What I treat · Self-harm · Milwaukee
Self-harm therapy for Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Therapy for self-harm patterns for Milwaukee adults and college students, with Wisconsin-licensed Amber Miller, MSed., LPC. Telehealth statewide, in-person at the Superior office. Most insurance accepted, including BadgerCare and Medicaid.
Milwaukee has the largest absolute population in Wisconsin and a correspondingly long therapy wait at most of the larger group practices. Telehealth from anywhere in Milwaukee (the East Side, Bay View, the North Shore suburbs, Wauwatosa) works as well as in-person for most adult and student work. Marquette, UW-Milwaukee, MSOE, the MATC system, Alverno, and Mount Mary are all part of the regular caseload. Sessions over a parent's plan from a Milwaukee-area address have the same explanation-of-benefits considerations as elsewhere; we will talk through it at the first session if it matters to you.
What Self-harm therapy looks like
The clients I see who self-harm are usually not in immediate medical danger. They are managing something the rest of their life has no place for. The pattern usually started for understandable reasons. The work is real, slow, and respectful of why it began.
This page is for therapy work. It is not a crisis line. If you are in immediate danger or you cannot keep yourself safe right now, please call 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or go to your nearest emergency department. Therapy work continues alongside, once you are safe.
How we work on it
Dialectical behavioral skills come in heavily for the in-the-moment work, especially distress-tolerance and emotion-regulation tools. Person-centered work holds the slower arc of figuring out what the pattern protects and what the alternative would look like.
The work is between you and me. We talk through what you want anyone close to you to know or not know about it, and whether and when you want them looped in.
Self-harm is rarely the problem in the deepest sense. It is a solution that started costing more than it solved. The work is finding solutions whose costs are smaller.
How sessions work for Milwaukee clients
Milwaukee is too far from the Superior office for regular in-person sessions, so this is a telehealth-only relationship. That works as well for this kind of work as in-person. We pick a regular weekly slot and keep it.
If you are at a college in or near Milwaukee
Milwaukee and the surrounding area is home to UW-Milwaukee, Marquette, MSOE, MATC, Alverno, and Mount Mary. I see students from each, regardless of which campus you are on. Telehealth from a dorm or apartment works the same way it works from home. Sessions are confidential. The full angle on student work is on the college student page.
Insurance and cost in Milwaukee
Wisconsin BadgerCare, Medicaid, Medicare, and most major commercial insurance in Milwaukee are in-network. Out-of-pocket is $125 per 50 minutes session. Full detail on the insurance and fees page.
What to do next
If this read like something you recognize, the next step is to schedule the consultation or intake session. The free 15 minutes consult gives us both a sense of whether we would work well together before you book the first paid session. Text, call, or use the form, whichever is easiest.