share it at your discretion with loved ones or other providers.

A feedback session
We go through the results and findings together, so you understand what all the test results and what they mean for you. You are welcome to bring family with you to this session.

Optional follow-up
If you want me to talk directly with your therapist or have a follow-up session to go deeper later, we can arrange that.

Assessment Timeline:
Every evaluation begins with an initial clinical interview that typically lasts around 1-1.5 hours.

At the end of your first appointment, we will schedule testing appointments. These appointments can involve a combination of diagnostic interviewing and testing typically lasting about 2 to 6 hours. Longer testing and interviewing batteries can be split into multiple appointments.

Before your first testing appointment, you will be provided links to psychological tests to take on your own. Time for completion varies based on complexity of your presenting problems, but typically last between 1 and 2 hours.

After the final testing appointment, all the information is compiled into a written report. Report drafting time is typically about one week.

Once your report is complete, we meet for the feedback session, which often lasts around one hour. Following the session, I'll send your report and coordinate with any providers you request.