Mental Health Providers: How to Find Who Can Help You

Seeking out mental health treatment is a big decision. The very process of recognizing that there is something wrong can be a journey all in itself. Mental illness is a condition, and improving the symptoms can have a tangible effect on your life. Taking action to solve the problem means connecting with the right mental health providers.

There are so many different mental health providers that picking out your treatment can be difficult and confusing. Your primary care doctor, medical insurance, or friend may recommend different kinds of providers. Looking up providers can be confusing, though. Us mental health providers love acronyms, and you may find yourself staring at a smorgasbord of different acronyms: MD. LCSW. LPCC. RBT, CADC, LMFT…

So let’s demystify this alphabet soup of mental health providers. This is your treatment, and I want you to be informed when picking out which type of profession you want to work with. I’m grouping these disciplines into three broad categories: medical, therapeutic, and niche.

Even within these categories, you will see that each mental health provider comes with a different education and orientation. None of these is “better” than the other. They simply serve different purposes.

Medical Mental Health Providers

Medication is an important option to consider. While a pill will not solve stressors like the loss of a loved one or a tough living situation, it can reduce symptoms and help people solve or tolerate the issue at hand. Some mental health diagnoses, like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, require medication to manage the biological part of the illness.

While some general practitioners like your primary care doctor may be able to prescribe medication for your mental health, it is generally recommended you work with a provider specializing in that area for the best result.

Psychiatrist

Psychiatrists are medical doctors specialized in treating mental health conditions.

Once upon a time, psychiatrists applied a combination of psychotherapy and medication to help consumers. While some psychiatrists still use both, this practice is increasingly rare. There are a number of reasons for this, including the growing specialization amongst mental health providers and the higher billing rate for medication from insurances. Bottom line, though, psychiatrists these days focus on prescribing medication.

After the initial psychiatric evaluation, an appointment with a psychiatrist is typically short and sweet. Psychiatrists often ask questions around the medication’s effectiveness and possible side effects.

Psychiatric Nurse

Psychiatric nurses play an important role in a variety of mental health settings. These nurses specialize in patient care, helping administer medication, and facilitate communication and education about the illness. They’re typically found in outpatient clinics and inpatient facilities. Many psychiatric nurses can also assess, diagnose, and provide their own form of counseling.

Therapeutic Mental Health Providers

When people think of psychology, they might think of this next set of mental health providers. At the turn of the 20^th century, people were already starting to sit in couches and talk about their dreams and fears to relieve emotional distress.

Psychotherapy has evolved beyond the ideas of Freud in the last hundred years. From psychodynamic to cognitive behavioral, the science has developed a wide range of treatments. These providers—who have earned masters or doctorate degrees—can serve people from all kinds of conditions and contexts.

You’ll notice the word “clinical” pops up in a few of these titles. That signals a specific orientation toward working with people directly. Many people in the mental health world do not. For example, many psychologists focus on research. Social workers serve a wide range of roles, like program planning, advocacy, and coordinating care at hospitals. The word clinical means they’re trained in assessment and psychotherapy.

These different providers have a lot in common. They all conduct assessments, diagnose, and perform psychotherapy. I’ll try and highlight the major differences in orientation and functions.

Clinical Psychologist

Clinical psychologists have earned their doctorates. These providers often come from a more academic and research-based perspective in how they approach treatment. Clinical psychologists also serve other roles in addition to their work as providers, including teaching and researching.

One area that is fairly unique to clinical psychologists is psychological testing, though other providers can work toward certifying and performing these tests with supervisions. Tests can be important in evaluating all sorts of subjects, from developmental disorder and intellectual functioning to personality and complicated symptoms.  

Clinical Counselor

Clinical counselors earned their masters degree in clinical psychology. Like clinical psychologists, they typically focus on working with individuals in addressing a variety of mental health issues. Although they can’t complete psychological testing, they can assess and diagnose individuals. Based on a person’s symptoms, history, and goals, clinical counselor create a treatment plan and engage in psychotherapy to help improve their functioning.

Like other therapeutic mental health providers, clinical counselors often run groups based on needs (I.E. recovery from addiction, domestic violence, anger management, etc.) and population (women’s group, teen group, new parents, etc.).

Marriage and Family Therapist

This practitioner considers individuals in the context of their family units. There’s a lot of benefits to this perspective. Factions can sometimes appear and split a family. Poor boundaries can complicate relationships. The rules and ideas buried in a family’s DNA can often distort reality and create emotional dysfunction.  

Marriage and family therapists– who earned their masters degrees– work with individuals, but they also often work with couples and families. These providers often focus on interpersonal functioning.

Clinical Social Worker

That’s me!

Clinical social workers examine individuals within the context of their environment. While these practitioners conduct assessments and psychotherapy the same way as other mental health providers, clinical social workers pay special attention the effect systems have on their functioning. Social workers are often savvy in making referrals as they understand the impact challenges like poverty, discrimination, and lacks of support can have on their functioning.

Clinical social workers typically work with individuals, but they can also work with couples, families, and other kinds of groups. They usually operate from their masters degrees, though some may have doctorates in social work as well.

Specialized Mental Health Providers

There’s more than psychiatrists and clinicians out there. This list is a hodgepodge of mental health providers who address specific needs within the community. These practitioners don’t always come up at the top of a referral list, but they do incredible work.

Art Therapist

Orientation: Creating and exploring arts facilitates self-discovery and healing.

Pablo Picasso once said, “painting is another way of keeping a diary.” There is something truly profound about expressing oneself through creating something. Music. Film. Sculpting. It doesn’t matter if you’re creative or even good at an art. The revolutionary act of making something that is wholly from you is deeply rewarding and informative.

Art therapy is considered to be an alternative sort of treatment, one that is used when other types of therapy have not panned out. These mental health providers are found anywhere from a private practice to within a residential treatment facility. Art therapists have seen great effect in helping people better understand themselves, improve self-esteem, and cope with illness or disability.

Substance Abuse Counselor

Orientation: Helping people break the cycle of addiction

Substance abuse counselors are trained to help people change their patterns of substance use. They work within an interdisciplinary treatment team at residential facilities and outpatient clinics. Often, these mental health providers lead groups and provide one-on-one coaching on developing a sober support system and healthy ways to resist drug and alcohol cravings.

Case Manager

Orientation: Connecting people with the resources they need to improve their wellness.

Remember clinical social workers’ orientation to understand how a person is dealing with their environment? Case managers follow a similar philosophy. However, rather than using long-term, change-oriented psychotherapy, these mental health providers work one-on-one to refer folks to the resources they need to function better.

Have you been unable to pay your bills? A case manager could refer you to be a benefits specialist to see if you’re eligible. Is your housing unstable? A case manager might try and refer you to a fund or Section 8 housing program.

Case managers are most concerned with trying to address a person’s basic needs.

Behavioral Instructor

Orientation: Changing a person’s behavior to help them

There is no one-size-fits-all type of treatment. While talk therapy and/or medication can do wonders for so many people, they don’t work as well for some groups.

Behavioral therapy is a specialized approach that attempts to change a person’s actions by influencing their environment. These mental health providers take a look at what is reinforcing or punishing different behaviors and then try to make adjustments. This type of treatment is especially effective for children and individuals with significant developmental or intellectual impairment. Behavioral instructors often work with kids one-on-one in schools or at the home. They also can run groups.

Life Coach

Orientation: Encouraging a person to make a change

A life coach is not someone who works exclusively in the world of mental health. Whereas you might need to wait a week to see your therapist, or a month to speak with your psychiatrist, life coaches often can be much more available. There are a host of different styles, too– some may give tough love, others will be your cheerleader.

Sometimes the differences between therapy and coaching are blurred. Truthfully, there can be some significant overlap between the two disciplines. If I were to draw a general line separating the two, I’d point out that therapy generally involves healing, emotional wellness, and reframing how people see themselves and others.

On the other hand, life coaches are much more focused on problem-solving. Just like a personal fitness instructor might try and push people to finish just one more push-up, life coaches aim to get people to make important changes and reach their goals.

A word of warning– while most mental health providers require some sort of degree or certification, anybody can become a life coach. That doesn’t mean good work can’t be done– there are people whom swear by their life coaches. Still, it’s especially important to ask about the experience or credentials before you work with a life coach to make sure this professional is prepared to help you.

Conclusion

Deciding to seek professional help is one of the most important decisions you can make. From there, the next step is figuring out what you want that help to look like. There are a variety of different types of mental health providers, and I hope this article has given you an idea of what might be the best fit.

If you’re interested in more posts like this, please consider subscribing to my email list! I’ll be posting regularly about different mental health topics, including other considerations to make when seeking treatment.

Which mental health providers have you worked with? What have you found to be helpful in your mental health recovery? And did I miss a type of mental health provider you’ve come across? Please share in the comments below and I’ll update this post as time goes on.