Helping my brother help himself.

March 28, 2012 1:18 PM

Asking for my 25-year-old brother: do you know of free or cheap mental health resources in Houston? Or a great therapist with a sliding scale? I'm doing the requisite googling, but just in case I miss something ... Thank you so much!
posted by jessca84 to health & fitness (4 answers total)

Note sure if your brother is interested in seeing a psychiatrist per se, but psychiatry residency programs sometimes provide free/low-cost care to community members. Often there are waiting lists and applications, but if he can get through the red tape he might find high-quality care on a budget. (I had a very good experience with such a program, but I was a graduate student so that bumped me up the list. If your brother is in school, his school's counseling center may be able to arrange something.)

Two possibilities:
U Texas Medical School - Houston
Baylor
posted by brackish.line at 1:31 PM on March 28, 2012

http://www.interface-samaritan.org/ I had a good experience with them. Aside from the building itself, there was zero religious mention.

Does he go to a church or school? They offer good counseling for cheap.


I use Dr Norman Lawson, who may or may not be able to meet the sliding scale needs, and may or may not have openings for patients.

Dr Becky Cubberly (if she still works as a psych) was decent.. not my type of psych, really, and i kept catching her 'clockwatching', but she was good with my mom and sister.

Also, a sorta non-traditional path is http://www.lifeenrichmentbootcamp.com/problem_dates.php

I have worked with them for several years now (No, I don't get paid/commissioned or anything but free food sometimes) Life enrichment boot camp is intense, quick, (wed-fri nights and all day saturday). I think its generally helpful, but might not be what he is looking for. Feel free to mail me for more info. We have one April 11- 14th, and they are EXTREMELY good at helping with discounts/payment plans, etc. If he does want to go, mail me and I'll give you the info for my 'employee discount'
posted by Jacen at 3:21 PM on March 28, 2012

Growing up, my church was one that had Interface-Samaritan in its buildings (the one in Spring), so I can vouch for the fact that it is not at all connected with that church. At least at that location, the church believes that its buildings should be available to the community for all types of purposes, 7 days a week. Interface-Samaritan has been there for years (since the early 1980s?) so it's in good standing with the community and has a good reputation.
posted by Houstonian at 6:48 PM on March 28, 2012

Check out University of Houston. If it has a graduate program in social work, they may have a community clinic where their students work & practice with community members for super cheap.
posted by AMSBoethius at 7:11 PM on March 28, 2012