Talk Therapy Resources

Over the last couple of years, more and more friends (and myself!) have pursued talk therapy as a means of caring for our mental health. Before, the idea of going to a stranger to talk about the things stressing you out in life was an odd concept to me; what an invasion of privacy! My thinking on the topic has evolved and I now fully embrace the value of having a trained, professional processor as one of my outlets for co-processing the experiences I have in the world.

Many people in my life have indicated they don’t know where to begin with therapy. Most of these people identify with at least one marginalized identity. I’ve begun compiling resources to send to such friends and now am publishing them in the event they are useful to anyone else.

Therapist directories

• Open Path Collective, a non-profit nationwide network of mental health professionals dedicated to providing in-office and online mental health care—at a steeply reduced rate—to individuals, couples, children, and families in need.
• Talk Space, focused on providing convenient access to licensed providers who can help those in need to live a happier and healthier life.
• Asian Mental Health Collective, focused on Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian American (APISAA) therapists.
• Therapy for Black Girls, focused on therapists specifically serving Black women and Black young women.

Paying for therapy
There are a couple of funds specifically designed to help pay for therapy. They include:

• The Loveland Foundation helps pay for 4-8 sessions for Black women and Black young women, from $80-$200/session: https://thelovelandfoundation.org/loveland-therapy-fund/
• The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network are currently accepting applications that would pay for up to 6 sessions, $100/session for Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and People of Color: https://www.nqttcn.com/mentalhealthfund.

Process thoughts for finding a therapist
Based on my experience, and I’m not an expert at this so take my advice with a grain of salt.

• Identify 2-3 potential therapists and interview them to see who you connect with. Part of “connection” is determining how much of your experience you want to have to explicitly explain, vs. how much you want your therapist to already have foundational knowledge in. For instance, I need a therapist who already understands the concepts of structural oppression and structural racism.
• Have some sort of intention in mind for therapy. For instance, are you trying to reduce stress? Make sense of X, Y, or Z thing that happened in your life? Patch up a relationship with someone?
• Set an intention for how long you’ll try out therapy with a given therapist. Keep in mind that the typical therapy session is ~50 minutes long.
• Realize that some therapists might be best for a certain phase in your life but then you may need to transition to another therapist. That’s okay.

Supporting mental health equitably

• You can donate to the Loveland Foundation or National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network
• Outside of the US, consider donating to StrongMinds

Published April 29, 2021.