Midtown · Online across NY State · In-network: Cigna, Evernorth, Aetna · Out-of-network? Superbills available
Evernorth EAP Therapist NYC
Somewhere in your benefits portal sits a number of free therapy sessions your employer already paid for. You saw the email, then the tab closed. The sessions are still there, which is why this page exists.
If you are looking for an Evernorth EAP therapist in NYC, our clinical team accepts Cigna and Evernorth EAP referrals, and we meet weekly, in office in Midtown Manhattan or online across New York State.
✓ EAP accepted · In-network: Cigna · Evernorth · AetnaQuick answer: Therapy24x7 is a NYC group practice whose therapists accept Evernorth EAP referrals, the employer-paid free sessions on many Cigna plans. You use your free sessions here. When they end, you keep the same clinician under your regular Cigna benefit. Sessions run in Midtown Manhattan or online across New York State. The first step is a free 15-minute call.
Your employer already paid for therapy you have not used
EAP stands for Employee Assistance Program. It is a set of free counseling sessions your employer buys for you, and most people never touch it.
Nearly one in four American adults lives with a mental health condition in a given year.1 Far fewer ever use this benefit. It sits buried in a benefits PDF, and if your medical card says Cigna, your EAP is usually run by Evernorth, the arm of Cigna that handles behavioral health. The sessions cost you nothing. Your employer sets the count, commonly somewhere between three and eight.
Here is the part most people find out too late. Many EAP therapists only work in short bursts. When the free sessions end, so does the relationship, and the story you spent six weeks telling ends with it. Then you are back in the Cigna directory, starting over, because nobody planned for week seven. That reset is avoidable. Our whole setup exists to avoid it.
With us, the EAP sessions are a beginning. The same clinician continues with you afterward, under your regular Cigna behavioral health benefit. Maybe it is anxiety or depression. Maybe it is burnout you cannot quite put a name to yet. Either way, the free sessions start the therapy. Nothing restarts when they end. The billing side is covered in our plain-English Cigna cost guide and our eight questions to ask before you book.
How an Evernorth EAP therapist works in NYC
Three numbers matter: how many free sessions you have, what happens on session one, and what a session costs after the free ones end.
| Phase | What you pay | What to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| EAP sessions | Nothing. Your employer paid for them | How many sessions your employer bought, and your authorization code |
| After EAP ends | Your regular Cigna share: copay, coinsurance, or the negotiated rate while your deductible is being met | Your outpatient mental health copay or coinsurance |
| Other carriers | Superbill upon request for out-of-network reimbursement | Whether your plan has out-of-network benefits |
Getting the authorization
Evernorth issues an EAP authorization before the first session. Your employer’s benefits materials show the way in, usually a phone number on the back of your card or a portal link in the HR email. You make that call yourself, which keeps your employer out of the loop entirely. Write the code down. On the matching call we tell you exactly what to ask for. The authorization is the only paperwork the EAP asks of you.
What the free sessions are for
EAP sessions are built for the presenting problem: the conflict with your manager, the sleep that fell apart, the month everything piled up. Real weekly therapy uses them as a running start. In our practice, you and your clinician spend the free sessions mapping what is actually going on, because lasting change comes from the deeper pattern underneath, and research on depth-oriented therapy backs that focus.2 Some people stop there. That is a fine outcome, and the door stays open. Others feel the difference by week three and want to keep going. Both paths are yours. Nobody sells you the second one.
Does Evernorth EAP cover therapy in NYC?
Yes. If your employer’s plan includes an Evernorth EAP, you get a set number of free counseling sessions, commonly three to eight, at no cost to you. Our NYC clinicians accept those referrals, and after the free sessions end you can continue with the same clinician under your regular Cigna benefit.
When the free sessions end, your therapist does not
This is the question to ask any EAP therapist before session one: what happens to us when the authorization runs out?
At many EAP-only practices, the honest answer is a referral list. At ours, the answer is that nothing changes except the billing. Your clinician stays, and so does your history. The weekly hour keeps its day and time. The claims simply move from the EAP authorization to your regular Cigna or Evernorth behavioral health benefit. From there the standard rules apply: you owe your copay, your coinsurance, or the contracted rate while your deductible is being met. Cost depends on your individual plan. Before the transition, we give you the exact questions that make Cigna show you your number, so nothing surprises you.
That continuity is not a small perk. Therapy works through the relationship. A widely cited review of psychodynamic therapy found gains that tend to hold, and in many studies continue to grow, after therapy ends.2 Six free sessions with someone who leaves cannot do that. Someone who stays can start it.
What happens when my EAP sessions run out?
At our practice, you keep the same clinician and the same weekly time. Billing moves from the EAP authorization to your regular Cigna or Evernorth behavioral health benefit, where you pay your plan’s copay, coinsurance, or deductible-phase rate. Nothing about the therapy itself restarts.
EAP situations we hear most often
Four versions of the same email from HR. The details differ, but the questions repeat.
“HR sent something about free sessions and I ignored it”
Almost everyone does. The benefit hides in onboarding paperwork. Reaching for it can feel like admitting something at work. It is not. The sessions are yours the way your health insurance is yours, and using them tells your employer nothing about you. Forward yourself that HR email, then book the matching call. We will decode it with you.
“Is this confidential? It literally comes from my job”
Your employer pays for the program and never sees inside it. No names, no session content, no individual attendance reach HR. Evernorth handles the authorization. Your sessions are protected health information under HIPAA, the federal health privacy law, and the law carves out only narrow safety exceptions, which your clinician explains up front. One exception worth knowing: if your employer formally refers you to the EAP, a supervisor-mandated referral rather than you picking up the phone yourself, different reporting rules can apply, and the EAP explains them before you agree. Everything on this page describes the ordinary path, where you call on your own.
“I do not know my authorization code or how many sessions I get”
Normal. Almost nobody does before their first call. Call the number on the back of your Cigna card, or the EAP line in your benefits portal. Both answers come from one call. On the matching call we tell you exactly what to ask for and what to write down.
“Can I skip the EAP and just use my regular Cigna plan?”
Yes. The EAP is optional, and some people prefer to start directly on their behavioral health benefit. Free sessions just mean free first weeks. Either way you land with the same clinician, so the choice is about money, not care.
How the matching call works
Fifteen minutes, free, no card. You talk to our care team first, so there is nothing to perform.
1. You talk, we listen
You describe what is going on in your own words. Two minutes is enough if that is what you have. There are no forms before the call. If you are researching for someone you love, share this page with them; when they are ready, the call takes fifteen minutes and asks nothing else of them.
2. We handle the EAP questions
First, we confirm we can accept your Evernorth EAP referral. Then we walk you through getting your authorization and session count from Evernorth, and tell you what each answer means. One call to the number on your card. You come back knowing your free-session count.
3. You meet your clinician
We propose the team member whose experience and schedule fit you. Most start within 7 days. If the fit is off by week six, we re-match you inside the practice.
What to ask your EAP before you book
One call to Evernorth or your benefits line answers everything. We arm you for it on the matching call.
- Does my plan include an Evernorth EAP, and how many free sessions do I get?
- What is my authorization code, and how long is it valid?
- Can I use my EAP sessions with Therapy24x7 in New York?
- When the EAP sessions end, what is my outpatient mental health copay or coinsurance?
- Do I have a deductible, and how much of it is left this year?
- Are telehealth sessions covered the same as in-office sessions?
Ten minutes of answers, and the whole path is priced before you start: free sessions first, then your real weekly number. After that call, you are not guessing. Write both numbers down.
How many free EAP sessions do I get with Evernorth?
Your employer sets the number when it buys the program, commonly between three and eight sessions. The exact count is on your benefits portal or one call to the EAP number on your Cigna card, and we tell you what to ask.
Three ways to pay for therapy here, side by side
The honest comparison. The EAP is usually the cheapest way in, but it is not the only one.
- Evernorth EAP: free sessions, employer-paid, authorization required. Best first move if your plan includes it. The count is set by your employer.
- Regular Cigna benefit: weekly sessions billed directly to Cigna or Evernorth. You owe your plan’s share each week. This is where EAP clients land when the free sessions end, with the same clinician.
- Other carriers: we provide a receipt-style superbill upon request for your plan’s out-of-network reimbursement. Reimbursement depends on the plan, and we do not estimate it.
Whichever door you use, the therapy is identical. Same clinicians, same weekly hour, same matching call. The only thing that changes is who pays first. Most people start with the EAP.
The reasons people never use their EAP, answered
A benefit nobody uses is not a benefit. Here are the hesitations we hear, taken seriously.
“It feels like telling my job I am struggling.” The program is built so that never happens. Your employer buys seats and never learns who sat in them: no names, no topics, no individual attendance. The most an employer ever receives is an anonymous, combined usage number, how many sessions the whole company used, never who used them. The rules are federal. Nothing identifiable reaches your company.
“Free usually means worthless.” Fair instinct, wrong target. The sessions are free to you because your employer already paid a real practice real money for them. You are not getting a lesser therapist. You are getting the same clinician our Cigna clients see, with someone else covering the first weeks.
“My problem is not big enough for therapy.” EAP sessions exist precisely for the not-big-enough problems: the commute fight, the breakup, the month that would not end. And because the sessions cost nothing, the bar to justify them is exactly as low as it should be.
Two composite stories
Details here are shared with permission, lightly edited for privacy, and combined into composites so that no single client is identifiable. They show what the process can feel like, not a promised result.
“My company sent the EAP email three years in a row before I clicked it. A trial I could quit felt safe. Around session four we found what the job stress was actually sitting on, and quitting stopped making sense. When the free ones ended, my copay took over and my therapist did not change.”
Composite client, Evernorth EAP through a Midtown employer
“I assumed the EAP therapist would be whoever answered the phone. Instead I got matched, properly. The free sessions paid for the awkward beginning part. By the time I was paying my own copay, the hard part was done and I actually wanted to be there.”
Composite client, Cigna plan with Evernorth EAP, online across NY State
What Evernorth EAP members ask
Is my EAP confidential from my employer?
Yes. Your employer pays for the program but does not receive names, session content, or your attendance, at most anonymous combined usage totals. Claims are handled by Evernorth. Your sessions are protected health information under HIPAA. Outside the narrow limits the law sets, what you say in session stays with your clinician.
Do EAP sessions cost me anything at all?
No. The EAP sessions themselves are fully employer-paid. Your costs begin only if you continue past them onto your regular Cigna benefit, and by then you will know your exact copay or coinsurance, because we give you the questions that get it in one call. There is no card on file during the EAP sessions, and nothing to cancel if you stop.
Can I use Evernorth EAP sessions online from outside NYC?
For most plans, yes, anywhere in New York State. Sessions run as HIPAA-secure video, and our clinicians hold weekly online sessions with clients across the state. You keep the same clinician either way.
What if I already used some EAP sessions elsewhere?
Bring what is left. If your sessions for the year are used up, you can start directly on your regular Cigna behavioral health benefit instead. The matching call sorts out which applies, and the therapy is the same either way. Your last round was not wasted. You arrive knowing what you want to say.
How fast can I actually start?
Most clients have their first session within 7 days of the matching call. Midtown has same-week openings right now. Getting the authorization usually takes one phone call to Evernorth, so the EAP adds little delay.
Who will I actually see?
Our team includes clinicians licensed as LCSW, LMSW, LMHC, PhD, PsyD, and LCAT, and the practice was founded in 2015 by Efrat Gotlib, LCSW, our Founder and Clinical Director. The matching call pairs you with the team member whose experience and schedule fit you. Fit includes what you need culturally and personally: your background, your identity, your language for what is happening. Wrong fit by week six? We re-match you inside the practice.
Offices, hours, and online sessions
In office
Current openings at Midtown: 141 East 35th Street, New York, NY 10016, a short walk from Grand Central, so a lunchtime or after-work session fits a workday. Additional offices in Chelsea (116 W 23rd), the Upper West Side (180 W 80th), and Brooklyn Heights (186 Montague St); ask on the call what is open when you start.
Online, statewide
HIPAA-secure video sessions across New York State, available for EAP and regular Cigna sessions alike. Weekday hours run 7 AM to 10 PM, and weekends run 9 AM to 7 PM. Online booking stays open 24/7.
References
1. National Institute of Mental Health. Any Mental Illness: prevalence statistics for U.S. adults (2021 data). nimh.nih.gov.
2. Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109.
Ready to finally use the sessions your employer paid for?
The call is fifteen free minutes with our care team, and it takes no card and no commitment. You leave knowing how to get your authorization and what comes after the free sessions.
Book a free 15-min matching call →Or call (917) 780-2171
In crisis right now? Call or text 988, free, 24/7, instead of waiting for a matching call.