It's time.
August 18, 2011 9:29 AM Subscribe
Advice for finding a therapist in Seattle?
The way I've been living isn't working. I've tried to change but keep falling back, and I've done this enough to accept that it's time for a different approach. Maybe that's therapy.
Although I don't know much about it, I like what I've read about cognitive behavioral therapy. I like that it focuses on practical steps to change behaviors and less on analysis and understanding of root causes. While I'm leaning towards CBT, I'm open to other methods, too--I think just sitting down with someone will help.
I do not have health insurance, but I do have some savings, maybe nine months on meager rations. Paying for this will sting, but it's feasible, at least for a while.
I'm 29, male, in Seattle.
1. Do you know a therapist you would recommend? Throwaway email: anon.mefi.081811@gmail.com
2. How would I find a good therapist on my own? I don't even know where to begin. Are there go-to resources for that, like an Angie's List for healthcare professionals?
3. What should I expect regarding cost? I'm hoping it will run $150 an hour at most, maybe closer to $100 if I qualify for a sliding scale. At three (?) visits a month, I could pull that off. Am I in the ballpark?
4. How do I set up the first appointment? Just call the office and go from there? Should I ask about the cost at this time? Will my lack of health insurance affect the price? Are there any other questions I should ask when I call?
Any other information you'd like to share is welcome.
Thank you. Really.
The way I've been living isn't working. I've tried to change but keep falling back, and I've done this enough to accept that it's time for a different approach. Maybe that's therapy.
Although I don't know much about it, I like what I've read about cognitive behavioral therapy. I like that it focuses on practical steps to change behaviors and less on analysis and understanding of root causes. While I'm leaning towards CBT, I'm open to other methods, too--I think just sitting down with someone will help.
I do not have health insurance, but I do have some savings, maybe nine months on meager rations. Paying for this will sting, but it's feasible, at least for a while.
I'm 29, male, in Seattle.
1. Do you know a therapist you would recommend? Throwaway email: anon.mefi.081811@gmail.com
2. How would I find a good therapist on my own? I don't even know where to begin. Are there go-to resources for that, like an Angie's List for healthcare professionals?
3. What should I expect regarding cost? I'm hoping it will run $150 an hour at most, maybe closer to $100 if I qualify for a sliding scale. At three (?) visits a month, I could pull that off. Am I in the ballpark?
4. How do I set up the first appointment? Just call the office and go from there? Should I ask about the cost at this time? Will my lack of health insurance affect the price? Are there any other questions I should ask when I call?
Any other information you'd like to share is welcome.
Thank you. Really.
I frequently recommend Psychology Today's Find A Therapist tool. I particularly like it because it shows the person's website, should s/he have one, and it lets you sort by approach and areas of specialization.
As for setting up an appointment, call first. Depending on whether the practitioner is in a group practice and/or has a receptionist, you may need to leave voicemail. It's OK to say that you don't have insurance that covers mental health care and that you'd like to know what the charges are and whether there is a sliding scale available. (Many therapists offer sliding scale but may limit the number of sliding scale clients they take.)
The other thing is not to get too hung up on the type of therapy if you find a practitioner who appears workable in every other way (location, price, availability scheduling, personality, etc.). CBT elements have filtered into a wider range of theoretical approaches if only because CBT techniques fit into the insurance companies' limited number of visits.
An alternative approach to private practitioners, depending on how meager those rations would actually be, is community mental health service. In Seattle, that appears to be Sound Mental Health. In my area, therapists-in-training often do their internships at community mental health boards, under supervision from licensed professionals.
[therapist, not your therapist, etc.]
posted by catlet at 9:58 AM on August 18, 2011
As for setting up an appointment, call first. Depending on whether the practitioner is in a group practice and/or has a receptionist, you may need to leave voicemail. It's OK to say that you don't have insurance that covers mental health care and that you'd like to know what the charges are and whether there is a sliding scale available. (Many therapists offer sliding scale but may limit the number of sliding scale clients they take.)
The other thing is not to get too hung up on the type of therapy if you find a practitioner who appears workable in every other way (location, price, availability scheduling, personality, etc.). CBT elements have filtered into a wider range of theoretical approaches if only because CBT techniques fit into the insurance companies' limited number of visits.
An alternative approach to private practitioners, depending on how meager those rations would actually be, is community mental health service. In Seattle, that appears to be Sound Mental Health. In my area, therapists-in-training often do their internships at community mental health boards, under supervision from licensed professionals.
[therapist, not your therapist, etc.]
posted by catlet at 9:58 AM on August 18, 2011
Also - I don't know what private rates are in Seattle. In Atlanta, $100/hr is more like it for everyone but psychiatrists (i.e., licensed professional counselors [LPC], masters' level social workers [LCSW], marriage & family therapists [LMFT], and psychologists who primarily do counseling).
posted by catlet at 10:01 AM on August 18, 2011
posted by catlet at 10:01 AM on August 18, 2011
Are you open to a female therapist? I cannot recommend this service enough. It is a collective of women therapists in Seattle, but they treat both men and women.
You pay $110 to meet with the woman who sort of heads up the whole thing, and she gets a feel for what you're looking for in terms of what issues you're treating and which methods would help you most, as well as what your financial situation is, what geographic locations are convenient for you, etc. (I told her that I couldn't take any new age stuff seriously and she crossed several options off the list right there.) I did not have health insurance at the time and I was referred to therapists within my price range, and who offered a sliding scale. (I actually did have health insurance through grad school at the time, but my GP gave me the card for this referral service because she agreed the school's resources left something to be desired. It was worth it to me to pay out of pocket.)
You get recommendations for three therapists and you set up an appointment with each of them to talk about their approach and see if you're a good fit for one another. All three of the therapists I met with were quite different in their approaches, but I liked all of them (and none of them were CBT). Just meeting with the three therapists gave me a lot to think about before I even chose one, and the therapist I ended up seeing was a perfect match for me, something I'd never really had before when I was limited to the therapists available through my college/grad school. My experiences had been limited to CBT and I didn't understand what options were available to me until I went through this referral service. It turns out that a CBT approach doesn't work very well for me, but if I'd been searching through the Psychology Today tool, I wouldn't have known which approaches to target and likely would have wound up with another CBT therapist.
Also, being able to set up an initial meeting with each therapist that wouldn't be focused on treatment made me feel much more comfortable asking questions about cost and sliding scales. They understand that you are meeting with other therapists and may or may not choose to treat with them, and it really changes the dynamic into something of a business conversation, which I at least found more comfortable than having to ask over the phone or at a first appointment.
Feel free to MeMail me if you have questions or want more information.
posted by adiabat at 10:13 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
You pay $110 to meet with the woman who sort of heads up the whole thing, and she gets a feel for what you're looking for in terms of what issues you're treating and which methods would help you most, as well as what your financial situation is, what geographic locations are convenient for you, etc. (I told her that I couldn't take any new age stuff seriously and she crossed several options off the list right there.) I did not have health insurance at the time and I was referred to therapists within my price range, and who offered a sliding scale. (I actually did have health insurance through grad school at the time, but my GP gave me the card for this referral service because she agreed the school's resources left something to be desired. It was worth it to me to pay out of pocket.)
You get recommendations for three therapists and you set up an appointment with each of them to talk about their approach and see if you're a good fit for one another. All three of the therapists I met with were quite different in their approaches, but I liked all of them (and none of them were CBT). Just meeting with the three therapists gave me a lot to think about before I even chose one, and the therapist I ended up seeing was a perfect match for me, something I'd never really had before when I was limited to the therapists available through my college/grad school. My experiences had been limited to CBT and I didn't understand what options were available to me until I went through this referral service. It turns out that a CBT approach doesn't work very well for me, but if I'd been searching through the Psychology Today tool, I wouldn't have known which approaches to target and likely would have wound up with another CBT therapist.
Also, being able to set up an initial meeting with each therapist that wouldn't be focused on treatment made me feel much more comfortable asking questions about cost and sliding scales. They understand that you are meeting with other therapists and may or may not choose to treat with them, and it really changes the dynamic into something of a business conversation, which I at least found more comfortable than having to ask over the phone or at a first appointment.
Feel free to MeMail me if you have questions or want more information.
posted by adiabat at 10:13 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
(In case this wasn't clear from my comment, the $110 covers your initial meeting plus your three meetings with therapists. To be honest, even if you end up not liking any of the three recommendations I think the $110 is well worth it just to gain a little insight into which approaches might work best for you and what your range of options are.)
posted by adiabat at 10:17 AM on August 18, 2011
posted by adiabat at 10:17 AM on August 18, 2011
I had a very good experience with the nonprofit Wellspring Family Services.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 10:18 AM on August 18, 2011
posted by Superfrankenstein at 10:18 AM on August 18, 2011
I know a great therapist in Seattle, and will e-mail you contact information. As I recall, I paid $125 per session (some of which would later be refunded by my insurance).
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:11 AM on August 18, 2011
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:11 AM on August 18, 2011
1. I'm currently seeing someone at Associates in Behavioral Health and I've had very good experiences over there, honestly for only the second time in my (long) therapeutic history. The individual pages for practitioners describe their general specialties and in some cases their therapeutic approach, but CBT is pretty well represented.
2. Nthing Psychology Today. I found a therapist with whom I ultimately didn't get on through that site, but without it I probably wouldn't even have tried or known how to start.
3. Somewhere between $100-$130 is typical in my experience, so you're in the right ballpark. Many therapists will adopt a sliding scale depending on need; this is the sort of thing you should feel comfortable inquiring about and negotiating without feeling judged. Actually, I'd argue that that conversation will be a decent way to gauge how comfortable you'll be talking to said therapist.
4. You call the practitioner or group practice. Most likely, you will get voicemail. Leave your name, phone number, and a good time to call you back. Assuming the therapist is free to accept new clients (and this is one reason I'm coming to prefer group practices rather than individuals), you'll likely have a short conversation over the phone about your general concerns. Ask at this time whether the initial consultation is free or is billed. If it's billed, that's when you should mention your lack of insurance and ask about sliding scales. If it's free, do it with your therapist face to face during the initial consultation. Go from there.
I've mailed your anon gmail in case you have any further questions, which you should feel free to ask. Good luck.
posted by Errant at 12:51 PM on August 18, 2011
2. Nthing Psychology Today. I found a therapist with whom I ultimately didn't get on through that site, but without it I probably wouldn't even have tried or known how to start.
3. Somewhere between $100-$130 is typical in my experience, so you're in the right ballpark. Many therapists will adopt a sliding scale depending on need; this is the sort of thing you should feel comfortable inquiring about and negotiating without feeling judged. Actually, I'd argue that that conversation will be a decent way to gauge how comfortable you'll be talking to said therapist.
4. You call the practitioner or group practice. Most likely, you will get voicemail. Leave your name, phone number, and a good time to call you back. Assuming the therapist is free to accept new clients (and this is one reason I'm coming to prefer group practices rather than individuals), you'll likely have a short conversation over the phone about your general concerns. Ask at this time whether the initial consultation is free or is billed. If it's billed, that's when you should mention your lack of insurance and ask about sliding scales. If it's free, do it with your therapist face to face during the initial consultation. Go from there.
I've mailed your anon gmail in case you have any further questions, which you should feel free to ask. Good luck.
posted by Errant at 12:51 PM on August 18, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by corey flood at 9:54 AM on August 18, 2011