Counseling/Therapists in Richmond, VA

[This recent thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/rva/comments/37 e1 w8/need_resources_for_mental_health_issues/) also had some relevant information. Don't give up until you find someone who can help.

http://www.richmondcreativecounseling.com I have nothing but good things to say about the practice. I am also a mid twenties woman, and everyone from the office staff to the counsellors are so kind and helpful.

Many offices/doctors around here aren't taking new patients, but don't let that discourage you. And if you have a visit and it's not ideal, try seeing someone else until you get a doctor that you like and are comfortable with.

I know a couple of the Drs. at [Westhampton Family Psychologists](http://wfphelp.com/getting-started/index.php) and they are really great people. I hear the practice is excellent too. Not sure about insurance, but check the site or call.

http://thriveworks.com/richmond-therapy/richmond-counselors/ don't be scared off by the website. Dr. Chad Houchin is excellent. edit: am same demographic as you.

Pm'd you.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3 ta5 bz/serious_therapistspsychiatrists_of_reddit_what_is/ Thought this was a fascinating read, maybe you can relate more with some of these users. As far as counseling services in Richmond, are you VCU affiliated? If not, I hope other users can chime in for other options.

Do you have insurance? Does your employer offer an employee assistance program? If so, I would utilize those as resources first... I would also recommend working with a therapist before jumping right to a psychiatrist. They can usually work with your doctor for common prescriptions.

I'm in a sort of similar situation, I just wanted to say good luck to you and I think you're doing the right thing for you and your family.

Discovery Counseling & Consulting are very good at what they do. Best wishes for you and your family. http://www.vadcc.com/

Tucker Psychiatric http://www.tuckerpsychiatric.com/

I started seeing Holli Newman about 2.5 years ago and she really helped change my life for the better. She doesn't take insurance, but she will work with you.

Check out Parallon.com/careers Put my daughter Lena Guinn as your referral

look on www.indeed.com and craigslist

What a great job! I know your job all too well as my mom saw Respiratory therapists often with her severe Asmtha. She had Dr. Kingree as her Puliminary Doctor and I can't say enough good things about her. She has an office based out of Summit Hospital. My mom stayed there a few different times and felt it was a decent Hospital. I know its always different working someplace, so I would suggest goggling employee reviews. Good luck!

http://www.richmondcreativecounseling.com/AboutUs.en.html

I liked Dr William Carne in Southside. Not sure about specialties.

David Rogers specializes in anxiety disorders, does cognitive behavioral therapy. I really liked him. This isn't the page for his private practice (I don't think he has a page for that), but it has his contact info: http://www.petersonnutrition.com/resources.html

VCU outpatient psych is doing telehealth sessions. They have both therapists and psychiatrists. ‭(804) 828-9452‬

Gaertner Psychiatic is wonderful. Not sure if they're taking new patients but Dr. Gaertner is by far the best doctor I've ever had. He's particularly incredible at finding combinations of meds that interact with each other that work for you specifically. He managed to bring me completely non-functional with multiple suicide attempts despite trying 15+ different meds, to a normal, high functioning adult with a very normal life and manageable depression. It's obviously not solely the medicine, but the combination that he got me on certainly helped.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/psychiatrists/va/richmond I hope this helps and good luck

My gf is a Licensed ~~Practicing~~ Professional Counselor/LPC (less common than LCSW, what most therapist are, but in my opinion better from an education standpoint). She works for a private practice now and has been seeing people online since all this stuff started, but recently started an LLC to switch to her own business soon. She has been doing private practice for about 2 years but has been in the field for over 10. As someone who also works in the field and who does not sugar coat just because she is my partner (as well as having worked at the same place as her at two different places), she is very good at what she does. I'm sure she could come up with a good out-of-pocket rate/work with your loved one. I can send you a link to her Psychology Today profile to reach out to her. I can also ask her about psychiatrists, though most of the ones we've worked with are at public agencies.

Find yourself an EMDR trained clinician@emdria.com Awesome treatment w/out meds or to help you get weaned off of them.

Dr Michael Bick but don't tell him I sent you - conflict of interests....

Dr. Jesse Rabinowtz at Tucker Psychiatric. He is my lifesaver. Sorry to hear you are struggling. It's hard to navigate ever turning waters. I understand.

You should search the sub for this question. you'll find a pretty thorough set of answers, many that specify a specialty (Anxiety, Depression, etc.)

Valerie Stolcis at Richmond Family Psychiatry. I love her

I've had a couple friends go through here http://www.richmondcreativecounseling.com/

you can check the psychology today website for the richmond area; therapists are grouped according to specialty and you can even determine which will take you insurance. good luck.

Gretchen Garber has been really awesome for me, she's a really great lady. I've spent a lot of time dealing with mental health issues and therapy, and it can be really tough to find one who's willing to work with you and not work you over. She's just been lovely and understanding, full of effective techniques and good perspective.

If I’m not mistaken I think Virginia has informed consent, so you don’t need to go through a therapist if you don’t want to. According to their website, I believe [this](https://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-center/virginia/richmond/23221/richmond-health-center-3913-91750) Planned Parenthood building near you offers hrt and accepts your insurance.

I live outside of Richmond when I'm on break but I'm currently attending school outside of Virginia and got on HRT through a therapist and health services here. I was researching a bit for things around Richmond incase things went south here and I did see that the Fan Free Clinic offers informed consent and it's in the city. Not sure of therapists around there but if you don't wanna go the informed consent route with the Fan Free Clinic, you can try searching psychologytoday for gender therapists in the area. Edit: Clarified what I meant by here Edit 2: Apparently Fan Free Clinic renamed itself to Health Brigade

I have Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield; I can confirm that Planned Parenthood (in Virginia Beach, VA) took my insurance and DID NOT require a letter or approval from my therapsi to start me on HRT earlier this month. They did however have me have a meeting with a social worker who is employed by them (he was out in Richmond, so we had a nice video conferrence).

Meghann Nicole Armstrong ~ Have you had ano opportunity to look here? https://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/state/MI/Canton.html

thanks for sharing rat, have a great Wednesday :) (insight by https://commun.it/ )

is amazing.... did you see him at https://www.twitter.com/aptacsm ?

I would probably talk to your GP and get a recommendation. There's two factors at play here, what is the therapist's specialty and how do they treat you. Examples of specialities: 1) Therapists who deal with trauma (PTSD, rape, exposure to violence) 2) Relationship councilling 3) Chronic depression, OCD, Panic attacks, Agoraphobia (which often tend to co-morbid with at least one of another) etc. Then what is their treatment approach? 1) Talk Therapy 2) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 3) Mindfulness etc. Just something to think about, within the past 10 years CBT is increasingly becoming more popular versus talk therapy as it has in many cases proved to be more effective especially with people with OCD. However recently many are adopting CBT but also mindfulness. So in summary, if I were you: 1) Go to your GP explain what you are suffering, get a referral to a therapist that deals with that 2) Get on google and do some research on CBT, Talk Therapy, Mindfulness etc. and start thinking about what you think would work for you, although you many not know that and would rather have the therapist design a course for you, but hey at least you are now educated. Lastly if what you are suffering is anxiety, depression, negative thoughts, literally the holy bible of many who suffer this is the "feeling good workbook" which is CBT based. It's an actual work book you work through and do exercises and the internet is full of people talking about it: http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Handbook-David-Burns-Paperback/dp/B00IGYUG60/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1427559920&sr=8-3&keywords=Feeling+good+handbook Give this a read about Corey Doctorow a fairly well known writer and how this book took him out of depression: http://boingboing.net/2008/11/30/cognitive-therapy-is.html Lastly I have a lot of friends who have had a lot of success with NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), the inventor of this is Richard Bandler and this is a very good book: http://www.amazon.com/Get-Life-You-Want-Neuro-Linguistic/dp/0757307760/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 A lot of NLP is based on success, sales, influence etc., but this book specifically deals with negative thoughts and behaviours. An example would be that you get flash backs from a painful incident in your past, an exercise is to pretend that you're watching this on a tv screen and what you do is turn up the volume on it, make it bigger and brighter, then turn down the volume on it, make it small, make it silent and black and white until it disapears. You do the opposite with positive events in your life, you make them louder and bigger and brighter. It teaches you to control negative and positive thoughts. Fun fact - Anthony Robbins the self help guru with tons of books out there, started out in NLP and now practices a modified form of it. Good luck OP and keep seeking out what will work for you.

It takes some looking. Don't be discouraged by the number of psychiatrists who aren't taking new patients.

There are thousands and it really depends on what the issue is. Therapists specialize in different things. Also it's a very personal thing, one person may mesh well with a therapist and another person doesn't at all. If you have insurance you should be able to search local therapists that are covered, and also what they specialize in. I HIGHLY suggest getting someone with experience in whatever issues you are wanting to address.

It really depends what type of issue you're dealing with - substance abuse, trauma, PTSD, depression, marriage, family, etc. I suggest doing some preliminary research on [Psychology Today](https://psychiatrists.psychologytoday.com/rms/prof_search.php). I have found a therapist or two by utilizing this search engine. You can search by location, issue, treatment orientation, even by which insurance they accept.

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There is one at Chest Hospital