Your Guide to Different Types of Mental Health Providers

Choos­ing a men­tal health provider is about estab­lish­ing a new rela­tion­ship – one that can help you nav­i­gate the ups and downs of life, both now and in the future. It is impor­tant that you feel com­fort­able and sup­port­ed by your men­tal health provider, and that you share a sim­i­lar per­spec­tive regard­ing approach to care. 

When it comes to select­ing a men­tal health provider, you have options. There are a range of pro­fes­sion­als trained in diag­nos­ing and treat­ing men­tal health con­di­tions com­mon among adults in the US. 

Tak­ing care of your men­tal health is invest­ing in your over­all well­ness, and it can change the course of your life for the bet­ter. If you’re look­ing to find a provider to sup­port your men­tal health, you need to know who’s who in men­tal health and how to choose the best provider to fit your needs. 

Psy­chi­a­trists

A psy­chi­a­trist is a physi­cian (that is, some­one who has a MD or DO degree) who is spe­cial­ly trained in men­tal health. They may also spe­cial­ize fur­ther, such as in psy­chi­a­try for chil­dren and ado­les­cents, or peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing addic­tion. Psy­chi­a­trists diag­nose and treat men­tal health con­di­tions, often through pro­vid­ing med­ica­tion-based interventions. 

Psy­chi­a­trists may also work close­ly with physi­cian assis­tants (PAs), nurse prac­ti­tion­ers (NPs), and/​or advance prac­tice nurs­es (APNs) in pro­vid­ing psy­chi­atric care for patients with men­tal ill­ness­es. You may work direct­ly with a PA, NP, or APN in man­ag­ing your psy­chi­atric care. 

Clin­i­cal and Coun­sel­ing Psychologists 

Clin­i­cal and coun­sel­ing psy­chol­o­gists are doc­tors (that is, some­one who has a PhD or PsyD degree) trained in psy­chol­o­gy, a branch of sci­ence that focus­es on thoughts, behav­iors, and emotions. 

To diag­nose and treat men­tal health con­di­tions, psy­chol­o­gists use talk ther­a­py (also known as psy­chother­a­py) to help peo­ple iden­ti­fy and under­stand their emo­tions, behav­iors, and thoughts, and learn new skills for cop­ing with dif­fi­cult expe­ri­ences. Some psy­chol­o­gists spe­cial­ize in spe­cial kinds of ther­a­py, such as cog­ni­tive behav­ioral ther­a­py (CBT), dialec­ti­cal behav­ior ther­a­py (DBT), and accep­tance and com­mit­ment ther­a­py (ACT). Psy­chol­o­gists aren’t usu­al­ly licensed to pre­scribe med­ica­tion, but they often work with oth­er pre­scrib­ing providers. 

Neu­ropsy­chol­o­gists

Neu­ropsy­chol­o­gists are clin­i­cal psy­chol­o­gists (that is, PhD or PsyD degree) who have fur­ther spe­cial­ized in under­stand­ing the rela­tion­ship between the brain and behav­ior. Neu­ropsy­chol­o­gists con­duct com­pre­hen­sive assess­ments of an individual’s cog­ni­tive and emo­tion­al func­tion­ing to help with diag­no­sis and guid­ing treat­ment plans. 

Your men­tal health provider or doc­tor may refer you for a neu­ropsy­cho­log­i­cal assess­ment if they feel it would be help­ful for your over­all care. It is often the case that you would be referred to a neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist for just a cou­ple of vis­its to com­plete an eval­u­a­tion, and it would not take the place of con­tin­u­ing care with your oth­er estab­lished men­tal health providers. 

Health Psychologists 

Health psy­chol­o­gists are doc­tors (PhD or PsyD degree) who spe­cial­ize in under­stand­ing how the mind and body inter­act to affect our over­all health and well­ness. They work with patients to under­stand how psy­cho­log­i­cal fac­tors can influ­ence phys­i­cal health and ill­ness and vice ver­sa. They often pro­vide assess­ment and ther­a­peu­tic inter­ven­tion for indi­vid­u­als with co-occur­ring phys­i­cal and men­tal health con­di­tions to improve health­care outcomes. 

Coun­selors and Therapists 

Coun­selors and ther­a­pists usu­al­ly have at least a master’s degree in psy­chol­o­gy, coun­sel­ing, or anoth­er relat­ed field. The title they use often depends on where they are pro­vid­ing treat­ment, their spe­cif­ic degree, or their per­son­al preference. 

Trained to eval­u­ate people’s men­tal health, help patients nav­i­gate symp­tom man­age­ment, and pro­mote health­i­er ways to live, coun­selors and ther­a­pists treat a range of men­tal health con­di­tions. Coun­selors and ther­a­pists aren’t licensed to pre­scribe med­ica­tion, how­ev­er, they usu­al­ly work with oth­er providers who do. 

Clin­i­cal Social Workers 

Licensed clin­i­cal social work­ers (LCSW) have at least a master’s degree in social work, and some have a doc­tor­ate. They assess and pro­vide treat­ment for a range of men­tal health conditions. 

They’re also spe­cial­ly trained in case man­age­ment (plan­ning for and mon­i­tor­ing of dif­fer­ent social and health­care ser­vices for a client) and advo­cat­ing for their patients. Clin­i­cal social work­ers can’t pre­scribe med­ica­tion, but they can work with a pre­scrib­ing provider to do so, if needed. 

Are you ready to put your men­tal health first? Make an appoint­ment with a Duly Behav­ioral and Men­tal Health provider today.

Oth­er Types of Men­tal Health Professionals 

The list of men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als does not end there. Some oth­er health­care pro­fes­sion­als that pro­vide men­tal health care include: 

• Pri­ma­ry care providers 
• Fam­i­ly nurse practitioners 
• Pas­toral coun­selors (cler­gy mem­bers trained to pro­vide counseling) 
• Cer­ti­fied alco­hol and drug abuse counselors 
• Peer spe­cial­ists (men­tal health providers who have per­son­al expe­ri­ence with con­di­tions relat­ed to men­tal health or sub­stance use)

Decid­ing Which Men­tal Health Provider is Right for You 

Under­stand­ing the types of men­tal health providers is just the first step. When you make the cru­cial deci­sion to begin men­tal health treat­ment, you’ll need to con­sid­er your indi­vid­ual needs and what type of provider may be right for you. 

Start with iden­ti­fy­ing your pri­ma­ry con­cerns. Men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als are trained to treat most men­tal health con­cerns. How­ev­er, some providers have spe­cial train­ing or expe­ri­ence in cer­tain areas, such as eat­ing dis­or­ders, mar­i­tal prob­lems, or grief and loss. Providers may also spe­cial­ize in an age group, such as ado­les­cents or old­er indi­vid­u­als. Oth­ers are trained to pro­vide com­pas­sion­ate and knowl­edge­able care for spe­cif­ic pop­u­la­tions, such as the LGBTQ+ community. 

You may also want to con­sid­er whether you would like to dis­cuss med­ica­tion options to help man­age your men­tal health. Keep in mind – if you see a provider who isn’t licensed to pre­scribe med­ica­tion and you end up need­ing med­ica­tions, they will work with a pre­scrib­ing provider as part of your care team to meet your needs. 

Don’t for­get to review your health insur­ance cov­er­age. Some insur­ance plans only cov­er vis­its with spe­cif­ic types of men­tal health providers, or they place a lim­it on the num­ber of vis­its you can have dur­ing a cov­er­age year. 

Once you find a provider you’re inter­est­ed in, make an appoint­ment to get to know them. If you don’t think they’re a good fit, don’t hes­i­tate to reach out to anoth­er provider. It’s impor­tant to feel com­fort­able with your provider so you can work col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly toward your treat­ment goals. 

Choos­ing a men­tal health­care provider is a big deci­sion and may seem like a daunt­ing one. How­ev­er, there’s truth to the proverb, ​“a jour­ney of a thou­sand miles begins with a sin­gle step.” Make that sin­gle step for your­self and reach out to make an appoint­ment with a provider you think may be a good fit for you.