Insurance accepted
Using TriWest at The Denning Center
TriWest Healthcare Alliance administers care on behalf of two different government systems, and which one sent you here changes what has to be in place before your first session.
Two different routes with the same name on them
TRICARE West. Under the current regional contracts Texas sits in the West region, which TriWest administers. If you are an active duty family member, a retiree or a dependant using TRICARE in San Antonio, this is most likely your route. How Prime and Select differ.
VA Community Care. TriWest also administers community care for the Department of Veterans Affairs in part of the country. That is a different route with different paperwork: care is authorised by the VA, for a defined number of visits over a defined period, and it is the authorisation rather than a plan card that makes it work.
If you are coming through VA Community Care
The thing that matters most is the authorisation itself: which services it covers, how many visits, and the dates it runs between. Sessions outside those limits are not covered retroactively, and a request to extend takes time, so it is worth raising when you are two or three sessions from the end rather than past it.
Bring the authorisation number to the first appointment, or read it over the phone. Do not send it through the website form.
Veterans, specifically
The veterans and military page describes the clinical side: what Jim has actually worked on, and why Accelerated Resolution Therapy suits people who do not want to narrate what happened. If you have been through VA care already and it did not go anywhere, that is worth saying in the first conversation rather than starting from scratch.
If insurance turns out not to be the right route
Private pay is $130 for a standard 50-minute session, with no claim, no authorisation and no session limit set by anybody else. For some people that genuinely works out better, and we will say so if it does. Full fees and the questions to ask your plan.
Written and clinically reviewed by Jim Denning, MA, LPC. Last reviewed 1 September 2026.
We review health content at least once a year, and sooner when clinical guidance, fees, insurance, or crisis information changes. Tell us if something here looks wrong.
Questions
TriWest, specifically
What happens when my VA authorisation runs out?
Sessions after the end date are not covered, and an extension is requested through the VA rather than arranged in this office. We keep an eye on where you are in the authorisation and raise it early, because the request takes time to come back.
Is TriWest the same thing as TRICARE?
No. TRICARE is the health programme. TriWest is one of the contractors that administers it regionally — currently for the West region, which includes Texas — and separately administers community care for the VA.
Tell us your plan and we will check it
Send the plan name — not the member ID — and we will verify where you stand before you commit to anything.