The first call

A clinician calls you back within one business day. The call runs thirty to forty-five minutes, it costs nothing, and it commits you to nothing.

Who you are actually talking to

Not a call centre and not a commissioned admissions rep. Iron Ridge is a single small clinic and the consult is conducted by a member of the clinical team.

This matters more than it sounds. Large treatment marketing operations route inquiries through paid intake staff whose job is enrollment. The incentive structure produces a predictable conversation. Here, the person on the phone is the person deciding whether this is the right level of care, and that is the actual purpose of the call.

What you will be asked

Enough to formulate the case. Roughly:

• What is happening now, and what made you call this week rather than last month.
• How long the pattern has been running, and how it has changed.
• What it has cost — relationally, at work, financially.
• Mental health history: diagnoses, treatment, medication, previous programs.
• Substance use, honestly assessed.
• Risk: current suicidal thinking or self-harm. This is asked directly, because it determines the level of care.
• Your situation — work schedule, whether you are in Austin, whether there is a partner and where things stand.

What you will not be asked

You will not be asked to give a detailed sexual history on a first phone call. That is intake work with a clinician you have met, not screening material.

You will not be asked for insurance information, because we do not bill insurance.

You will not be pressured toward a decision on the call. There is no closing script and there is no discount that expires.

Questions worth asking us

Bring them. The ones that come up most:

• Can I do this without stopping work? (Yes — that is what an IOP is for.)
• Will my employer or my insurer find out? (No. We do not contact either.)
• What does it actually cost? (You will get a straight number: $30,000 for the eight weeks. See pricing.)
• What happens with my partner? (She becomes a separate client with her own clinician, if she wants to. It is included.)
• How soon can I start? (Cohort availability changes. You will get an honest answer about current timing.)

If this is not the right program

Sometimes it is not, and you will be told so on the call rather than after you have paid.

Active psychosis or an unstable mood-disorder presentation, substance use requiring primary SUD treatment, and active suicidality or acute self-harm all need a different setting first. So does a picture where compulsive sexual behavior is not actually the presenting concern.

In each of those cases the call becomes a referral conversation. That is not a failed inquiry.

If you are in crisis

If you are in immediate danger or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 — the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day — or call 911. Do not wait for a callback from us.

Request a confidential consult → or call (512) 877-8616. Next: intake assessment →