How to select a psychologist from a long list?

July 24, 2018 1:37 PM

I need to line up counseling to improve communication and problem-solving skills between two adults. My insurance provider shows a list of 150 of them who take my insurance, about half of which are child psychologists. If I filter those out, how do I go about narrowing down the other 75 and selecting just 2 or 3 for an initial phone call? Thanks much.
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat to Human Relations (7 answers total)

I would narrow by location- where do you want to meet- close to home, removed from home, close to work, some place with parking. Why? Because psychologists can be very hard to make appointments with-, you need to get them to return your call, they need to be taking new patients, their schedule and your schedule need to match, etc, etc. Just because they are on this list, it doesn't mean they are available.
posted by momochan at 2:03 PM on July 24, 2018

Yeah, probably a bunch of those will be eliminated because they aren't accepting new patients or they don't have an appointment available until next century or they actually stopped taking your insurance or they retired last week ...
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 2:09 PM on July 24, 2018

came to say exactly what momochan did.

you can google them of course and see if there are reviews, but that is less common to find, especially reliable reviews. psychology today sometimes has slightly more in depth profiles of the person than your insurance list will.

sort/filter by preferred location first. then by anything else that you care about: gender, lgbtq, specialty, etc.

then call AT LEAST 10 of them. a couple will get back to you. maybe one of those will be accepting new patients. be prepared to shop around once you are able to find someone. you really want someone you mesh with.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 2:11 PM on July 24, 2018

In addition to the great advice others have given, I suggest googling them. Include titles such as “MFT.” See if they mention anything about couples or marriage counseling. The type of therapist you are specifically looking for is a marriage and family therapist (MFT).
posted by shalom at 2:19 PM on July 24, 2018

I appreciate all of the answers. I was able to narrow the list to just those that are MFT; that knocked it down to ten. I'll start with that and expand if I need to. Thank you to all who replied.
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 2:24 PM on July 24, 2018

What momochan said is a good first start. Then go through some (not all) and look at their profile, or if the directory doesn't include profiles, google them, if nothing comes up, I'd nix them. I know that while it's possible I'd have a great connection with a therapist of the opposite gender 30 years older than me, it's not the most likely; or if there are other religious/background flags that aren't the most compatible with me for world-view, I nix them. If any have websites, I consider that a huge plus and pick five or more that are either interesting sounding or have no flags and start calling them to see if they still take the insurance, new patients, etc. Rinse, repeat. Good luck. Once you do talk with/meet with some, having a list of questions to ask them is also a good idea rather than just letting them interview you, ime.
posted by perrouno at 2:28 PM on July 24, 2018

After the narrowing, you can call a few of them. Just from the phone call, you might find out if some of them aren't for you. Like, if someone used a lot of jargon during the first chat, I'd avoid them. Just be ready to say, "Thanks for talking with me; I'll call if I decide to make an appointment."
posted by wryly at 4:18 PM on July 24, 2018