How to find a therapist near you
It’s not just you — finding the right therapist is hard.
Many factors go into finding a therapist — do they take your insurance? How can you tell if they have the right training and licensing? How far away is their office, or do they offer online counseling? And it becomes even more challenging when you are looking for someone whose approach to faith aligns with your own.
At Restoring the Soul, we provide counseling intensives, short immersive experiences designed to help people experience significant breakthrough within one or two weeks. But we realize these intensives are just one part of our clients’ therapy experiences. We generally recommend people start with weekly or ongoing therapy (either locally or via telehealth) before registering an intensive.
However, more and more often, we hear from people who want to go directly to an intensive because they cannot find an option for ongoing therapy. More people have been starting therapy in the past several years, and therapists are struggling to keep up with demand, so it’s become more difficult to find a therapist.
So where do you start? Here are four steps for finding a local therapist:
1. Clarify what it is you are seeking help for
Therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all, and knowing what you want to address in therapy can help you know what kind of therapist you should go to.
You might be facing a lot of different circumstances or challenges, but consider what is the main or first area where you want help. It can be as simple as writing out a single sentence: “I’m struggling with anxiety.” “I have a relationship problem.”
Once you know where you want help, you can check if therapists have experience or credentials in that area.
2. Understand the different credentials
Mental health care is a broad field, and therapists may have a range of educational backgrounds or certifications. Here are some of the common credentials you will see for counselors in the United States:
Licensed therapists: A licensed therapist has at least a masters degree in some kind of mental health field, such a counseling, psychology, clinical mental health, or school psychology. Different programs have different emphases, so it’s often helpful to check their bios for more information about their specialties. Exact licenses and their requirements vary from state to state, but most states require supervised counseling experience and a licensure exam in addition to a masters degree.
Here are some of the common licenses, but we recommend looking up your specific state if you want to understand what would go into these credentials near you:
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) — this is the most common license
- Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) — several states have both LPCs and LCPCs, with the LCPC license requiring an additional level of experience
- LPC-A (in training)
- LPC-S (supervisors)
- Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) — this is another common license in states that don’t use the LPC language
Licensed marriage and family therapists: Licensed marriage and family therapists also have a masters degree, but that degree is specifically in the field of marriage and family therapy. For these therapists, look for the LMFT licensure, which is used in all 50 states.
Psychiatrists: Psychiatrists are medical doctors with a specialization in mental health and mental disorders. They have gone to medical school, have an MD, and are able to prescribe medication. Consider going to a psychiatrist if you anticipate wanting a prescription.
Psychologists: Psychologists have not attended medical school, but they do have a doctorate degree in some kind of psychology, such as doctor of psychology (PsyD) or a doctor of philosophy (PhD) in counseling psychology or clinical psychology. A PsyD program often focuses more on clinical experience, while a PhD focuses more on research, but both will have extensive training and education. Many PsyDs and PhDs specialize in testing and diagnosis, although they often may provide therapy as well.
There are also a lot of other certifications you might see in specific areas of expertise, but it’s worth looking those up to know how much training they actually mean someone has. Some certifications require thorough training and practical experience, but others might just mean the therapist took a 4-hour course on that topic.
3. Start looking
Once you know what you are looking for, how do you actually find a therapist? Where do you look?
The most common place to look is Psychology Today. This is the largest clearinghouse for therapists, including licensed professional counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals. It also allows you to narrow your search with your specific criteria, so that you can immediately check if someone offers remote counseling, has a specialty or approach that is important to you, or fits your other needs.
If you are looking specifically for Christian counseling, you can also narrow that search by faith. You could also check the directory of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) or the Christian Care Connect tool from American Association for Christian Counselors (AACC).
4. Figure out what you would be paying
Therapists usually charge an hourly rate. The rate varies widely depending on the counselor’s level of experience and training, the location, and their area of specialization — and the rates can get quite expensive.
Checking if a therapist is in network
Make sure you check the details of your health insurance plan to see exactly what is covered. Some insurers offer only sparse coverage for mental health services, or they may cover some aspects of care but not others.
In addition, some therapists no longer work with insurance because of related challenges or limitations. While many therapists still do work with insurance, it can be more difficult to find them.
When you are looking at potential therapists, check if they take your insurance before you move forward. As with any care provider, you can often find out if a therapist is covered by checking through your insurance company. Or, if you’re not sure, larger offices will often have someone on staff who can work with you to figure out exactly what is covered with your insurance.
Making therapy more affordable
But what do you do if your insurer won’t cover therapy or if their coverage still does not make therapy affordable? Here are a few things to consider:
- Check to therapists’ websites to see if they offer a sliding scale based on income. (This would often be with the information about costs and fees.)
- Many universities, seminaries, and training centers offer less expensive options from their interns.
5. Keep trying (and trying and trying)
Unfortunately, it can take many tries to find a therapist who fits your needs and has availability. Expect to have to reach out to multiple options before finding a therapist with availability.
If you find this process challenging, you aren’t alone. The number of people looking for therapists has skyrocketed in the past few years. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing found that 90% of behavioral health professionals were concerned about whether new clients would be able to gain access to care. At Restoring the Soul, we have met with clients who have spent months and months trying to find and vet a therapist without finding a match.
Even if a therapist does have openings, it still might take several calls to hear back. Because of the demand, many therapists are lacking administrative support, so it’s not uncommon for people to not receive calls back.
It’s a difficult situation, and it shouldn’t be so hard to find the care you need. We encourage you to keep trying and know you aren’t the only one dealing with these challenges.