If you have health insurance, you may be able to use your insurance to pay for your therapy at The Awakening Center, depending on your benefit plan. All of the therapists at the Awakening Center are Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois PPO providers, and others are in network for Aetna PPO.

If you have BCBS of IL PPO, please be aware that BCBS of IL PPO often contracts its mental health coverage withother companies, even if your insurance card says "BCBS PPO." We cannot tell from looking at your card whether you have BCBS for your mental health coverage. You will need to call the phone number on the back of the card to verify if your mental health coverage is through BCBS PPO. If your mental health coverage is not through BCBS PPO, we can still work with your insurance company using your out of network benefits.

We can work with any other PPO insurance plans. We can submit the paperwork for you, or give you receipts which you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement.

All of the therapists at The Awakening Center have a limited number of sliding fee appointments. We also offer low fee therapy with therapists-in-training. We are sorry but we cannot accept Public Aid or Medicare.

We recommend that you call your insurance company directly to verify your mental health coverage before you begin therapy. This will eliminate any "surprises" which may interfere with your therapy later on. A common "surprise" is that your insurance company may only pay for 6 sessions and then require authorization or pre-certification for future sessions. Future sessions for the whole year may then be denied because they were not authorized or pre-certified.

Some insurance companies will also pay for medical nutrition counseling. We recommend that you call your insurance company and ask if they will. You may need to get a 'prescription' from your doctor in order for your insurance company to justify the need for these services.

Here are some suggested questions you may want to ask your insurance company about your coverage. There is usually a 1-800 number on the back of your insurance card. It may be helpful to print out this page, fill it out as you speak with the insurance company and then give a copy of these answers to your therapist at your first session.

Date of call to insurance company:

Insurance company phone number:

Write down any "prompts" that you press:

IMPORTANT: Name of person you spoke with:

Say: "I would like to verify my insurance coverage for outpatient mental health services."

My therapist will be ________________. She is an employee of The Awakening Center. Is The Awakening Center in network?

What is my deductible for mental health services?

Have I met my deductible for mental health services?

What is my deductible period? Is it a calendar year?

What percentage will you pay for each session?

Is there a maximum number of sessions per calendar year?

Do the sessions need to be preapproved or certified for payment?

If yes, how often do they need to be preapproved?

What is the procedure for preapproval?

What is the address to mail claims for payment?