Therapists in the Bay Area
December 15, 2017 9:39 PM Subscribe
I want to get back into therapy but I don't know where to look geographically due to my weird commuting situation. Do you know of any spectacular therapists who take Cigna and are in the SF Bay area?
Previously when I have looked for therapists I concentrated in the "city" area of where I was living and that worked out well but now I don't have an obvious locus to begin at. I live in the north side of the East Bay and I work in the south bay. My commute takes me down the east side of the bay and then back up through the west side on Caltrain & BART. So when I commute I make a big circle. I do this about twice a week but never on the same day.
So given that any therapist I get will be a huge inconvenience right off the bat, I would like them to be very good, and to take my insurance. (I did therapy without insurance and it was a huge expensive pain and part of why I quit before.) I imagine that I can either get someone in the South Bay and just go down to work on therapy day every week, or someone in the city that I can see in the evening on my way home although they'd also have to work evenings. I was thinking maybe if I got someone in Berkeley I could manage that but I can't guarantee that I won't need to be in the south bay on any given day of the week.
So all I want to know right now are who the very good folks are in the entire Bay Area from north to south and east to west, and then I can figure out some way to make it happen. I know I can go on my insurance website & psychologytoday and just start making calls but there's just so many of them. I can't call and make an appointment with every one of them, nor do I want to really judge them by their name and photo. So I thought I'd ask you guys if you know any of them in particular. Are any of them very good?
Previously when I have looked for therapists I concentrated in the "city" area of where I was living and that worked out well but now I don't have an obvious locus to begin at. I live in the north side of the East Bay and I work in the south bay. My commute takes me down the east side of the bay and then back up through the west side on Caltrain & BART. So when I commute I make a big circle. I do this about twice a week but never on the same day.
So given that any therapist I get will be a huge inconvenience right off the bat, I would like them to be very good, and to take my insurance. (I did therapy without insurance and it was a huge expensive pain and part of why I quit before.) I imagine that I can either get someone in the South Bay and just go down to work on therapy day every week, or someone in the city that I can see in the evening on my way home although they'd also have to work evenings. I was thinking maybe if I got someone in Berkeley I could manage that but I can't guarantee that I won't need to be in the south bay on any given day of the week.
So all I want to know right now are who the very good folks are in the entire Bay Area from north to south and east to west, and then I can figure out some way to make it happen. I know I can go on my insurance website & psychologytoday and just start making calls but there's just so many of them. I can't call and make an appointment with every one of them, nor do I want to really judge them by their name and photo. So I thought I'd ask you guys if you know any of them in particular. Are any of them very good?
Response by poster: I liked having a therapist who I felt like was smarter than me. I don't need any particular expertise though.
posted by bleep at 10:33 PM on December 15, 2017
posted by bleep at 10:33 PM on December 15, 2017
Response by poster: But I'm not looking for someone to identify the best therapist for me. Just call some out who you like. Memail if you prefer.
posted by bleep at 11:06 PM on December 15, 2017
posted by bleep at 11:06 PM on December 15, 2017
Honestly, I think that "takes my insurance" is by far the limiting factor here. At least in the South Bay, I reliably hear that the best therapists don't take *any* insurance.
You might have to do the legwork of making one-off appointments with everyone on your insurance list--who has openings, many of them might be full, especially if they're good--until you find someone that you click with.
posted by serelliya at 12:38 PM on December 16, 2017
You might have to do the legwork of making one-off appointments with everyone on your insurance list--who has openings, many of them might be full, especially if they're good--until you find someone that you click with.
posted by serelliya at 12:38 PM on December 16, 2017
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posted by metahawk at 10:27 PM on December 15, 2017