Firstly- therapy is available to ANYONE over 13 years of age, even without parental consent. If you would like to talk to a therapist and are above 13 years old, you may do so with NO obligation to tell ANYBODY.
Secondly- we know that payment may be a restraining factor, especially for teens, and especially if you don't have/don't have access to your insurance (if you don't want your parents to know, it's not a great idea to use insurance that they have access to, because they may mistakenly find out). Thankfully, there are several free and low-cost options listed below, and other options include your primary doctor/physician, or your school counselor/mental health specialist, if your school has one.
1st therapy option: Low fee or Free Community Mental Health Clinics
To find a local clinic, you can contact the NAMI helpline or chat with them at NAMI.org/help. Often, just looking it up on Google Maps (and verifying that it's a legit clinic) should do the trick as well.
This is low-fee or free
2nd option: An Affordable Non-Profit Organization
Although there are multiple of these kinds of organizations, one example would be Open Path (https://openpathcollective.org/). In order to have access, you will have to pay a lifetime membership (a one-time fee that grants access to the possibility of sessions) for $60, plus $30-60 (depending on the financial situation) per session. Although this may seem like a lot for teens, it's significantly cheaper than most current prices for therapy ($80-200 per session).
3rd option: Local Universities
Many of these offer sliding scale fees (it depends on what you're able to give) as low as $1. The therapists offered here could be clinicians-in-training (graduates under the supervision of experienced professionals, so nothing to worry about), licensed professionals who work or study at that university, or anything in between, but no matter what you'd be in good hands.
This is low-fee or free
4th option: Support Groups
Now we know what you're thinking: "like AA?!? No way."
Well.... yes way. There are support groups for pretty much everything, and you can find Mental Health America's list of them here.
Although talking to a specialist is definitely a great idea to benefit your mental health, people need different things to recover and take care of themselves. Many may find that talking to peers and getting different perspectives and advice from others going through the same thing is actually more helpful.
This is low-fee or free
5th option (if you have insurance): Your Insurance Provider
Call your insurance provider and ask if they cover mental health services, and if so, what local service providers would accept your insurance. This is a great way to figure out which services could cost less (it can be anywhere down to $5 per session with your insurance, so it's worth trying if you are comfortable)!
This is low-fee IF you have insurance (and therefore parental knowledge)
6th option: Apps
Such as talkspace.com or betterhelp.com (or teencounseling.com, the teen version)
These cost quite a bit more, from $35 and up per week but more often around the $70/week range. Most plans include unlimited text access to your therapist, and some may include one or two sessions a week (but those cost more). Insurance can reduce these costs by up to 70-90%, so these are significantly better options if you're willing to tell your parents and use insurance.
PRO TIP: If you order something from https://selfcareisforeveryone.com/, they give you a coupon for one month of free therapy with betterhelp.com. Great for anyone who wants to just try out individual therapy without committing money to it, or is going through a temporary rough patch!
If you'd like to print out this info packet, the easiest way is to print this google doc! FYI: It doesn't have all the links and related info that are on the online versions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GpAmWcSt8cxUzwclo0eeRSLUaDGHsrQyUr3r9PYebKk/edit
Comments