Connie Studer, MA, LMFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. A
Master of Arts degree in clinical and psychological services and a
post-Master’s Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy were awarded
from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. Prior to her training as a psychotherapist she worked as a depression
coach for a managed care company and as an executive in corporations
and advertising agencies.
Connie works with adults, couples, and families and is open and affirming of
alternative life styles and love relationships. She has clinical
experience working with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues
and is a current member of the Minnesota LGBT Mental Health Providers
Network.
She has several years’
clinical experience working with issues of grief, loss, trauma, and
transition. Additional training in trauma was attained through the
Upper Midwest Traumatology Training Institute.
- Current member on the University of Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps Crisis Response Team.
- Certified as a critical incident stress manager through ICISF (International Critical Incident Stress Foundation)
- Certified Compassion Fatigue Educator through Green Cross
- Certified Field Traumatologist through Green Cross.
- EMDR Certified (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) A treatment
technique to assist in healing from current and past trauma and loss.
- Member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Minnesota Transgender Health Providers Network, and
Connie Studer, MA, LMFT, works primarily using psychodynamic theories, insight therapy, but she
believes each client has unique needs and use other approaches based on
the needs of each individual or couple. For example, for those clients
in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse Connie will use Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy (CBT) and work with a model designed by Terence Gorski for
relapse prevention. When a client has symptoms of trauma including
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) she may use a technique called EMDR
(Eye movement desensitization reprocessing) to assist in his/her
healing. For couples, Connie uses the only evidenced based treatment for couples, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy.
Other areas of specialization:
- adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and rape.
- substance abuse and relapse prevention.
- coming out process for transgender/transsexual individuals
We want to make sure our therapy practice fits your needs. Call to schedule a free 30 minute in-person consultation.
Do I accept insurance?
I have decided not to accept insurance for
therapeutic services. Many successful, established psychotherapists do
not join insurance panels for three reasons. First, there is a great
deal of paperwork to submit for in-network benefits, making it an
impractical use of the clinician's time. Second, the in-network filing
process usually requires a significant breach of client
confidentiality. To meet the requirements for in-network reimbursement,
the therapist must submit an official client diagnosis and an ongoing
progress report, treatment plan, etc. Such information requires that
the therapist divulge a good deal of personal information about the
client, which then becomes part of his or her permanent medical record
(potentially driving up client insurance rates). Third, insurance panel
fee schedules are well below national averages, and are therefore not
ideal for established psychotherapists.
If
you would like to use your insurance please check with your insurance
company to learn if you have out of network coverage, what the deductible is, and the reimbursement rate; this may be a percentage of
my fee. I will provide you with the information you will need to file
your claims. Some clients receive a cafeteria plan as part of their
benefit plan at work. I will provide the necessary paperwork to assist
in filing for this pre-tax benefit.