What is therapy?
Therapy is a healing treatment in a confidential and private setting with a licensed healthcare professional. A therapist is trained to be supportive and help increase awareness of what’s contributing to where we are stuck. They may also highlight strengths and resources that can help us heal and grow. For many, therapy is a space to explore your thoughts, feelings, patterns, and experiences. It is also a place to adopt coping skills for specific issues, like anxiety, depression, trauma, and eating disorders. Improving your overall health and well-being is also often a focus of therapy.
Therapists, like other healthcare professionals, are mandated reporters. That means that they are required to maintain your privacy and confidentiality. The exceptions to this would be if there are concerns about safety. Privacy, confidentiality, safety, and your well-being are important. These topics are discussed at the beginning and throughout therapy.
There is a lot of training that goes into becoming a licensed therapist: graduate courses, completing training hours under clinical supervision, and passing multiple exams. Licensed therapists also need to stay current on professional education as required by the state(s)/region(s) where they are licensed.
Good therapy is customized to your unique needs, your life and your experiences in your world. As a result, your experiences in therapy likely differ from others’ yet still be beneficial and meaningful.
How is therapy different from talking with a friend or loved one?
Though our friends and loved ones have the best of intentions, they may not have the training, awareness or patience most beneficial in our unique journeys of uncovering what is keeping us stuck and where we’d like to be.
Therapy is not intended to replace our supportive relationships. Rather, therapy can be a resource in better understanding who we are so that we can more authentically build relationships, move through tough moments, and get our needs met.
How do I find a therapist?
There are multiple ways to find a therapist.
I encourage people to ask their trusted friends, neighbors, healers and medical providers for recommendations. These connections may have recommendations for therapists they’ve worked with or therapists they’ve heard others in their circle work with. Medical providers and healers can often get a list of providers in their network.
Internet searches can be helpful. Search in your state or city, the word “therapist” and any important characteristic(s). If it’s important to work with a therapist who is a woman of color and you’re in San Francisco, search “San Francisco therapist woman of color” and similar terms. Google Ads are often the first results you see. You may need to scroll through multiple pages to find someone who is available and meets your needs.
Directories can be helpful for finding a list of providers. Directories like Inclusive Therapists, Latinx Therapy, Therapy for Black Girls, Asian Mental Health Collective, and National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (NQTTCN) may be good starting points. If you’re looking for a provider who specializes in eating disorders, some regions have specific eating disorder provider directories like the Eating Disorder Resource Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. Note: Some therapists choose not to list their information on directories and instead rely on word-of-mouth or connections. Many directories charge providers to pay a monthly fee to join and be listed.
Social media can also be an option for finding a provider. Be mindful that many providers are not active or have limited social media presence.
However you choose to find a therapist, be ready to ask questions. Chat and think about if you’re a good match for working together.
How much does therapy cost?
Therapy is an investment of time, energy and resources. The cost of therapy varies depending on the region where you are located, the specialty and training of the therapist you are seeing.
If the cost of therapy is an area of concern, take time to think about how much of your time, energy and resources can be dedicated to therapy and be upfront with your therapist during your initial conversation. Therapy services range in cost and frequency.
For those in great financial need, some therapists may offer sliding scale or low-cost therapy appointments. Alternatively, several telehealth platforms offer low-cost mental health treatment or accept insurance. Check out Open Path Collective or your local community behavioral health center for more information.
Interested in therapy in California, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina?
Check out our therapy services page for more information and book an initial consultation to chat about doing therapy together!