What to Expect as a Patient

Core Recovery is a state of Arizona licensed outpatient mental health facility. We use evidence-based techniques for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment to ensure you receive the top-level care you need from day one.

Your TMS Consultation

At Core Recovery, we want to make your experience learning about your treatment options as easy as possible. That’s why we schedule an initial consultation with our dedicated TMS Coordinator before you ever schedule a medical appointment. That consultation can take place via phone or via a Zoom video conference, depending on your preference. During that consultation call, you can:
- Ask any questions you have about TMS treatment. - Discuss information about your treatment history and learn about whether TMS may be appropriate for you. - Discuss your insurance benefits and coverage for TMS treatment. - Discuss any other questions that you have, about TMS or other treatment options that you’d like to understand before meeting with one of our psychiatric providers.

Initial Evaluation

If you decide that you’d like to schedule an appointment with one of our psychiatric providers for an initial evaluation, you will have the opportunity to do so after your consultation. Your evaluation will be with a psychiatric professional who will perform a full assessment, including medical and treatment history and presenting symptoms. Your psychiatric provider will discuss treatment options with you and provide a clinical recommendation on whether TMS treatment may be appropriate for you.

Schedule TMS Treatment Session

If you and your psychiatric provider determine that you’d like to obtain TMS treatment, we will contact your insurance company to obtain prior authorization for the procedure to ensure that your treatment is covered by your insurance. We will communicate with you so that you understand your insurance coverage and whether there will be any costs (e.g., co-pays, deductibles) that may be associated with treatment. At Core Recovery, we never want cost to be a barrier to receiving the treatment that you need, and for that reason, if your insurance plan does have high out-of-pocket costs, we can discuss payment plans and financing options to ensure that you can receive the mental health care that you need.
At your first TMS treatment session, you will meet with your psychiatric provider, who will prepare you for your treatment sessions by ensuring that the machine’s coil is positioned to deliver its pulses to the correct area of the brain. During that same appointment, you will receive your first treatment session under the guidance and supervision of your psychiatric provider.

Reclaim Your Life from Depression

Over the next 7 weeks, you will attend daily treatment sessions, which typically last between 20 and 30 minutes. Those sessions will be comfortable and pain-free. You may choose to read, listen to music, or talk to the professional who performs your treatment sessions.
During the course of your treatment, your psychiatric provider will closely monitor your progress, to ensure that you are getting the most possible benefit out of your TMS treatment. Most patients begin to feel improvement within 2 weeks of treatment. However, it is important for all patients—even those who feel relief during the first several weeks of treatment—to complete their full course of treatment, because a full treatment course ensures that symptom relief and remission are sustained and long-lasting.