Alert: Phone scam warning

Phone scams aimed at patients are becoming more common. Callers may pretend to be Medicare, an insurer, a doctor’s office, or another clinic. The goal is to obtain a Medicare number or other personal information.

Please remember:

To report a suspicious call: Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), or visit reportfraud.ftc.gov.

When the first step is a call

Often the person reading this has already been through a difficult time. A discovery that will not leave the mind alone. A partner who said treatment has to start. Or a quieter collapse: sleep gone, a mood that will not lift, fear that keeps arriving without warning, anxiety, depression, strain in a relationship that has grown harder to carry alone.

Plenty of people wait because they believe the first step has to be a drive to an office. It does not. The first step can be a quick call, and the work can begin from a private place the person already has.

The office

Who answers

Lorraine, office manager
LorraineOffice manager

Lorraine is the patient advocate and office manager. She is the first person a caller speaks with. Her role is scheduling and the practical questions that come with starting care: hours, insurance, how telehealth works, and which clinician fits what is being asked for. Callers do not have to explain the whole situation to her. She listens for what she needs to book the right appointment, finds a time that can actually fit, and schedules from there.

She is available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at (817) 437-4505 or administrator@psychologycareassociates.com.

Depending on what the caller is asking for, she schedules with the clinician whose training fits. That may be:

Elena Riedo, Psy.D.

Elena Riedo, Psy.D., clinical director. Dr. Riedo is a licensed psychologist and a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) through IITAP. She sees adults for anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship concerns, and addiction. Sexual addiction, pornography addiction, infidelity, and betrayal trauma are her specialty. Telehealth with Dr. Riedo is available in Texas and in Virginia. Clinical page

Beverly Williams, Ph.D.

Beverly Williams, Ph.D., licensed psychologist (Texas PSY #40012). More than thirty years of her work has been in university counseling. Adults come to her with anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, adjustment, relationship concerns, and the clinical concerns particular to women. Clinical page

Twila J. Engeman, Ph.D.

Twila J. Engeman, Ph.D., holds an M.S. and is an LPC-A, LCDC, and NCC. LPC clinical work is supervised by Sarah Lorenz, Psy.D., LPC-S. The work includes addiction and substance use, anxiety, depression, grief, and trauma. Clinical page

A caller does not have to choose a name first. That is part of what Lorraine helps with.

Once an appointment is set

Most sessions are by telehealth anywhere in Texas, and in Virginia with Dr. Riedo. Sessions happen wherever the patient chooses to take them, as long as it is private and workable, so there is no commute and no time lost to travel. When in-person care is needed, sessions in Southlake and Colleyville can be arranged. Evening and weekend sessions can be arranged with the clinician when weekday hours do not fit the life a person actually has.

The first session is an evaluation. It means slowing down enough to understand what has been happening, what it has cost, and which way of working is likely to help. No one has to arrive with a finished account or the right label. After that, the method follows the person who came.

Video care is not a thinner version of in-person work. It is the same attention and the same method, without the strain of getting there and getting home. For many adults, that is what makes it possible to begin and to stay.

Scheduling: (817) 437-4505.

In-network with most Blue Cross Blue Shield plans (all PPO plans, and some HMO plans), and with Medicare.