Therapist and/or psychiatrist recs in NYC?
May 20, 2021 7:31 PM Subscribe
I'm not happy with my current clinic due to high turnover among providers, especially psychiatrists. This time around I'm being forced to switch psychiatrists *and* therapists so I feel like it's time for me to find someone (or someones?) I can have a long term therapeutic relationship with. Specifics inside.
I've been in therapy for several years but I haven't been very proactive about it. I don't know which modalities would be a good fit and I need to be better at letting my therapist know when something isn't working.
I've tried looking for someone on Psychology Today but all my top picks aren't accepting new patients. I've also looked at my insurance's provider directory but either my search terms are too broad (several hundred hits) or too narrow (a handful of people, none of whom worked out for various reasons). Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Please hope me!
Insurance: Medicaid and Empire BCBS
Location: For now I think teletherapy is the way to go, but once COVID is less of a worry I can get to Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens (given that the location is near a subway line).
Demographics:
- early 30s
- queer / LGBTQ+
- second generation immigrant
- low-income background
- ADHD and/or autistic (?)
(I don't have a diagnosis but I relate a little *too* much to some of the stuff I've read)
Things to work on:
- Depression: life is very rarely worth living for me
(sidebar: prone to self-loathing and self-flagellation)
- Lack of motivation or concrete goals
- Lack of confidence
- Fear of failure
- Bipolar disorder
- Anxiety
- probably loads of other things
Disjointed thoughts about the kind of therapy/therapist I'd like:
- Nice, but not too nice? Supportive in an impersonal sort of way?
(I have trouble trusting people I don't know very well. If such a person compliments me it's very likely that my thought processes will be less "yay someone said something nice to me" and more "why did they say that? they don't even know me; surely they don't mean it")
- Regular check-ins, especially if the session has been emotionally fraught
(Questions could include: how I feel about therapy and where it's going, how I feel in general, etc.)
- Less small talk, more diving into an agenda or discussing goals
- I've tried a bit of CBT and did not care for it
AskMes I've looked at to get a better feel for what I'm looking for:
- https://ask.metafilter.com/332519/When-to-quit-therapy-When-to-find-a-new-therapist
- https://ask.metafilter.com/332725/What-am-I-supposed-to-be-doing-in-therapy
- https://ask.metafilter.com/346942/I-dont-feel-comfortable-with-my-therapist
On my reading list:
- https://ask.metafilter.com/339862/How-do-you-actually-do-the-work-in-therapy
- https://ask.metafilter.com/41831/Nuts-and-bolts-of-effective-psychological-therapy-from-a-patients-point-of-view
I've tried to contact, but haven't heard back from:
- https://www.citytherapy.nyc/
- https://www.creativecaregroup.org/
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I've been in therapy for several years but I haven't been very proactive about it. I don't know which modalities would be a good fit and I need to be better at letting my therapist know when something isn't working.
I've tried looking for someone on Psychology Today but all my top picks aren't accepting new patients. I've also looked at my insurance's provider directory but either my search terms are too broad (several hundred hits) or too narrow (a handful of people, none of whom worked out for various reasons). Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Please hope me!
Insurance: Medicaid and Empire BCBS
Location: For now I think teletherapy is the way to go, but once COVID is less of a worry I can get to Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens (given that the location is near a subway line).
Demographics:
- early 30s
- queer / LGBTQ+
- second generation immigrant
- low-income background
- ADHD and/or autistic (?)
(I don't have a diagnosis but I relate a little *too* much to some of the stuff I've read)
Things to work on:
- Depression: life is very rarely worth living for me
(sidebar: prone to self-loathing and self-flagellation)
- Lack of motivation or concrete goals
- Lack of confidence
- Fear of failure
- Bipolar disorder
- Anxiety
- probably loads of other things
Disjointed thoughts about the kind of therapy/therapist I'd like:
- Nice, but not too nice? Supportive in an impersonal sort of way?
(I have trouble trusting people I don't know very well. If such a person compliments me it's very likely that my thought processes will be less "yay someone said something nice to me" and more "why did they say that? they don't even know me; surely they don't mean it")
- Regular check-ins, especially if the session has been emotionally fraught
(Questions could include: how I feel about therapy and where it's going, how I feel in general, etc.)
- Less small talk, more diving into an agenda or discussing goals
- I've tried a bit of CBT and did not care for it
AskMes I've looked at to get a better feel for what I'm looking for:
- https://ask.metafilter.com/332519/When-to-quit-therapy-When-to-find-a-new-therapist
- https://ask.metafilter.com/332725/What-am-I-supposed-to-be-doing-in-therapy
- https://ask.metafilter.com/346942/I-dont-feel-comfortable-with-my-therapist
On my reading list:
- https://ask.metafilter.com/339862/How-do-you-actually-do-the-work-in-therapy
- https://ask.metafilter.com/41831/Nuts-and-bolts-of-effective-psychological-therapy-from-a-patients-point-of-view
I've tried to contact, but haven't heard back from:
- https://www.citytherapy.nyc/
- https://www.creativecaregroup.org/
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
The Greene Clinic, right off the Fulton St stop on the G line in Fort Greene. They have an emphasis on social justice, and offer psychiatric services as well as neuropsychological and diagnostic evaluations, which may be of interest to you down the line re: your point about autism/ADHD. They're out of network for insurance, but offer sliding scale fees that take into account what you can afford.
Finding a therapist, even in a place like NYC, is definitely way more of a crapshoot than it ought to be, so I wish you the best in finding the care you need.
posted by obliterati at 10:39 PM on May 20, 2021
Finding a therapist, even in a place like NYC, is definitely way more of a crapshoot than it ought to be, so I wish you the best in finding the care you need.
posted by obliterati at 10:39 PM on May 20, 2021
I didn’t end up finding a therapist here personally, but Manhattan Alternative is a smaller NYC-specific directory of queer-friendly therapists that might be a bit less overwhelming than Psychology Today or your insurer.
posted by firefleet at 11:24 AM on May 21, 2021
posted by firefleet at 11:24 AM on May 21, 2021
Response by poster: Thanks for all the responses!
I should've clarified that I'm on the specifically *Medicaid* BCBS plan, which I think is different than the usual BCBS plan and probably has different benefits/providers. That said, while Omni Psychiatric didn't appear in my search for in-network providers (not even when I searched for individuals' names) a few of the therapists from Manhattan Alternative *did*. So I think I'll reach out to those folks.
Also I've been looking at the Member Handbook and it seems like it might be difficult to get approval for out of network care:
posted by green socks at 6:42 AM on May 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
I should've clarified that I'm on the specifically *Medicaid* BCBS plan, which I think is different than the usual BCBS plan and probably has different benefits/providers. That said, while Omni Psychiatric didn't appear in my search for in-network providers (not even when I searched for individuals' names) a few of the therapists from Manhattan Alternative *did*. So I think I'll reach out to those folks.
Also I've been looking at the Member Handbook and it seems like it might be difficult to get approval for out of network care:
Sometimes we may not approve an out-of-network referral because we have a provider in Empire that can treat you. [..]I'll do more research to try and find out what's *actually* covered.
Sometimes, we may not approve an out-of-network referral for a specific treatment because you asked for care that is not very different from what you can get from Empire’s provider.
Finding a therapist, even in a place like NYC, is definitely way more of a crapshoot than it ought to be, so I wish you the best in finding the care you need.Thank you! "Crapshoot" is a good word for it :)
posted by green socks at 6:42 AM on May 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by the twistinside at 7:53 PM on May 20, 2021