Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash.
This is a sponsored post in partnership with Responsival.
We have a mental health crisis in this country. And it’s not just that so many of us are struggling.
There are too many hurdles to accessing mental health care. If you’ve ever tried to find a therapist, you know what I mean.
When you’re drowning and reaching for help, the last thing you need is red tape. But that’s exactly what many of us experience when searching for help with our mental health.
Finding In-Person or Online Therapy That Takes Insurance
Combing through listings, trying to figure out what is and isn’t covered by insurance, searching for therapists whose waiting lists are shorter than six months … it’s daunting. And when you’re already struggling, getting help can feel impossible.
With COVID, it can be more difficult than ever to find a therapist, right when many of us need it most.
It’s just one more thing in the big basket of overwhelm that many of us carry around.
So when I heard about Headway, a company that helps people find therapists and schedule sessions for online therapy that takes insurance, I was excited to share about them. Ideally, all mental health services and providers would be covered by insurance. But until it is, we need companies that can help us navigate the confusing waters of networks and billing.
Mental Health Needs to Be Accessible
I talk about mental health a lot on here. It’s important to me. I think therapy is one of the best investments we can make in our lives. Because it really isn’t just mental – it stretches to our emotional, spiritual, and even physical well-being.
The pandemic just made things more difficult. Overall, the surge in demand for therapists is a good thing. I mean, we all need a little extra help after these last few years. But it also means therapists are overwhelmed and often unable to take new patients.
Maybe you got a few recommendations from friends, only to discover that the therapists they mentioned are full. Even therapists who are accepting new clients often have waitlists of weeks or months. And if you need someone who specializes in trauma care or another specialization, you’ll have to dig deeper.
The Affordability Factor
And then: Will therapy be affordable? Will it fit into your budget? Can you even track down a therapist that takes insurance?
If you’re lucky, you’ll find a therapist who is out-of-network but partially covered. If you’re really lucky, your employer might offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that covers a few sessions. But for many of us, the most we can hope for is that our therapists will send a receipt we can try to submit to the insurance company.
There is help out there. Psychology Today offers a searchable database of therapists by location. There are even funds to help underserved patients pay for therapy and initiatives to help Black therapists pay for student loans.
If you’re looking for online therapy that takes insurance, then Headway is a good place to start. You can even specify if you prefer in-person counseling or if you have specific issues you want to address with Headway’s short questionnaire.
The bad news for my Tennessee neighbors is that Headway isn’t available in our state yet. But here’s the good part – you can tell your local therapists that they can sign up and become part of Headway’s launch in Tennessee! Headway deals with all the insurance paperwork so therapists can provide affordable services to more clients without adding administrative hassles to their workload.
And if you’re out there deciding whether to try therapy, I encourage you to give it a chance. There’s a lot on everyone’s plates right now, and having a professional to walk through it with you is a gift.
If you or a loved one are considering suicide or need emotional support right away, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
