New York has more therapists per square mile than almost anywhere in the country, and finding one still takes most people months. The problem is rarely supply. It’s that nobody tells you what to look for, so you end up comparing headshots and hoping.
This is what we tell friends who ask. Some of it will point you toward our practice and some of it will point you away, and both of those are the correct outcome.
Start With the Problem, Not the Directory
Before you open a single profile, write one or two sentences about why now. Not a diagnosis. Just the thing. “I get anxious before I present at work and it’s getting worse.” “I’ve been fine on paper for two years and I don’t feel anything.” “My relationship keeps hitting the same wall.”
That sentence does two things. It gives you a filter, because a therapist who works primarily with couples is the wrong fit for the first example no matter how good they are. And it becomes the first thing you say on a consultation call, which is where fit actually gets decided.
Understand the Credentials
New York licenses several kinds of therapists, and the letters after a name tell you something specific.
A licensed psychologist (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) has a doctorate, several years of supervised clinical training, and is licensed by the state to diagnose and treat. Psychologists often carry additional specialization, and many supervise other clinicians.
A licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) or licensed master social worker (LMSW) holds a master’s degree in social work. LMSWs practice under the supervision of a licensed clinician. An LMHC is a licensed mental health counselor with a master’s in counseling. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can prescribe medication and, in most cases, focuses on that rather than weekly talk therapy.
None of these is better across the board. The doctorate matters more for complex presentations, assessment, or when you want the person treating you to also be the person setting clinical direction. Master’s-level clinicians are often the more accessible option and are frequently in-network with insurance. What matters is that whoever you see is licensed in New York, and that if they’re pre-licensed or in training, you know who’s supervising them.
You can verify any New York license through the State Education Department’s Office of the Professions online lookup. It takes thirty seconds and we’d do it for anyone you’re about to pay.
Ask How They Actually Work
Most profiles list six modalities. That tells you what the clinician has been trained in, not what you’ll experience. A practice can be trained in half a dozen approaches and still run every client through the same one.
So ask directly on the consultation: “For someone with what I just described, how would you approach it?” A good answer is specific. It might be that they’d start with cognitive tools for the immediate thought loops while relational work runs underneath, or that they’d want to understand where a pattern came from before trying to interrupt it. A vague answer – “I meet clients where they are” – is not a red flag exactly, but it’s not information either.
Two approaches you’ll hear about often: cognitive behavioral therapy, which is structured and present-focused and works well for current patterns that can be observed and tested, and relational or psychodynamic work, which goes to the origin of a pattern rather than the current instance. We’ve written about where each one fits and where each one stops. Most people need some of both. Ask which the therapist leads with.
Decide Whether Lived Context Matters to You
For some people it doesn’t, and that’s fine. For many of the people we work with – high-achieving BIPOC and queer professionals, people who grew up navigating complicated family systems or cultural expectations, people who have spent years excelling in survival mode – it matters a great deal. When you’re spending energy translating your context before you can describe your problem, the work slows down.
That doesn’t always mean finding a therapist who shares your exact background. It means finding one who won’t need the background explained to them, and who won’t treat it as a footnote. You’ll know within one conversation. Pay attention to whether you felt able to say the true version of things or the presentable one.
Get Clear on Money Before the First Session
In New York, private-pay therapy with a licensed psychologist generally runs $200 to $400 per session. Master’s-level clinicians are often lower and more likely to be in-network. Many of the most experienced clinicians in the city are out-of-network, which means you pay in full and submit a superbill to your insurer for partial reimbursement. It’s the part people are most embarrassed to ask about and the part that most often decides whether they start.
Whatever the practice, ask three things before you book: the fee for the clinician you’d see, whether they’re in-network with your plan, and whether they provide superbills if they’re not. A practice that can’t answer those cleanly is telling you something about how the rest will go.
Use the Consultation Like an Interview
Almost every practice in the city offers a short free consultation. Most people use it to be evaluated. Use it to evaluate.
Say your sentence from the first section. Ask how they’d approach it. Ask about fees and insurance. Ask what happens if after a few sessions it doesn’t feel useful – a good clinician will have a real answer, usually involving naming it directly and either adjusting or referring you out. Ask who else is in the practice and whether you might be a better fit with someone else there.
Then notice how you felt on the call. Not whether they were nice. Whether you were able to be honest. That’s the most reliable early signal there is.
Red Flags Worth Taking Seriously
Guarantees of outcomes or timelines. Reluctance to tell you the fee. A profile with lorem ipsum or obviously unfinished pages – if they don’t finish their own website, ask what else is unfinished. Anyone who won’t tell you who their supervisor is when they’re pre-licensed. Anyone who diagnoses you on the consultation call. And, for what it’s worth, anyone who books you through a third-party platform without ever speaking to you first. Screening goes both ways; a practice that skips it on their side has usually skipped it on yours too.
What Choosing Our Practice Looks Like
Since this is our site, here’s the honest version of how we’d come out of the process above.
Our founder, Dr. Keoshia Worthy, is a licensed psychologist in New York with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. She works out-of-network at $300 to $450 per session. Our LMSW clinicians are in-network with Aetna and Cigna, and see out-of-network clients at $150. We also work with clinical trainees under her supervision, at $25 to $50 per session, with several $25 slots currently open. Every client receives a superbill at the end of each month as a receipt to submit to their insurance provider. Every clinician in the practice works from the same relational, trauma-informed frame, and every case is discussed in supervision rather than living inside one clinician’s head. We see adults across New York State virtually.
If your sentence involves anxiety, trauma, identity, high-functioning depression, perfectionism, or a relationship pattern that keeps repeating, we’re a likely fit. If it involves something outside our clinical focus, we’d rather tell you in fifteen minutes than have you find out in month three. The team page shows who’s here, the founder’s story explains why the practice is built the way it is, and the consultation is free.