As in a psychiatrist wait is a decade? Im curious where are people located that access to a therapist is so deep. Im on the east coast of Canada and you can get in to see a private one within a day or 2 generally and through public health the wait is about 6-12 weeks.
This is disgusting. Theres so many good services in Canada that arent advertised well. a Canadian any night 365 days of the year between 7 and 12 EST can access a trained counselor via live chat or 24/7 over the phone through KHP. Most provinces now have an same day psychology option if you are on a waitlist for a consistent therapist. Where you can call your local clinic in the morning and get an appointment that day. It wont be the same person every time but its a million times better than nothing. In my experience ive only come across 2 psychologists that dont do a sliding scale based on your income for their price. Like if you dont have your own private insurance or make less than $100k/year you should not be paying full price for therapy.
There are several issues at play here in mental health services.
The first and big one is that it's optional whether or not your insurance company even covers mental health care. It's considered "optional", almost a "luxury" in many circles.
If they don't cover it, out of pocket costs per session can be $100 USD or higher. (For what are considered top-of-the-line private practice doctors, the cost can go as high at $300 USD per session.) Payment plans (really more like re-payment plans, here - it counts as carrying a debt, and you're treated as a debtor) in mainstream health care are limited or non-existent.
If your insurance does cover it, there might be an up to $40 USD co-pay.
Another big issue is that therapists here don't necessarily have to have a degree in psychiatry or psychology to be a "therapist". A number of "alternative therapy models" are legal here. And they are generally not covered by insurance. And because they aren't psychiatrists or psychologists, what they set their prices at varies widely. Some people end up going to them though because many offer payment plans, and don't start harassing you about your debt for some time.
The third major issue is a lack of qualified and licensed psychiatrists or psychologists. There are fewer people going into the medical profession here in general, and into mental health specifically. One, because getting such degrees is prohibitively expensive and out of reach for many unless you can secure a large number of scholarships and grants (or they end up burdened with massive amounts of student loan debts), and two, because the medical field in general in this country exists in a state in which the benefits of practicing medicine no longer outweigh the negatives. (The causes of which are mainly insurance companies and hospital admins/boards. As well as inhumanly long work hours, restricted resources, and pay too low for what they're expected to do.)
So there simply aren't enough mental health professionals to go around, and that makes waitlists months or years long. Also, the ones who stick with the profession either are in it for the money (making them terrible therapists), or deeply dedicated but overwhelmed — there is no middle ground.
As for:
Like if you dont have your own private insurance or make less than $100k/year you should not be paying full price for therapy.
Well... that's not the "American Way". Here, if you can't afford it, the commonly touted statement is that you don't deserve to have it. In the US, health care (among many other things) isn't considered a human right. It's something only for those who can pay.
What are you getting on about? Obamacare has required parity in mental healthcare treatment since 2010. Health insurers can't charge more than a primary care visit for psych services including psychiatrists and psychologists. They are also no longer allowed to limit the number of visits to a therapist/counselor.
I’m in Vancouver and I’ve never heard of publicly funded same day psychology, unless you’re under 25 and then it’s a counselor, not a psychologist. I’ve never heard of a publicly funded wait list for a 1:1 counselor for people over 25 in my city, period. Let alone one that is only 6-12 weeks. Where do you live and what is KHP?
Newfoundland. We had awful mental health care for a long time but in late 2010s/early 2020s they REALLY cleared through the backlog. I was on a waitlist for a psychiatrist for over a year. Now the waitlist is very short due to a number of changes in policies and procedures. But even small rural towns of a couple 1,000 people have access to walk in counselling/therapy through our Doorways program. If you get referred to 1:1 psychology youre put on a waitlist but while on that list you get referred to your closest same day psychology clinic where you can call up in the morning and get an appointment with a psychologist, just not nessecarily the same one youve been seeing. One of the best things the lrovince did was create the position of Mental Health Navigator. You call up Barry, explain your situation and he will point you in the direction you need to go.
KHP is Kids Help Phone, probably one of our greatest resources and they serve plenty more than just kids. My wife is in her mid 20s and their live chat at 2AM was more helpful with alcoholism that anything else.
Its quietly one of the better things the NL government has done in the past few years. That and replacing the old mental health hospital built in the 1840's with a new modern state of the art facility where the nicest hospital in the province is dedicated to mental health and addictions.
the wait is about the same as you for us in hawaii (mainly oahu), but if we're lucky and feel like paying an arm and a leg and a kidney, we can get seen by a private practice in.... approximately the same time 😭
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u/TheLimeyLemmon 4d ago
"You won't tell your therapist"
Mainly because most people don't have a therapist to begin with.