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We know winter can be a bummer. And sometimes ... it can be more than a bummer. Chicagoist heartily endorses getting some therapy — help helps, cupcakes — but we know $150 per session can be prohibitive. Luckily, there are other options.
There are some pretty great shrinks-in-training at The Family Institute at Northwestern, for example, where you can see a student therapist for as little as $5 or $10 per session, depending on your income. When you call for an appointment, the intake coordinators will discuss your insurance and financial situation with you and determine what kind of session fee you can manage. Your therapist will call you back within 48 hours to set up an appointment. There are Saturday and evening hours available, and locations throughout our area.
Another option is Chicago Community Counseling Centers (C4), with locations close to public transportation routes, bilingual services, and fee determined by a sliding scale. There usually aren't student therapists interning here, but the centers are committed to serving the community regardless of ability to pay, so your fee will reflect what is feasible with your income. You may have to wait for a few weeks for your appointment, but the appointment will be made the day you make the phone call. We love C4's motto; they are in the business of "the art of healing life." Life certainly is an art, and we could all use a few lessons.
And yet a third option: keep yourself company with the sad puppies on Flickr. — Tracy Leman
Image via Joyce.
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Not an excuse for what exactly?
For not getting therapy.
I thought you meant going on a homicidal rampage or something.
Anyway, good to know.
Be careful, though. A bad therapist can do more harm than good. I'd rather talk to my hairdresser than a bad therapist.
yeah. C4. they definitely can do some things, but they definitely have their limitations as well.
"the art of healing life." hmm.
As a former hairdresser, please, make an appointment with a therapist.
Baroness - Actually, I never unload on my therapist. In fact, it's the other way around. So where do I go to get my hair cut?
In all seriousness, when my parents split up, my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to see a therapist for a little while. Everything went along ok for a little while, but the day the therapist told me that the reason I didn't have a good relationship with my dad (I was 15 at the time and my dad was all but non-existent in my life) was because I wasn't right with God was the day I walked out shrieking.
Telling a teenage girl her relationship with her dad sucks is because she's not right with God - that's FUCKED UP.
I still think therapy can be a good idea, but I highly recommend thoroughly vetting the therapist first.
Yikes, happygrl ...
Unless the patient makes his/her beliefs known, god has no place on the couch ...
Thanks Dave. Ya know, I can look back on it and laugh now. It's kinda funny to me. I wouldn't wish it on anyone and it had the potential to really mess me up, but luckily it didn't. Needless to say, my mother raised some hell. And I didn't have to go back.
Very good--and you seem well-adjusted, so there.
I think what most people fail to realize is that there are so many different types of therapy-- psychodynamic (what we all tend to think of when we think of shrinks), cognitive, humanistic, behavioral, CBT, and so on ... And that's not even factoring the individual differences among psychologists.
It seems like people go see a therapist once or twice, and then feel like it's not working, and quit, when there could be a great fit out there for their needs, personalities, learning styles, tolerance for mysticism or medication, etc.
C4, understaffed and underfunded like ALL community centers in this area, work their asses off (and saved my life).
FYI
they helped me out when i had no money for meds, and thus saved my life as well, mycube, but after long term treatment there (and getting better and healthier through other means as well), i found that their psychiatrists tend to suffer from burnout. either that, or they sort of are cold and unfeeling at times. your mileage, of course, may vary.
Oh man, NOW you tell me! And right after I mailed that pipe bomb as a "cry for help", too.
C'est La Vie!
Here's a question that comes to mind when reading happygrl and dave's comments. What is the best way to find a good fit? How should one know what type of the therapies dave listed may be right for them? How does one go about vetting a therapist?
@ E:
I agree with you.
I wonder if this would be a good Ask Chicagoist question/long post feature story for them to do?
I think many readers in need (me too) would benefit from this type of story; especially around the holiday season (a little late suggestion, I realize).
@ E:
I agree with you.
I wonder if this would be a good Ask Chicagoist question/long post feature story for them to do?
I think many readers in need (me too) would benefit from this type of story; especially around the holiday season (a little late suggestion, I realize).
E,
Good question, and in 6-8 years, maybe I'll have an answer (and then I'll be broke, but that's a different story).
The only way I think you can do it without seeing every psychologist and psychiatrist in the yellow pages is to do some research. Look up the different forms of therapy on Wikipedia (I know, not the ultimate source for information, but it's pretty easy to understand), and see which one just sounds like a good fit. Are you interested in seeing what your unconscious mind might have to say? Or are you more prone to believing your conscious thoughts and behaviors are maladaptive? Are you okay with taking meds to alleviate things, or no? That would narrow down a few choices there, I'd think.
That's really oversimplifying, and I'm no doctor (yet ...). But I think it's fair to treat psychology or psychiatry like finding any other doctor. I don't think it's out of the question to speak to a potential doctor about his/her school of thought before committing to therapy.