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Calm has teamed up with Grow Therapy to connect you with a mental health therapist who accepts your health insurance.

Licensed to practice in 3 states and accepts 41 insurances. Specializes in Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and PTSD

Rick D. Velez

LMSW-C, 18 years of experience

Clients say this provider is

Direct
Solution oriented
Open-minded
VirtualAvailable

About me

I have been a therapist for over 18 years. I have extensive experience working with diverse populations and have lived in five different countries. I am action-oriented and believe in actively working towards treatment goals. In each session, short treatment assignments (10 minutes a day or less) are given to keep you focused and moving forward to achieve treatment success.

Get to know me

In our first session together, here's what you can expect

The first session I will gather background information to get an understanding of your life experiences. Your treatment goals will initially be identified. A clear path of how you will achieve your goals in treatment will be explained. Initial sessions can be overwhelming. I don't expect you to remember everything discussed. The purpose of the intake is to help you understand what treatment will look like moving forward.

The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions

I take a client-centered approach. After an intake has been comleted I will tell you clinically what my opinon is and what issues you might want to address in treatment. With that being said, however, only issues the client wants to addressed, are. It is not about the therapsit, it's about what the client is ready to work on. Good therapy is about the partnership that is created to achieved identified treatment goals.

The clients I'm best positioned to serve

If you are action-oriented and are ready to do the work to achieve your goals I would be a good fit.

Specialties

Top specialties

Anxiety

Depression

Trauma and PTSD

Identifies as

Hispanic / Latinx

Man

White

Serves ages

Adults (18 to 64)

Licensed in

Colorado

Michigan

Texas

Accepts

Aetna

Aetna - ASR Health Benefits

Aetna - Allied Benefits

Aetna - Lucent Health

Aetna - Luminare

Aetna - Moda

Aetna - WebTPA

Aetna – HealthEZ

All Savers

Amerihealth Administrators

Blue Cross Blue Shield

Anthem

Independence Blue Cross

Independence Administrators

Arlo

AvMed

Blue Care Network

Blue Cross Blue Shield - Federal

Cash - $100 per session

Centivo

Cigna

Cigna - HealthEZ

EAP:Cigna

EAP:Evernorth

EAP:UnitedHealthcare/Optum

Evernorth

GTEB

Golden Rule

Harvard Pilgrim/UnitedHealthcare

Kaiser Permanente

UnitedHealthcare/Optum

Optum

OptumHealth Complex Medical Conditions

Oscar

Oxford

Surest (formerly Bind)

Tufts Health/Cigna

United Medical Resources

UnitedHealthcare Life Insurance

UnitedHealthcare Shared Services

UnitedHealthcare StudentResources

Location

Virtual

My treatment methods

Biofeedback

Clients are taught how their bodies and minds are connected. Activities are taught to help them connect the two along with interventions.

Cognitive Processing (CPT)

Client dealing with PTSD are taught how to reprocess their truama with the use of cognitive recognition and intervention.

EMDR

Bilateral stimulations in used to help client reprocess traumtic experiences through the use of virtual EMDR.

Solution Focused Brief Treatment

Clients are helped to understand they have the tools within to address current issues within a shorten treatment approach. Solution focused is good for addressing new issues with Anxiety and Depression.

Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

This approach is good for dealing with long term depression and anxiety. Clients are taught how to identify disfunctional thinking and how to interviene with challenging negative thoughts with factual information.

, 16 ratings

3 ratings with written reviews

July 7, 2026

Rick has been great since I started seeing him. He's brought ideas and thoughts about certain topics I couldn't see. I would highly recommend his care to anyone that is struggling, in any stage.

Verified client, age 18-24
Review shared after session 5 with Rick

March 31, 2026

Rick was very direct about how we would structure the therapy and I felt like he understood what my goals are. I feel confident working with him. Will get to the answer. I’m looking for.

Verified client, age 55-64
Review shared after session 1 with Rick

March 26, 2026

Rick is focused, unambiguous and comes through with pragmatism and actual tools for increased mental wellbeing.

Verified client, age 45-54
Review shared after session 1 with Rick