Straightforward answers to the questions that come up most.

This is coaching. Not therapy, not counseling, not clinical mental health treatment — and that distinction matters practically, not just technically.

Kit Perez holds advanced graduate training in trauma counseling and crisis intervention but practices as a Board-Certified Life Coach. That's intentional. Licensed clinical therapy operates under specific legal and ethical frameworks that constrain how directive a practitioner can be, how analytically they can engage with your account, and how directly they can name what they observe. For the kind of work this practice does — structural analysis of coercive dynamics, direct engagement with what happened and how — those constraints work against the client.

The coaching model allows for honest, direct, goal-oriented work. It means you'll get an actual assessment, not a reflection of your own account back to you. The emotional weight of what you've been through is taken seriously — that's not sidelined in favor of pure analysis. But the engagement is active and direct rather than non-directive and indefinite.

If you need clinical mental health treatment — diagnosis, psychiatric care, court-mandated services — this practice is not the right fit, and that will be communicated directly during the application review.

No. Insurance does not apply to coaching services. Sessions are not billable to health insurance. Some HSA or FSA plans cover coaching — check your specific plan if that's relevant to you.

The rate is $120 per session. If cost is a genuine barrier, the sliding scale is the appropriate path. See that question below.

Apply and describe your situation honestly. The application review exists to make that assessment — it's not gatekeeping, it's fit evaluation. If your situation is a good match for this work, you'll hear that. If it isn't, you'll hear that too, along with a clear explanation of why and a direction toward what would actually serve you.

The situations that tend to fit: leaving a high-control group or organization, recovering from a coercive romantic or family relationship, navigating the aftermath of a manipulative professional environment, or supporting a partner through one of the above while trying to understand what you're actually dealing with.

The situations that tend not to fit: active crisis requiring immediate clinical intervention, a primary need for emotional support rather than analytical engagement, or a need for clinical treatment of a diagnosable mental health condition.

Uncertainty about fit is not a reason to wait. The application is a ten-minute investment for a direct answer within 48 hours.

Your application is read personally — not screened by software or passed to an assistant. Every submission gets a real response within 48 hours.

If it's a good fit, you'll receive a scheduling link. The first session is a working session — we begin immediately rather than spending it on orientation or intake procedures.

If it's not a good fit, you'll receive an honest explanation of why, and where possible, a specific direction toward what would serve you better — whether that's a different type of practitioner, a particular approach, or a specific resource.

If your application raises a question that needs clarification before a fit assessment is possible, you'll hear that specific question — not a generic request for more information.

The sliding scale is a rate reduction for individuals for whom $120 per session is a genuine financial barrier. It is not means-tested, not documented, and not a complicated process.

If the standard rate is a real obstacle, indicate that in your application. In the follow-up, we'll arrive at a number that works for both parties. The conversation is direct and without judgment.

The sliding scale exists because access to this work shouldn't be determined solely by whether someone can afford the standard rate. It is not a discount for preference or convenience. If $120 per session is within your means, the standard rate is what's expected — and that expectation holds.

That isn't answerable before the work begins, and any estimate given without understanding your specific situation would be meaningless. Some people come in with a specific, bounded question and resolve it in a handful of sessions. Others are working through years of involvement in a coercive environment and need longer. Most fall somewhere in between.

What is true: there is no financial incentive here to extend sessions beyond what's productive. No package to fill, no subscription to justify. Sessions continue as long as they're producing concrete results. When that changes, it gets named directly — including when the work is done and ending is the right call.

Yes, and for some people that's the right structure. Therapy and coaching address different things. Clinical therapy is oriented around emotional processing, stabilization, and treatment of diagnosable conditions. This work is oriented around structural analysis of what happened and rebuilding accurate judgment. Those tracks can run in parallel without conflict.

If you're currently working with a therapist, mention it in your application. It's useful context — not a disqualifier — and may shape how sessions are structured.

Yes, at points. Reconstructing events accurately, naming the specific methods used on you, and sitting with the full picture of what happened — that carries emotional weight. That weight is real and it gets attention in sessions. It doesn't get managed or minimized.

What this work doesn't do is center the emotional difficulty at the expense of the analytical work. Both get sustained attention. The emotional experience is taken seriously because it's part of the data, and because processing it is part of the recovery. But the sessions aren't structured around keeping the emotional temperature low — they're structured around moving toward clarity, which sometimes requires sitting with discomfort rather than away from it.

That's worth knowing before you apply. If that's not what you're ready for, that's worth naming too — in which case the application review will reflect that honestly.

All sessions are conducted via secure video call. No in-person sessions are available. Specific platform details are provided when a session is scheduled.

Payment is required 24 hours before the scheduled session. If you need to reschedule, reach out before that 24-hour mark and it can be moved without issue. Cancellations or no-shows inside the 24-hour window are not refunded.

This is a shared accountability structure, not a punitive policy. It applies in both directions: if a session needs to be rescheduled on my end, you'll have options that work for you.