"Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?" the X page for the Sesame Street character posted. Many answers were brutally honest and downright cynical about the dread people are feeling.
Been looking at therapists for my teenage daughter, she’s been debating therapy for a couple of years and has recently fully committed.
We have good insurance and are financially secure, and holy shit it’s still going to cost an extraordinary amount. I don’t understand how anyone struggling with financial insecurity could even consider having access to therapy as an option.
What a fundamentally broken system, there is not a single type of care that exists that is accessible to the people who need it.
As someone who is indeed struggling with financial insecurity, on top of depression, anxiety, and I’m pretty sure adult ADD, it sucks a great deal. My spouse also has similar issues, and so we try to just find the joy in our kids, but I’m worried about passing our issues on to the kids. I truly don’t know what to do at this point.
Check the HR, insurance extras or employee perks whatever page or call the insurance about Behavioral Health programs. Some companies (not enough by far) have some free or lower cost providers in those programs. Not just EAP, which is also a great offering, just usually not long term. Some, it may just be "virtual in-network visits" are discounted over "in person" visits or something simple. A common obe I see is ~5-8 free w/the matched provider then it rolls into the benefit payments if you keep them going.
Its all a very dumb game and I try to pass along any "tricks" I can find to make the system remotely usable. If anyone has any, throw 'em my way!
I'm going to start seeing a sliding scale therapist at $60/hr once a week. I'm donating plasma to afford it, along with using student loans. I figure it's an investment that will pay off. There are therapists that will work pro bono, too.
Think about it this way: the payments you're making for insurance, that they aren't reciprocating in terms of service coverage (their only fucking job), is providing a very needy owner with another private island! You're making the world a happier place as one person can now have multiple islands to lounge on while their corporation does the actual work of syphoning your money for them!