How Counseling at Shade Tree Works

We recommend starting with approximately eight sessions — one per week for eight weeks. This is our starting point for most presenting issues. After that, the right path depends on your progress and goals. Some clients transition to monthly maintenance. Others continue weekly because they are in the thriving phase and want to keep growing.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is among the most well-researched therapeutic approaches in existence. Its effectiveness across anxiety, depression, trauma, addiction, and a wide range of other presenting issues has been documented in decades of peer-reviewed clinical research. It is practical, measurable, and built around a simple but powerful premise: the way we think shapes the way we feel and behave — and thinking can be changed.

We use CBT as our primary modality because we believe it is both clinically excellent and theologically consistent. Romans 12:2 calls us to the renewing of the mind — a fundamental reorientation of how we think, not just how we act. CBT gives people practical, evidence-based tools for doing exactly that. The research and the Scripture are, in our view, pointing at the same thing. That alignment is not incidental to why we practice the way we do. It is central to it.

Yes — and this is one of our most important differentiators. We believe many mental health struggles are at least partly metabolic and lifestyle-related. We talk with clients about nutrition, exercise, sleep, and physical habits because we believe the body directly affects the mind. We are one of the few Christian counseling practices in Houston that integrates physical health as a core part of the counseling conversation.

Counseling at Shade Tree addresses clinical presenting issues — anxiety, depression, trauma, addiction, and relationship crises. Coaching is for clients who are past the crisis phase and want to focus on growth, purpose, leadership, and long-term thriving. The two often overlap — many clients transition from counseling into coaching as their presenting issues resolve and their goals shift from healing to thriving.

Yes. Virtual sessions are available for adult clients. We find them especially useful for busy professionals who can schedule a lunchtime session from their office. We prefer in-person sessions for teenagers and do not recommend virtual for younger teens.

We are a private-pay practice because we believe it produces better care — and because we take your privacy seriously.

When insurance is involved, a clinical diagnosis goes on your permanent record. A third party gains access to your most private conversations. And the number, frequency, and type of sessions you can have gets determined by someone who has never met you. Staying private-pay means your records stay yours. No third-party oversight of what happens in the counseling room. No insurance company decides when you have had enough. Just you, your therapist, and the work.

Here is something most people don't know: you are likely already entitled to out-of-network benefits through your existing insurance plan. Most insurance plans include out-of-network mental health coverage — which means you may be able to recover a significant portion of your session cost simply by submitting a superbill. We provide superbills after every session specifically for this purpose. A quick call to your insurance provider to ask about your out-of-network mental health benefits is worth making before you assume counseling is out of reach financially.

We list our rates openly because we believe you deserve to know what to expect before you ever pick up the phone.

Yes. Marriage and relationship restoration is one of our core areas of focus. We believe marriage is worth fighting for and will do everything in our power to help couples heal. We work with couples in crisis, couples preparing for marriage, and couples in the thriving phase who want to go deeper in their relationship.

We hold a traditional, biblical view. God created human beings male and female. Marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman. Human sexuality flourishes within that design. We hold that conviction without apology — and without using it as a weapon against anyone who is struggling.

Because here is what we also believe: people wrestling with sexuality and identity deserve honest, compassionate care — not shame, not a verdict, and not a counselor who makes them feel like they walked into the wrong room. These are deeply personal struggles. Too many people carry them alone because they are afraid of exactly that response.

We are not that practice. We want you here. We will walk with you honestly and compassionately — helping you move toward alignment with the faith and values you yourself want to live by. You do not have to have it resolved before you come in. That is what we are here for.