Natalie Moore, an LMFT in Pasadena, walks through how to find a mental health professional. She covers assessing symptom severity to determine the right level of care, navigating insurance and payment options, understanding different provider types like psychiatrists and therapists, and practical search methods including Google and referrals from your doctor.
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Okay, so you've decided you need a mental health professional, but how in the world do you figure out which one's right for you? Hey guys, I'm Natalie Moore, a therapist in Pasadena, and today I'm going to answer the question, how do you find a therapist or a mental health professional for you? Do I find an MD, a PhD, an MA? What do these letters even mean? Today's video is going to explain all that. So you've determined that you need a mental health professional. The question is, how do you get help? So this is going to depend on two factors. The first one is, what are the severity of your symptoms? If you're dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, for example, you're most likely going to need to find an inpatient treatment program specifically for drug and alcohol recovery. Same goes for for eating disorders or any type of severe mental illness such as psychosis. So inpatient basically just means that you live at the same place where you're getting your mental health services from, and you most likely are going to have therapeutic groups that you go to multiple times a day, and you'll probably have an individual counselor that you meet with as well. The next step down from inpatient treatment is intensive outpatient treatment. This means that you don't live in the place where you're getting your mental health services from, but that you go to this place multiple times per week, say 3 times a week, and you have individual therapy, group therapy, and you'll probably be seeing a psychiatrist as well. Intensive outpatient programs are for people who were in inpatient and are ready to graduate out of that, or people who maybe their symptoms are not so severe to need to live live at the place where they're receiving their mental health services, but can go to a few times a week and still get the treatment that they need. The next step down from intensive outpatient treatment would be in-home therapy. That's for people who are experiencing more severe symptoms like self-injury or aggressive behaviors, or people who are dealing with severe depression that maybe has some psychotic features as associated with it. The next step down from in-home therapy would be outpatient treatment. So this is probably what you think about when you think about therapy, which is seeing a mental health professional in their office by appointment, usually about once a week. This could be a private practitioner where their business is basically their name, or this could be a counseling center where therapists work together in a group setting providing services to the community. People who seek outpatient treatment usually have anxiety, depression, life transition issues, or relationship issues where they need support, but they don't need someone there more than once a week helping them through these issues. Now that we've talked about the severity of issues, the second area to consider is finances. Where is the money going to come from to pay for your mental health services? If you plan to use your insurance to pay for your mental health treatment, the best way to go about this is to call your insurance plan directly and find out who in the area can provide mental health services to you through your insurance. You may have to pay a copay. If Kaiser is your insurance, you'll most likely need to see mental health providers who work for Kaiser. If you don't have insurance at all, first of all, please look into how you can get insured. That's so important. But if you can't do that immediately, there are certain therapists who will work on a sliding scale to meet the financial needs of the client coming for services. If you plan to pay out of pocket, you have a lot more options. Basically, you can go and do a basic Google search or ask anyone for a referral for a therapist in your area, and they'll be able to work with you at an out-of-pocket expense. So you've decided the severity of your issues and a funding source. Now you need to find out what type of mental health professional is right for you. Do I need a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a marriage and family therapist, a licensed clinical social worker, who in the world do I need? If you believe that the severity of your symptoms require meds, then I recommend you get an evaluation with a psychiatrist. So any psychiatrist is gonna have the letters MD at the end of their name because psychiatrists are medical doctors. While some psychiatrists also provide therapy, most of them specialize in medication management. So if you're gonna work with a psychiatrist, you'll probably want to find a therapist or a psychologist to help you in terms of weekly sessions to deal with the root cause of what's bothering you. If you're not sure if you'll need meds and want to start working with a therapist immediately before making that decision, you have a few different options. So how do I decide what type of therapist to work with? If you have a more serious mental condition, you should consider working with a psychologist because not only can they provide you with mental health services, but they can also do what's called psychological testing, which means they get a definitive diagnosis for you. If you have mild to moderate symptoms, you can work with an LMFT, an LCSW, or an LPCC. And honestly, it really doesn't matter which type of therapist you choose to work with. They all have similar training, licensure requirements, and professional and educational backgrounds. So now you've decided the severity of your symptoms, your funding source, the type of therapist to work with. Now, how do I find this therapist? One thing I recommend you do is to do some online research. Start putting in some keyword searches into Google such as drug and alcohol rehabilitation center or anxiety therapist. Whatever it is that you need help for, start looking and see what's out there. If you're planning to pay out of pocket, you can pretty much contact anyone that you find who you seem to like based on their website, and as long as they're accepting patients, you'll probably be able to work with them if you can afford for their rate. If you can't, you can always ask for a sliding scale rate. If you prefer a referral from someone that you know and trust, start with your doctor. Ask your primary care physician if there are any mental health professionals in the area that they refer to frequently. You can also reach out to friends and family or other people that you know and ask them, "Hey, do you know a therapist? Do you know a psychologist? Do you know a psychiatrist?" And see if they can give you a word-of-mouth referral. I hope this video helps you in your quest to find a mental health professional. Please stay posted for future videos. See ya!
