Many of us in the mental health profession are committed to providing services on a sliding scale — after all, our goal is to help people in crisis as well as those who want to affect change in their lives. We are also challenged by rising costs and feel torn in that we want to offer more of those services but are restricted in the number of people we can help at very reduced fees.
Yes, in metropolitan area such as NYC there are many training institutes where you can receive excellent services at very reduced costs, Ackerman was mentioned, in NYC, another excellent choice is the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy.
However, outside of the major areas, you can contact your local hospitals and ask to speak to a hospital social worker – ideally someone who works either in the ER or mental health services area. They may be able to direct you to individuals or centers where you can receive services at a reduced cost or if they have an outpatient clinic either on-site or one they are work with at the time of your call.
Support groups are extremely helpful for so many reasons as mentioned in the article and on this blog, not the least of which is that individuals in the group as well as the facilitator may also be able to direct you to resources (lower cost) that can be helfpul.
The challenge for all of this is that when you may be feeling at your worst is the time you need to advocate in finding resources that can help you move forward.
If you can’t do it on your own, reach out and ask a friend/loved one to help you find someone.
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