Therapy with Mitch Abblett, PhD

Licensed Clinical Psychologist · Wellesley, Massachusetts
Children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families

My practice is currently full. I keep a short waitlist and review it whenever a slot opens. If you would like to be on it, send a brief note — I read every inquiry myself and will tell you honestly what the wait looks like.

Individual Therapy

I maintain a full-time psychotherapy practice focused on evidence-based work with children, adolescents, and adults. My approach is mindfulness and acceptance-based: less about eliminating difficult thoughts and feelings, more about changing your relationship to them so they stop running the show. The aim is greater flexibility in daily life, better quality in your relationships, and a life that actually reflects what you care about.

I put real weight on the working relationship itself. What happens between us in the room is often the clearest available evidence of the patterns that are causing trouble everywhere else — and the safest place to start changing them.

Children and Adolescents

A large part of my career has been spent with kids other people had already given up on — first at the Harvard-affiliated Judge Baker Children's Center, and since then in private practice. I work with children and teenagers on anger and emotional regulation, anxiety, school stress and school refusal, attention and impulse difficulties, family conflict, and the aftermath of hard experiences.

Work with a young person is work with a family. Parents are part of the process rather than observers of it, and I will tell you plainly what I am seeing and what I think will help. For anyone under eighteen, a parent or legal guardian completes the intake and consents to treatment; how much of the session content gets shared, and with whom, is something we agree on openly at the start.

Couples and Family Therapy

I also provide couples and family therapy. Human beings are biologically wired for relationships and as a result we are always mutually influencing one another.  Therefore understanding and harnessing the social “messaging” in our daily interactions is crucial to individual and collective success and well-being. I work with couples and families to engage in mindful interactions and understanding of each other in order to promote more positive communication and interpersonal relationships.

What to Expect

A first appointment is not a test, and you do not need to arrive with your history organized. Mostly I listen. By the end of it you should have a clearer sense of what is actually going on and whether I am the right person to help with it.

Before we meet. I send you the intake and consent forms. Completing them in advance means our first hour is spent on you rather than on paperwork.

The first one to four sessions. An evaluation. We work out together what you are up against, what has already been tried, and what a realistic goal looks like. At the end of it I give you my honest read and a proposed direction — including, when it applies, a referral to someone better suited than I am.

Ongoing work. Usually one fifty-minute session per week at a standing time. Therapy asks something of you between sessions; that is where most of the actual change happens.

How I work. Direct, and not the nod-and-reflect variety. I will push when pushing is useful, and I will say so when I think something is being avoided. If that is not what you are looking for, it is worth knowing now.

Fees and Insurance

Initial evaluation — $450  ·  Fifty-minute session — $350

I do not accept private health insurance, and payment is due at the time of service. I provide monthly statements containing everything you need to submit to your plan for out-of-network reimbursement. Many policies offer it. Calling the member-services number on the back of your card and asking specifically about out-of-network outpatient mental health benefits will tell you what you would actually get back.

Other professional time is billed at the same $350 hourly rate, prorated for periods under an hour: report writing, phone calls longer than fifteen minutes, meetings with other providers you have authorized, and preparation of records or treatment summaries. Time related to legal proceedings is billed at $550 per hour.

Your right to a Good Faith Estimate. You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate explaining how much your care will cost. Under the law, health care providers must give clients who do not have insurance, or who are not using insurance, an estimate of expected charges for services. You can ask me for one before you schedule. If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill — keep a copy of the estimate. For more information, visit cms.gov/nosurprises or call 1-800-985-3059.

If cost is a genuine obstacle, say so early. It is a normal conversation to have, and I would rather have it at the start than have you quietly drop out three months in.

Getting in Touch

774-217-1199 · mitch@drmitchabblett.com
44 Washington Street, Suite 100 · Wellesley, MA 02481
Licensed Psychologist, Commonwealth of Massachusetts · License No. PY 8444

I am usually in the office between 9am and 5pm and will not answer while I am with a client. I return calls the same day when I can, excluding weekends and holidays. Please do not include detailed personal health information in a first message — ordinary email and web forms are not secure channels.

If you are in crisis, do not wait for an appointment. I do not provide crisis-intervention or after-hours emergency services. Call 911, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or go to your nearest emergency room.