When money gets in the way of getting help

[amydidit]

I need to be in counseling. Badly. For a couple years my anxiety has been 'managed' through my PCP. But it's not working. All they do is keep throwing SSRI's and klonopin at me. I tell them it doesn't work so they switch me to a different med. Still doesn't work, they switch me back. Seriously, it's gone like this:

1. Lexapro and klonopin
2. Celexa and klonopin
3. Lexapro and klonopin
3. Buspar and klonopin
4. Higher dose of lexapro and klonopin
5. Higher dose of klonopin alone.
(And this has all been in the past 14 months.)

Umm... this isn't helping. But they don't feel comfortable doing more since they aren't psychologists. I know I have anxiety, SPD, and am 99% sure I have Asperger's. But I can't afford counseling.

I have mental health coverage, but it only pays 90% after satisfying a deductible. Which, depending on who I talk to at the insurance, is either $317 or $1500. Well we're broke. Surviving, barely, on DH's salary alone. I'm not able to work (mental issues, plus would be working for daycare $ alone anyway). I'm going to college in the fall, but even then the financial aid is all used up. Tuition, books, fees, and then daycare for my girls. I'm not going to have anything left to pay a deductible with. Even if I felt I could wait until August to do it.

So what do you do when you really have no options? We have tried and don't qualify for family medicaid (even though the kids are on it). The public clinic here doesn't take my insurance at all, plus they have such a long waiting list right now they aren't even adding new people to it.

I'm waiting for a call back right now from one psychologist office in hopes they'll agree to let me make payments on the deductible. But so far I haven't found any who will agree to that. And because I have insurance I can't get one a sliding scale. There's only one clinic that I've found locally that offers that anyway, and we've had, uh, issues with them in the past with my DD.

So what would you do? Any ideas? We've already sold everything to pay bills so we have nothing left to sell to pay for this. I'm open to all brainstorming.

[sunyata]

My suggestion would be to try local colleges and universities. You might be able get counseling at one for free or cheap, or if not, they can usually point you toward other community resources. They might know of another counseling center in your area that caters to low income or even individual therapists that will be more likely to work with you. There are some mental health clinics like that in my county, besides the big one that receives government funds.

I'm a nursing student at a community college, and they have a pretty good counseling center--which I didn't even know was there for a long time. They only have one psychologist for thousands of students, though, so they only do short-term therapy then refer you somewhere else if you need more. They're knowledgable about tons of resources and know exactly where to send students who are poor : ). Also, to get counseling at the school, you have to have an issue that would interfere with your academic success. I know you're not a student YET, but maybe you can tell them it will interfere if you don't get help?

In the past I saw a counselor at a state university for a while. That was free b/c I was a student there, but I think they also had low rates for other people not associated with the school. I think my counselor was a grad student.

Anyway, that's my suggestion... make some phone calls. Tell them you've been turned away by that one clinic, and see what else they say. Or try calling your DHS office and asking them for ideas.

[amydidit]

I'd forgotten about the college counseling center. Thank you for reminding me. Since I'm enrolled in classes they consider me a student already and I'm eligible for all services they offer. I'll call them tomorrow. From what I saw online it looks like they only do short term, temp, counseling, but it might help while looking. I'll check the community college as well.

This is a very poor town so unfortunately we're extremely lacking in available services.

[bjorker]

Contact more therapists and counsellors and ask if they have a sliding scale. I'm sure there are more around you that you don't know about, unless you live in a super rural area. I have no insurance and pay $40 for a 50 minute session every two weeks. DP goes and pays the same on my "off" weeks. It does add up, but we can make it work, so we do.

You can also try organisations such as Catholic Community Services. I personally am agnostic and sensitive to religious overtones, but they had none when I went. They are really there to help the community, and the therapists don't (or at least shouldn't and are not supposed to) push any sort of agenda. They do sliding scale as well.

Contact a local crisis or mental health line and ask for resources. Tell them your situation. They should definitely have answers for you. It doesn't have to be super local, if you can't find one then just pick any relevant phone number and tell them what you need. They will help you find where to call and all that.

Poke around nami.org or find your state or local nami chapter and contact them or check their resources list if they have one.

Here we have Community Health Centers with a mental/behavioural health office that accepts people regardless of their ability to pay.

I know it's overwhelming, btdt, but keep looking. There are more resources out there than it seems, it's finding them that is the hard part!

Good luck, mama.

[Pariah]

I don't have any advice that hasn't been posted above, but I wanted to say that I know how you feel and I hope you can work something out. I just found out that while I have health insurance from my job for doctor/therapy visits, I don't have prescription coverage until March of 2011! So I can go to a doctor, but no Rx of any kind is covered...mine is $120 a month and of course there's no generic. I am so frustrated. It shouldn't be this hard for people to get help, you know? Especially when it affects your ability to fuction normally.

It is easy to get so fed up that you want to throw up your hands and say forget it.