How to find affordable therapy in New York City

Finding the right therapist can be difficult – not least because of the potential cost. A therapy session for an individual frequently costs between $100 and $200, according to Psychology Today.

But if you’re a New Yorker looking for a therapist on a budget, options range from nonprofit clinics to psychiatric training institutes to programs targeting specific communities, such as veterans or rideshare drivers.

There are also ways to search online for therapists in private practice who take your insurance or offer a discounted fee. These days, distance is also less of a hurdle: Many brick-and-mortar practices also offer teletherapy. If you want to go with a private teletherapy company, the Wirecutter has a solid guide. But there are plenty of other options out there.

Alongside a WNYC series on Mental Health Awareness Month, Gothamist has compiled some tips for finding free or affordable therapy in New York City, regardless of your income level or the type of insurance you have.

Why is it so hard to find an affordable therapist to begin with?

Most insurance plans are required to provide robust coverage for mental health care. But finding a therapist in your network can still be a challenge. Many therapists in private practice do not accept insurance or accept a limited number of plans. Some therapists say the rates health plans pay them are too low.

Insurance companies will sometimes pay for therapy with a clinician who’s outside of their network. But even when therapy is covered, patients sometimes still have to pay a fee out of their own pocket for each session. With weekly or biweekly visits, that can add up.

Medicaid, a publicly-funded plan for people with low incomes, typically covers therapy for free or a low copay. It is accepted at nonprofit clinics and hospitals across the city.

But cost is not the only consideration. Mental health providers also have to have room for new patients, and some are currently grappling with out-of-control wait lists.

The Jewish Board, one of the largest providers of behavioral health care in the five boroughs, has a wait list of more than 2,000 people for a therapist and has stopped adding to it for the time being, according to Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, the nonprofit’s CEO. The Jewish Board accepts Medicaid as well as a range of commercial health plans.

“Our phone's been ringing off the hook,” Brenner said of the current level of demand.

He added that he has lost some of his therapists in recent months to telehealth companies where they are able to earn more without having to come into an office.

Therapy shouldn’t just be accessible – it should also be tailored to a patient’s particular needs, said Sa’uda Dunlap, the assistant vice president of equity and belonging at Vibrant Emotional Health, which runs the NYC Well mental health hotline. Some New Yorkers are also looking for someone who speaks a language other than English or understands their particular cultural background or identity, she noted.

“It can be labor intensive [to find a therapist], but so is shopping for the right pair of jeans and the right pair of shoes,” Dunlap said.

She encouraged New Yorkers to be open to different kinds of mental health services, such as support groups and art therapy, and said NYC Well is always adding new options to its directory.

Breaking down affordable therapy resources in NYC

SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES

NYC Well

The NYC Well website has a search function that allows users to enter the type of behavioral health service they’re seeking and then use filters to narrow the search by borough, payment information, patient age and program focus.

A search for “therapist” turns up nearly 1,000 results across the five boroughs — although it doesn’t indicate availability for new patients, so it may be necessary to do some calling around.

The site doesn’t profile individual therapists but rather lists clinics and hospitals where different types of mental health services are available. Often, these types of institutions have a more dynamic range of services than a private therapy office. For instance, substance use treatment may be available alongside therapy and medication management. Some of these providers focus primarily on Medicaid patients, but many also accept some types of commercial insurance and offer sliding fee scales for those paying out of pocket.

You can also reach the NYC Well hotline by dialing 988, the national crisis prevention lifeline

Psychology Today

Psychology Today has profiles for a vast array of clinicians in NYC and across the country and has a robust search function that makes it possible to search for a therapist not only by location and specialty but also by language, insurance type and how expensive their sessions are. There are even filters related to ethnicity and religion.

Be sure to contact both the therapist and your insurer to figure out your payment options. Some insurance companies will reimburse patients for the cost of therapy with a provider who is outside of their network. For those paying out of pocket, some therapists offer fees on a sliding scale.

Open Path Psychotherapy Collective

The Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a nonprofit that connects patients with therapists willing to charge reduced rates, ranging from $40 to $70 for individual sessions and $40 to $80 for couples. The site also works with interns who charge $30.

According to the Open Path website, the service aims to help people who can afford to pay those rates out of pocket but can’t afford more, and lack access to affordable therapy through their insurance. But the nonprofit operates on the honor system and patient financial records are not requested.

Patients do have to pay a one-time membership fee of $65 to use the service, which Open Path says goes toward operating costs.

The site’s search function lets you filter by specialty, location, whether you prefer in-person or online therapy and more.

THERAPISTS IN TRAINING

Don’t sleep on mental health trainees. Psychologists and social workers in training need to get a certain number of hours of practice under their belts before they can work independently. Clinics affiliated with graduate schools often have reduced rates.

Take the Parnes Clinic, the training center for Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. The Bronx-based clinic offers both in-person and teletherapy services for adults, children and families, and the fees typically range from $5 to $40 per session (no insurance is accepted). The center does currently have a waitlist, but it is expected to be resolved by June, said Hanan Eisenman, a spokesperson for Yeshiva University.

In some cases, asking about training program schedules can also help with navigating waitlists at mental health clinics. The Ackerman Institute for the Family offers education and training in family therapy. The organization tends to build its waitlist for family therapy over the summer and then has a lot of availability starting in September when all the new trainees come in, said Adi Loebl, the organization’s chief medical officer.

The organization takes Medicaid and some other types of insurance, but Loebl noted that because it is a smaller nonprofit, it has only limited capacity to offer discounted out-of-pocket rates.

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS

The NYC Health + Hospitals system is the largest provider of behavioral health care in the city and serves patients regardless of their ability to pay, according to spokesperson Stephanie Buhle.

The network offers outpatient therapy at its hospitals and clinics as well as sessions via telehealth. Patients can access special programs based on their needs, such as OnTrackNY, which is designed for younger people who have recently started experiencing psychosis.

“Our waitlist varies from facility to facility and from program to program, but we are continuously working on increasing access to services by addressing workforce shortages and implementing process improvements that optimize access to providers,” Buhle said.

Anyone can make an appointment at NYC Health + Hospitals by calling 1-844-692-4692 or online here.

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

New Yorkers who cannot enroll in insurance because of their immigration status can still sign up for NYC Care, a program that makes it easier to use NYC Health + Hospitals for preventive care – including mental health services.

New York City has also set up resource navigation centers for asylum seekers. These are run by nonprofits that offer help accessing a range of services, including mental health care, and the list of locations is available online in English and 12 other languages.

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

In some cases, services are targeted to certain groups that may have their own particular needs – such as cancer patients, or veterans.

For instance, NYU Langone’s Steven A. Cohen Military Family Center offers services for veterans and their families totally free of cost. A receptionist at the center said it could take up to a month for an individual to get placed with a therapist after intake, while the waitlist for couples is two to three months.

Some employers or industry groups may also offer targeted mental health services. A group called the Independent Drivers Guild, which advocates for rideshare drivers, offers free mental health services to drivers for Lyft, Uber and black car companies and their families. The services are provided in Spanish, Nepali, Mandarin, Punjabi, Urdu, and Hindi, in addition to English.

“A lot of people can access us,” but not everyone is aware the service is available, said Deborah Ho, the group’s wellness director.