Recommendations for therapists in the Bay Area

January 23, 2013 6:43 PM

Hi everyone, I am looking for recommendations for therapists in or around San Jose, CA (San Francisco would be too far) who take Kaiser insurance, or if this is even possible. I cannot change insurance, and the Kaiser therapist I talked to a year or two ago said they are allowed to prescribe medication and see patients a maximum of once a month, and I would prefer something weekly. If anyone knows of any therapists that somehow are allowed to take Kaiser or have reasonable rates for out-of-pocket pay, I'd be very grateful. Also want to add that I don't need a specialty therapist; this is just general life ennui stuff (some days worse than others). Thanks!
posted by madonna of the unloved to Health & Fitness (5 answers total)

I sadly don't have recommendations for you since I don't live in that area, but when it comes to Kaiser and therapy.... As far as I have been told by Kaiser, they are in-house only. Other folks cannot take their insurance, so that's not likely to work for you. You probably want to look for the words "sliding scale" when you're looking for out-of-pocket therapists, which is probably your best bet.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:01 PM on January 23, 2013

I have Kaiser and have used their therapists. I think it's in-house only. I have not encountered the "once a month" rule however. For RX you should be able to do renewals over the phone, possibly with your GP.
posted by zippy at 7:21 PM on January 23, 2013

After reading the young rope riders answer, I also think you may have seen a psychiatrist. There are way fewer of those at Kaiser than therapists, and I could see there being a once a month rule for them.
posted by zippy at 7:23 PM on January 23, 2013

Definitely think you were seeing a psychiatrist, or a psych nurse who also has an MSW, or something like that. People who can prescribe meds, who have any kind of psych specialty, are something we don't have nearly enough of.

Like the young rope-rider says, get your meds from a regular MD and get your therapy from someone who just does therapy and no prescribing.
posted by Fee Phi Faux Phumb I Smell t'Socks o' a Puppetman! at 7:30 PM on January 23, 2013

My experience is that Kaiser favors groups over individual therapy. I can finally afford an outside cognitive-behavioral therapist twice a month, but I used to go to California Institute of Integral Studies' clinics, where two of my sisters and I all had quite good experiences for the discounted price. If you want to sort out non-crisis stuff, a student therapist might work well. I saw someone in the Psy.D. program; my sisters, students studying for their MFT license.

Good luck out there!
posted by strivesc at 6:52 AM on January 24, 2013