Office Location:
1420 Walnut Street, Suite 1209, Philadelphia, PA 19102
I see clients in person on Mondays, Tuesdays, & Thursdays.
Teletherapy Requirements: Good wifi, a computer, iPad, or phone connected to the internet, a headset for improved sound quality, privacy for your session. Please close all other browser tabs during our sessions.
My office space
Populations
I provide psychotherapy for individuals and couples. I also provide consultation for those learning IFS and lead workshops–see Services section for more information.
Most of my clients identify as Highly Sensitive People. I primarily care for other healers/therapists, artists, and activists. I love welcoming newcomers to therapy. I excel at helping those who’ve received prior trauma therapy gain deeper healing using Internal Family Systems. If you feel like you’ve done a lot of therapy but there are some stuck places that could use additional care, please reach out to me. My goal is for my clients to identify how to lead more authentic, joyful lives.
I also enjoy working with graduate students, entrepreneurs, and owners of small businesses. I am committed to welcoming those who haven’t felt welcomed or comfortable in therapeutic settings: the global majority, those with LGBTQIA+ identities, immigrants, and men (or those masc of center).
I want to support new social workers in their professional development. I am a mentor for the PSCSW. Please see my Advice for New Social Workers.
Check out my profile on Psychology Today.
Potential Benefits of Therapy
I help clients resolve grief and pain, clarify values, feel into what truly serves them, and build authentic, joyful lives. As a Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist, Level 3 trained, we can explore how early wounds shape today’s strategies, and how to be less reactive. In addition to talk therapy, I use the felt sense, and somatic IFS.
We will co-create your healing. You are the greatest expert in yourself. While working together, you may find new, creative solutions to build a joyful life, and reduce your reactivity.
Areas of Expertise
Therapists and other Healers, Highly Sensitive People, Artists, Grad Students, Activists, Small Business Owners. Issues: Feeling like one or one’s feelings are “too much,” working toward resolution of developmental trauma, increasing joy and sense of purpose, career change/career advancement, relationship issues, self-esteem, the search for love, grief, depression, stress/anxiety. Using IFS to increase capacity to be antiracist.
Modalities
I am a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapist and have completed IFS Level 3 training. I work relationally. I like to incorporate mindfulness, body awareness, and your personal interests and creativity into my practice. I pay attention to your attachment style, and what narratives you use to think through who you are and your life’s purpose. I’m increasingly using body- and brain-based strategies, like Somatic IFS and drawing from Somatic Abolitionism. I have training in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).
During our time together we will work with your past, present, and toward your emerging future. I will help you gain understanding and relieve your symptoms, and eventually increase your courage to be authentic, change, and grow. I’ll be encouraging you to show yourself self-compassion, and firming up your self-care strategies. If you are curious and want small experiments or tasks to do between sessions, we’ll co-develop these. We’ll work together to understand your strengths and which aspects of you need more nurturing, support, or recognition.
Languages
I’m bilingual in French and English.
Services
Individual and Couples Therapy: My fee scale is $170 to $200 per session. (My low fee spots are currently taken.)
IFS Intensives: My fee is $400 per two-hour session. The goal of intensives is to make progress and do deeper work at a faster rate. Intensives can be helpful when you want to invest time and increase the energy to fuel new choices and new behaviors. Intensives can be helpful in Internal Family Systems Therapy if you are making progress with managers, but need more time to access your exiles and unburden them. Also, if you feel like you’re on the verge of tackling an important piece of work, making more time to go deeper can be very helpful. It can also increase how much support you receive when you need more. These need to be scheduled ahead of time, especially if you want to do more than one in a week. It is important to be clear about what work you want to tackle in these sessions. Please note that you may not receive more than your standard rate of reimbursement from insurance for an intensive session.
Walk & Talk Therapy for individuals NoLibs, Old Kensington, Old City, and Fishtown. Fee is $200 per session. If you would be interested in having walk and talk therapy sessions, where we meet and walk through Philadelphia together exploring your needs, please reach out to me. Some clients prefer walking side by side, and the bilateral stimulation of walking can relax the body and make harder topics easier to tackle.
IFS Case Consultation & Triad Practice: Available for individual consultation on IFS cases (consultation will not count toward IFS certification) and for Triad Practice Sessions. My fee is $130 per session.
Mentoring for New Social Workers: I want to support new social workers in their professional development and am happy to meet with you informally and answer any questions you might have as you undertake the next step in your journey. Please see my Advice for New Social Workers. I am a mentor for PSCSW.
Fees/Payment
I only accept credit card or HSA payment for therapy sessions. Payment is made at the beginning of the session.
Licensing
I am licensed in PA and NJ, so I can see clients who are in either state. I cannot see you when you are out of state unless you are in Florida for a brief period.
Insurance
I am an out-of-network provider for psychotherapy, meaning you will have to pay out of pocket. I will provide you with a monthly receipt (superbill), and you will submit it for reimbursement to your insurance company under your out-of-network benefits. It is very important that you call and find out your out-of-network behavioral health benefits before starting therapy (use the number on the back of your insurance card). Most PPO health care plans offer out-of-network benefits. Most HMO plans do not.
For Teletherapy in PA or NJ: Please find out whether your insurance will cover teletherapy, and if they require a specific teletherapy platform. I use Simple Practice. If teletherapy isn’t covered, you will need to be comfortable paying out of pocket without reimbursement. If I provide a specific modality that is not widely available where you live (such as IFS) you can appeal your insurance to ask them to cover our work.
No Surprises Act and Good Faith Estimate of Services
As my client, you have the right to request and receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost.
* Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
* You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services I might provide you as your therapist over the next year. Outside our agreed-upon per session fee, this includes related costs of preparing documentation for you (hourly fee of $200), or of copying your records for you using PA HHS department per page cost guidelines. My fee for testifying in a trial is $400 per hour.
* If you do not have or are planning not to use insurance, I am required to give a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least 1 business day before your first medical service or item. You can also ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
* If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
* Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate. You should receive one at least yearly.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call 800-985-3059.
Bathrooms
There are two-stall gendered bathrooms in the hall across from the office. There is a wheelchair-accessible all-gender bathroom on the 15th floor, door code: 1420. The elevators are quick, thankfully. My landlord has denied my request to change one of the bathrooms to all gender.
Commitment to Community
Twenty percent of my caseload is free or very low fee therapy. I provide free therapy through A Home Within for a client who has been through foster or kinship care. I provide very low fee therapy through Healing for Activists.
Social Media
Facebook Page, Therapy with Sylvie