Complex & Specialty Care
When Answers Aren’t Simple
Helping children, adolescents, and families navigate complex medical, emotional, and mind-body conditions with understanding, compassion, and curiosity.
I see you. I hear you. I believe you.
I may not have all the answers right now, but we can figure this out together.
I appreciate the privilege of walking alongside patients and families as we work together with healthcare providers, schools, and communities to better understand complex challenges and identify meaningful next steps.
Understanding
Taking time to understand the full picture before jumping to conclusions.
Compassion
Creating space for experiences that may have been overlooked, dismissed, or misunderstood.
Curiosity
Approaching complex symptoms with openness, collaboration, and a willingness to keep learning.
Listening. Trusting. Believing.
Some of the most important lessons in Dr. Rafferty’s career have come from patients and families navigating complex and often misunderstood conditions. Their experiences continue to shape her understanding of the relationship between the mind, body, healthcare systems, and the importance of truly listening.
These conversations reflect a shared commitment to curiosity, collaboration, and the belief that every person’s story deserves to be heard. They also offer a closer look at the lived experiences that continue to shape Dr. Rafferty’s approach to complex care.
Shared with permission. While this content is publicly available, it is included here with full consent and respect for the individuals’ story. Any clinical insights are intended for general educational purposes and may not be generalizable to other cases.
From Dismissal to Discovery: A Patient’s Journey with the Undiagnosed Disease
A patient and family share their journey through complex illness and medical uncertainty, alongside Dr. Rafferty’s approach grounded in listening, trust, and believing.
Phoebe’s Story: A Medical Mystery
Featured on Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast
This podcast highlights the experience of a mother and daughter navigating years of medical uncertainty, unanswered questions, and the emotional toll of not being believed. It also reflects Dr. Rafferty’s growth as a
psychologist, as she came to understand just how complex the mind and body can be, and learned the importance of slowing down, listening more deeply, and trusting the expertise that patients and families hold about their own lived experience.
FND Warrior Support &
Advocacy Webinar
This educational webinar shares the lived experience of an individual living with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). Topics include medical dismissal, understanding FND, navigating healthcare systems, the impact of language and validation, self-advocacy, and finding hope in the midst of uncertainty.
One message that resonated deeply was:
“Words matter more than people realize.
One sentence can either create hope
or create more trauma.”
Content Note: This webinar includes discussion of significant negative experiences within healthcare settings, including medical dismissal, trauma, and patient advocacy following harmful interactions with medical professionals. Some viewers may find portions of this discussion emotionally difficult.
Presented by Roxie and RISE: FND Warrior Support, this resource offers education, encouragement, and lived experience for individuals and families navigating FND.
Specialty Consultation & Care Planning
When you need help making sense of complex concerns.
Some children, teens, young adults, parents, caregivers, and families face concerns that are complex, overlapping, or difficult to sort through alone. Symptoms may involve emotional health, physical health, school functioning, medical systems, family stress, disability, or multiple providers with different recommendations.
You may be trying to understand Functional Neurological Disorder, chronic pain, dysautonomia or POTS, EDS or hypermobility, rare or undiagnosed illness, pediatric cancer, medical trauma, school concerns, or complex mind-body symptoms.
You may also be trying to decide what kind of support is needed next, such as mental health therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, medical follow up, school supports, parent consultation, or care coordination.
Rather than moving directly into ongoing therapy, some families benefit from a focused consultation process designed to slow things down, understand the bigger picture, identify priorities, and clarify which next steps may be most important to prioritize.
This service is private pay specialty consultation and care planning. It is not ongoing therapy, psychological testing, or a diagnostic evaluation. It is intended to help families feel heard, better organized, and more prepared to decide what kind of support may be needed.
What to Expect
Specialty consultation is a focused care planning service. It is designed to help you feel heard, organize complex concerns, and identify possible next steps.
This service is not ongoing therapy, psychological testing, medical care, or crisis care. It does not establish an insurance based therapy relationship nor create an insurance based treatment plan.
Step 1: Consultation and Background Review
90-minute consultation
This first meeting focuses on understanding the concerns, questions, history, and current stressors that brought you to consultation.
This may include:
- Listening carefully to your concerns and goals
- Reviewing relevant emotional, behavioral, medical, educational, and family system history
- Understanding what has already been tried
- Identifying strengths, barriers, and areas of functional impact
- Clarifying the most important questions for care planning
- Organizing concerns across home, school, medical, and family systems
The goal is to understand the bigger picture and identify what information may be most useful for next step planning.
Step 2: Care Planning and Next Step Guidance
90-minute consultation
This second meeting focuses on making sense of the information discussed, identifying priorities, and developing a practical plan for next steps.
This may include:
- A summary of themes and impressions from the consultation
- Education about emotional, medical, neurological, developmental, school, and family system factors
- Practical recommendations for home, school, and daily life
- Guidance about questions to discuss with current providers
- Support in thinking through medical, school, or support system advocacy
- Help deciding what type of care may be needed, such as mental health therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, medical follow up, school supports, parent consultation, or care coordination
- Help prioritizing which steps may make the most sense to address first
- Referral ideas when another service may be a better fit
The consultation process is intentionally divided into two meetings to allow time for reflection, organization of information, and thoughtful care planning.
When helpful, a written care planning summary may be provided.
Fees
Specialty Consultation and Background Review
90 minutes — $350
Care Planning and Next Step Guidance
90 minutes — $350
Additional Professional Services
Additional professional services are billed at $250 per hour, prorated in 15 minute increments.
This may include:
- Review of relevant records or background materials
- Written care planning summaries
- School consultation
- Medical collaboration
- Care coordination
- Meeting attendance
- Letters or other written communication when appropriate
Specialty consultation and care planning is a private pay service and is not submitted to insurance.
Because this is a private pay consultation service, it is separate from insurance based psychotherapy services. By choosing to participate in this service, you understand and agree that consultation fees will not be submitted to insurance for out of network reimbursement.
Before scheduling, families will review and sign a consultation consent form that explains the scope of the service, fees, privacy considerations, and the difference between consultation and therapy.
Not Sure Where to Start?
Not sure whether specialty consultation, parent consultation, therapy, or another referral is the best fit?
That is okay.
Please complete the contact form, and Hope Psychology Practice can help determine which service may best meet your needs.
