My struggle to find a new therapist (psychologist)

I've mentioned here that my current therapist was forced to move her practice. She will now practice far far away from my home. My husband offered to drive me there for Saturday appointments (every other week) until I find a new therapist. She is going to even see me for next to nothing because of the move.

I have already started looking for therapists. Actually, I've been strongly encouraged to look specifically for psychologists (therapists with Ph.D. or Psy). I can go into that later, if anyone wants to know why I'm limiting the search to those.

My area has a lot of therapists, and even a number of psychologists, but even so, it's hard to find a good fit, and even harder to find one that is accepting new clients and preferably takes my insurance. Often I contact them and never hear back. Sometimes when I do they offer another therapist, but when I say I'd like them to have experience with bipolar patients, the inquiry dies. I have a strong feeling that many therapists do not want patients with bipolar disorder. Maybe I'm wrong, but my current therapist and psychiatrist did say that's a possibility. Especially a person with my circumstances. Hubby said he thinks some may think I'm too difficult to help. I'm not sure of that now, but I he's definitely right about the past.

I looked on my insurance provider list, got recommendations from people (though none accepted insurance), looked at Psychology Today, did google searches on "psychologists in 'my town area'". I spent oodles of time researching them and looking at websites. I had to eliminate some who totally didn't fit my needs.

I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any suggestions? As I said, my hubby will drive me to my current psychologist's new far away location every other week (for a while), and she even offered to do Skype appointments for free.

By the way, my psychiatrist really wants me to have a female therapist and not male for a couple of reasons I won't go into. That eliminates about 25% of the options. There are fewer male therapists to begin with, though the ones I've seen do happen to be psychologists and not social workers.

P.S. Is anyone else having a problem with your posts showing extra spaces between paragraphs when you publish them? I've only noticed this today.

Hi BirdDancer - I guess my only suggestion is to keep trying. I can attest to how hard it is to find a good therapist that you feel comfortable with and can fully open up to...AND takes your insurance. I bounced around for a bit trying to find one that I liked but finally did late last year. I am not sure how Skype would work for me...I think it may take away some of the effectiveness of the treatment but that's just me - it may work for you. Stay diligent - it's so important. I wish you well BirdDancer

I am thinking about the primary reason for your OP, but I want to comment on this ^^^ -
YES!!!! For about a week I'm having a problem with posting because the paragraphs are double or triple spacing. It's really annoying. And I'm also seeing it on some other people's posts.

I made a thread about the problem on the Tech Help board, but no mod or admin has responded , and the thread is starting to disappear. I don't know what to do...message a mod...?? Any suggestions are welcomed!

Thanks BipolarJoe. I will. And as for the Skype, that would only be for the weeks I don't see her face to face. I do plan to make the long drive to her new office every other week. Hubby will drive me. It's a little over an hour drive north. I'll see her on Saturdays. That's just until I find a new therapist and feel it will last more than a couple sessions. I think I mentioned that she'll be seeing me for next to nothing (just a symbolic $10 or $20). She said she won't charge me for the Skype.

Thanks for notifying Tech Help about this issue, Laurie.

Okay, here's what DocJohn posted: We've looked into this issue and it's very hard for us to understand or troubleshoot given that it happens inconsistently, and only for a few members. We have made zero changes on the server-side of things that would've caused this to suddenly start happening.

We'll keep looking, but I'm not confident we'll be able to figure this one out right away...




With regard to finding a new therapist - I'm surprised your current t didn't recommend someone.

Besides that...ugh. Finding a therapist is never easy. All I can think of is to keep checking resources. Do you have Nextdoor or any community sites in your region? If you feel comfortable with it you could ask on a site like that about people's suggestions for/against local therapists.

Does you r insurance suggest anyone, like a rating scale. Mine has ones that have been noted to be at the top of my insurance.

My only other thought is to ask to go on a waiting list for the ones that are full. Patients quit therapy all the time.