I love having a therapist who is also a millennial because we communicate so fucking well like today she called something “so meta” like folks if you’re considering going to therapy I highly recommend the training clinic at your nearest university because those grad students have been the best therapist I’ve ever had and they always have a sliding pay scale and I literally pay nothing because I make less than 10,000 a year and get fantastic mental health care
#seeing a grad student is a great idea#because 1) they’re actually current and up to date on research and they’re gonna be all about EBP and give you the best most current treatme#and 2)#their caseload is fraction of any therapist’s in the real word so all of their focus is on YOU and they care about you so much!!!#ok not all of their focus is on you because a lot of their focus is also on being in school but all their CLINICAL focus is on you#you’re one of their first clients ever! they want to do their best!!#and 3) (I was gonna do two but I thought of a third)#they’re being supervised and scrutinized and held accountable#and yes this is coming from a speech language pathology grad student not a counseling grad student#but it is a kind of therapy#and I know the same thing applies to other clinical programs (@boxofpigeons)
I am intrigued. Filing this away for later.
As a millennial grad student therapist, I wish more people knew that free or low-cost, up-to-date treatment from closely supervised, highly motivated individuals may be readily available to them. If you’re looking for a training clinic, this website is a good place to start, but also googling “[your city] psychology training clinic” or “psychology training clinic near me” works. Any university with graduate programs in clinical or counseling psychology should have an associated clinic, often separate from their on-campus health/counseling centers (which are another good, typically free resource for anyone enrolled there).
It’s important to note that student therapists will usually leave after a year or so to continue their training at other sites, which can be difficult for individuals looking for long-term treatment. But if you’re in need of something shorter-term (which most of the empirically supported treatments for problems with mood, anxiety, phobias, and substance use are designed to be), or if you just want someone to talk to during a difficult time, your local training clinic might be just the thing!
If you’re in the Bay area and you can manage it, check out CHAC in Mountain View. It’s a community health center that provides therapy services, one on one with training or skilled therapists based on what you can afford and are comfortable with, and subject based group therapy, for adults and children alike. They’re familiar and comfortable with LGBT+ individuals and they’re all really. REALLY. Nice
