Points for trying in Mental Health, 2017

I find got enough courage to start looking around for a new therapist. I don’t know how to explain how much anxiety I get making that first phone call. It takes EVERYTHING in me to place the call.

Today I felt up to it. There is this counseling center with 4 locations within the county i live in. Two locations in the town I live in and one location in the town I work in. I figured that would give me some good options. If I wanted to have appts in the evening, I could go to the location by my work. If they had Saturday hours or whatever, I could go to the locations near my house. There were options. SO after some hefty positive self-talk, I called.

Aaaaaand NONE of their providers accept my insurance - Cigna. Cigna is a national insurance, not a small insurance company by any means. This concerns me because my old therapist might decided she doesn’t want to accept it either, and maybe thats why she didn’t have a problem telling me where she was moving to during our last appt. Like maybe she thought once I found out that she wouldn’t be accepting my insurance/any insurance, it would be enough of a deterrent for me not to seek her services. The place she’s going to is a Christian counseling center with Independent Christian counselors. Now the Christian part was bugging me initially, but my lack of religion wasn’t an issue before, so I was thinking it wouldn’t be an issue at the new place. But NOW my main concern is the “independent” part. She’ll work for herself, but will share the office building with other counselors. She’ll make her own schedule, choose her own rates, and decided which insurances she’ll accept or NOT accept.

So not only do I not know if she is indeed starting in January and if she’s still open to accepting former patients, but I don’t know if she’ll accept my insurance and what her rates will be. Ugh.

One of the main motivators why therapists leave community health clinic settings and go into business for themselves is money. So I’m not feeling confident.

The other part thats bugging me is that my brain is like “do you even still need counseling?” or is the kickboxing classes enough (and soon to be football practices when the season starts in Jan). Did I even mention I started kickboxing classes here? I started towards the end of sept, same time I stopped seeing my counselor. It was her suggestion, and its helped. None of her suggestions have failed me yet, which is why this is so hard and annoying.