Blue Shield Insurance Plans
Effective 12/15/24
Shine a Light Counseling Center is now an in-network provider for Blue Shield PPO & HMO plans. CALPERS and CALSTRS state employees often have Blue Shield plans. If you have Blue Shield, we can help you. Your costs will be limited to meeting the deductible and copayment of your specific plan. Use the form below to request and appointment.
Blue Shield Medi-Cal
New Clients Welcome Starting 3-1-25
Shine a Light Counseling Center will soon be an in-network provider with Blue Shield Medi-Cal plans. If you have a Medi-Cal plan with Blue Shield, we will be able to bill your insurance with no deductible or copayment. Your therapy will be free. Use the Request for Services form below to get connected by 3-1-25.
Magellan Plans
Be Careful: Some Blue Shield plans use Magellan mental helath providers
Check to see if your Blue Shield plan contracts its mental health benefits to Magellan. If so, you have to use a Magellan provider. Unfortunately, we do not accept new clients with Magellan, due to low payment rates.
Request an Appointment
To Request an Appointment at Shine a Light or NPCC, please fill out this form. We respond to inquiries Monday through Friday. All inquiries we receive on the weekends or holidays will be processed the next business day. Thank you for your patience. If you need immediate services, please call 911.
Agency Inquiries
New Office in San Francisco!
Shine a Light Counseling Center is please to merge with New Perspectives Center for Counseling. NPCC has been serving the San Francisco community for thirty years. Now NPCC is transitioning to become the San Francisco site for Shine a Light. NPCC will retain its name, character and history. For information about NPCC or counseling in San Francisco:
New Perspectives Center for Counseling (link)
Emergency Contact
Shine a Light does not provide crisis services. If you have a mental health emergency, call 988 or 911. Or click here for more Crisis Resources
Telephone Contact
You can call Shine a Light at 831-996-1222, but we encourage you to use the email forms to the left. If you call, please leave the following:
- Phone number
- Preferred location
- Best times to meet
- Issue you want help with
- What insurance you have (if any)
FAX us at: 831-417-0443
Good Faith Estimate
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your therapy sessions will cost. Your fee will be set according to a sliding scale, in collaboration with your therapist, prior to your first counseling session. Total costs depend upon the number of sessions you choose to utilize.
If you have private health insurance and we are not in-network with your plan, please be aware that your costs for therapy may be less by using an in-network provider. This will depend upon your plan's deductible amounts and co-payments. In some cases, counseling at Shine a Light is less costly than using private insurance.
If you hope to use "out of network" benefits through your private insurance, please be aware that many plans will not reimburse for services provided by trainees. Please request an Associate level therapists for out-of-network billing.