How To Find A Therapist During COVID-19
Maybe you are stressed about finances, your job, or simply finding tiolet paper and necessities. Maybe you are barely keeping it together, balancing working from home and home schooling your children. Maybe you were already anxious and this health crisis has only heightened your symptoms and constant worry. Perhaps you already struggle with feelings of loneliness, isolation and depression and #socialdistancing has increased those emotions for you.
No matter what you may be feeling right now– your feelings are valid and you are not alone. This is no time to put your mental health on the backburner. You might have read endless articles and posts about how to practice self-care at home while you are quarantined. You already know where to find yoga videos, what apps to use for guided meditations, how to keep up your hygeine, get enough sleep and fresh air, as well as limit your intake of news and social media. What happens when that is not enough though? When you are feeling like you need extra support to get through this unbearably challenging time? You are probably wondering how to go about finding a therapist, let alone the right therapist who is offering telehealth sessions. So let’s chat about some places you might go to find support to make sure you and your mental health come out of COVID-19 not only surviving but thriving:
Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a non-profit directory of therapists that offer sliding scale rates to clients who lack health insurance or whose health insurance doesn’t provide adequate mental health benefits. Therapists listed on their website offer sessions ranging between $30 and $60 (between $30 and $80 for couples and family sessions). This is in comparison to current market rates of $80- $200 per session for self-pay therapy. After searching the directory and finding a therapist you feel is a good fit, you simply pay a lifetime membership of $59 in order to receive the discounted rates.
BetterHelp deems themselves the world’s largest network of online licensed therapists. Whether you are an individual adult, couple or parent looking for counseling for your teen, you can search and be matched with a licensed therapist in your state. BetterHelp online therapists can support clients with a wide range of mental health concerns including stress, depression, anxiety, relationship issues, grief and more. You can also choose how you communicate with your therapist– either through messaging, live phone, video or chat sessions. Per their website, the cost of counseling through BetterHelp ranges from $40 to $70 per week (billed monthly).
Other therapist directories such as Psychology Today, GoodTherapy and Therapy Den all lists licensed and pre-licensed therapists who offer both online and in-person sessions. To find the right therapist for you, you can filter your search by location, specialty, gender, cost or insurance, and of course whether or not they offer telehealth sessions. Most therapists offer free phone consultations so you can chat with them to make sure you are a good fit before scheduling a session.
The bottomline? Don’t let COVID-19 be another barrier to reaching out for support. As cliche as it sounds, it is okay to not be okay. Make your mental health a priority– you deserve it!
