The decision to seek out mental healthcare is not always an easy one. It requires a level of vulnerability and a commitment to work on yourself that may seem intimidating. But when you are struggling with symptoms of mental illness that prove disruptive to your life and happiness, taking that step to reach out for treatment is often as critical as it is brave.
Part of what makes this so intimidating is the search to find the right mental healthcare provider. A bad experience with a mental healthcare provider when you’re already taking a big step to allow yourself to be vulnerable can be demoralizing. But what makes a good mental healthcare provider? Here are 10 things to look for in a mental healthcare provider:
#1 - Culturally Competent Care
Culturally competent care is essential to helping patients feel understood and supported, especially marginalized patients. Mental health does not exist within a vacuum. Your mental health is impacted by your lived experiences, including aspects of your culture and identity. If your clinician does not understand your lived experiences and your identity, they may not be able to help you as well as you need and deserve.
Part of culturally competent care involves diversity and inclusion in hiring. For instance, an LGBTQ+ therapist will have a different perspective of a patient whose depression comes from a lack of acceptance in their identity than a cisgender heterosexual therapist. A Black therapist may better understand anxieties that a Black office worker might feel in a predominantly white workplace.
Training is another important aspect of culturally competent care. Some therapists and providers may specialize in working with communities that they themselves are not a part of and still provide culturally competent care. They are able to do this through cultural sensitivity training and experience working with those communities. Unfortunately, culturally competent care is not a priority at all mental health provider networks. This is why Rivia Mind is dedicated to it in our work.
Mental health advocate Natasha Bowman recently shared her own experience with Rivia Mind and the importance of culturally competent care on her Youtube channel. Here’s what she had to say:
When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and shared my diagnosis with my family, many of my close family members no longer wanted to be associated with me. As you can imagine, this was devastating to me. When I shared this experience with the mental health professionals I was seeing at that time, they had difficulty understanding the cultural stigma of mental illness in my community. Because they lacked cultural competency, they could not guide me through this obstacle meaningfully. What sets Rivia Mind apart is its commitment to inclusivity. They have a wide range of mental health professionals from different races, cultures, and providers who specialize in working with women and the LGTBQI and transgender community.
#2 - Longer Appointment Times
Some mental health providers are primarily focused on offering prescriptions and check-ins, and thus have shorter appointment times. While these 15 minute sessions may be helpful if you only need to refill your medication, it may not be enough time to meet your unique mental healthcare needs.
If this model does not work for you, it can help to find a mental healthcare provider who offers longer appointment times — typically 60 minutes. These hour-long sessions allow your provider to take the time to truly understand your situation and your mental state and to come up with unique solutions that suit you in particular.
#3 - A Variety of Treatment Options
Bouncing off the last point, look for a mental health provider who offers a variety of treatment options. There is no one mental healthcare treatment that will work for all patients. Everyone is different, and even with the same diagnosis, they may need different solutions.
Some mental healthcare providers will focus on medication management or on therapy exclusively. They may only offer one or two forms of therapy. This means that you might find one treatment that works for you at that provider, but it may not be sufficient on its own. This could mean that you have to seek out other treatments from other providers, which can add up both in terms of time and budget.
When your mental healthcare provider works with skilled pharmacotherapists and psychotherapists, as well as a wide variety of treatment modalities and options, you can confidently expect them to find the treatment that works best for you.
#4 - Ability To Work With Most Insurance Carriers
Mental healthcare, or any healthcare in the United States, can be expensive. When a mental healthcare provider does not work with your insurance carrier, you’re either left having to pay out of pocket or search somewhere else. And if you have to change providers within the same network, you might run into the insurance problem all over again.
It helps to work with a provider who is able to accept most insurances. This way, if your insurance changes or your provider changes, you’re able to continue treatment without disruption.
#5 - Personalized Care
Because each patient is unique, it’s important to find a mental health provider who can offer personalized care. There are plenty of textbooks about mental healthcare and formulas of treatment that have proven effective in many cases, but that doesn’t mean that those formulas will work for you. A skilled clinician will be able to combine different methods and modalities based on their understanding of your unique needs and create a personalized treatment plan for the most effectiveness.
#6 - Specializations
Part of providing personalized care is finding a mental health provider who specializes in the kind of treatment you need. You may find some providers who specialize in treating certain conditions, certain life stage demographics, or certain communities. These clinicians specialize in these areas because they have the most experience working with them and know effective treatments for these specializations. If you’re looking for a specific kind of therapy or a therapist who works with specific types of cases, search for specialists in those areas.
#7 - Collaborative Care
Despite depictions in the media, therapy is not a matter of the patient coming into the office and listening to their therapist tell them what’s wrong with them. It is a collaborative process, one that requires the therapist to work with the patient. A good therapist may serve as a guide, but the patient is the one who determines the direction that they’re headed. So when looking for mental healthcare providers, look for one who truly takes your goals and input into account and collaborates with you, rather than simply directing you.
#8 - A Safe and Welcoming Environment
Therapy can be intimidating at first, and patients want to know that they can express themselves and what they’re going through without judgment. Seek out mental healthcare providers that offer a safe and welcoming environment. If you don’t feel comfortable there, trust your instinct. Your safety is what enables you to be vulnerable enough to make genuine changes.
#9 - Willingness To Take Feedback
Again, therapy should be a collaborative experience. Providing your provider with feedback, whether positive or negative, can help to improve and personalize your therapy experience. Your provider should welcome this, even if the feedback is critical. If they don’t, that’s a good sign that you should move on.
Rivia Mind’s own Dr. Ariel Brown, MD, put it this way: “I am always saddened to hear when patient’s are deterred from treatment due to past negative experiences with providers or the healthcare system at large or even due to a bad fit. I would say to keep trying, and don’t be afraid to give feedback to your providers (positive AND negative!) to help arrive at the best fit for you.”
#10 - Genuine Connection
This one is trickier, as it is entirely subjective. You could have a mental health provider who is technically great at their job. But if things don’t click between you, it will be difficult to make progress.
A psychiatric nurse practitioner with Rivia Mind, James Mueser, PMHNP-BC, spoke about his own perspective of finding the right fit with a mental health provider in his clinician spotlight. “In my experience, people want to feel seen, and this requires that the provider be able to make a real connection with you. Plenty of people can learn assessment skills, the psychopharmacology etc. But how does your provider make you feel? This is a deeply personal question, but I would advise looking for someone that respects you, challenges you, and is honest and kind.”
At Rivia Mind, we work with a wide range of skilled and compassionate clinicians dedicated to providing a welcoming environment, as well as personalized, collaborative, and culturally competent care. We offer a wide range of treatment options and work with most insurance companies. Contact us today to learn more or to schedule a free 15-minute consultation to get started.
Resources:
- Rivia Mind Alt Ending – Natasha Bowman on YouTube
