Finding a therapist
The practical obstacles are usually waiting lists and cost rather than choosing the right kind of therapy. A referral from your doctor moves faster than searching alone, your insurer’s directory is often out of date, and school and community mental health services are frequently free. What matters most in the first appointment is whether your teenager will go back.
If you need help now
Call 911 if someone is unresponsive or badly hurt. Call or text 988 for thoughts of suicide or self harm. Both are free and open all day and night. All crisis resources
What the credentials mean
The letters differ by state and they matter less than parents expect. A licensed psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed professional counselor and a licensed marriage and family therapist can all treat an adolescent, and all are licensed and regulated.
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor and is the one who can prescribe. Most young people do not start there.
What is worth checking is whether they work with adolescents regularly. Someone who mostly sees adults is a different proposition.
Getting an appointment faster
- Ask your doctor to refer rather than searching alone
- Ask directly about cancellation lists, which are not usually advertised
- Ask the school what it can provide, which is often free and immediate
- Ask about community mental health services in your county
- Ask whether they take your insurance before anything else, because directories go stale
What it costs
Cost varies enormously by state, insurance and provider, and any figure here would be wrong for most readers.
The first appointment
Your teenager may say almost nothing. That is normal and it is not a wasted hour.
Bring the written note of what you have seen, with dates. It is more useful than any general description of worry.
The question after the first session is not whether it went well. It is whether they will go again.
If they refuse to go
A young person who refuses outright is common and it is not the end of the route. Parents can be seen alone, and a clinician who has heard the situation can advise on how to approach it.
Forcing attendance tends to produce an hour of silence and a harder second attempt.
Three different kinds of help
These are separate on purpose. A parent looking for clinical help should never arrive in a legal intake queue by accident.
Getting help
A family doctor first, the school counselor second, a therapist third. The first two are faster and cheaper, and both can refer you onward.
Finding helpWe do not provide treatment and take no payment from anyone who does.
The lawsuits
How the claims work, what has to be shown, and why the deadlines are different for a child. This comes second to getting your child care, and that is not a formality.
How the lawsuits workContacting us does not create an attorney client relationship, and what you send is not confidential or privileged.
Reporting and resources
Reporting an image or an adult, what a school can actually do, and the organizations worth your time.
ResourcesNobody pays to be listed and listing is not endorsement.