How to Find Mental Health Care in an Ideologically Captured Field

As the purity spirals in psychology tighten into increasingly deranged ideological knots, many people facing mental health issues find themselves at a loss over who to trust when they need help.

The good news is that there are still good therapists out there and there are also several options in how to get help.

The bad news is that it will take some extra work to find the right fit, and many may find themselves relying on more self-directed alternatives to get through dark times.

While that may be harder than it needs to be, it is important to remember that everyone alive today is the descendant of strong people who survived a harsher world without the benefit of therapy. If they could do it, we can too. So there is always hope.

The main avenues of quality help break down as follows: practitioners who are not ideologically compromised, support groups, faith-based counseling, peer support, trusted friends or relatives, coaches, volunteering, self-help, and general good mental health habits. Let’s explore them more thoroughly.

Finding a Practitioner or Therapist

Yes! There are still practitioners who are not on board with the current Critical Theories-based identity ideology. Many therapists, particularly older folks, got their training long before this current wave hit and they are still out there quietly practicing.

There are also quite a few who have spoken up and are pushing back. The Open Therapy Institute has been building a network of practitioners, scholars, and researchers to hold the line for psychology practices based on knowledge gained through the scientific method. Clients who need prescriptions or in-depth help will find practitioners with the skills required to provide that level of care here.

Critical Therapy Antidote and The International Association of Psychology and Counseling are two new organizations that are working to build professional networks of providers. As of the writing of this post, both these groups are mostly working to provide a stable base for practitioners to find high-quality information and professional support, but they also aim to develop directories of apolitical therapists. So stay tuned.

The Society for the Ethical Practice of Psychotherapy is also a new organization that fosters a community of practitioners who are committed to keeping their practices free of political agendas. Right now they are working on continuing education materials for therapists.

Conscious Clinician Collective is a new membership community of mental health and healthcare professionals who have come together out of concern about pervasive distortions in mental healthcare to support evidence-based treatment. Their declaration addresses concerns about overprescribing pharmaceutical treatments, protecting minors, and challenging paradigms.

If you fit comfortably into a conservative space, the Directory for Conservative Professionals is a place where you can find therapists, physicians, life coaches, and others who support those values.

People who have specific religious affiliations may be able to find a recommendation through a church leader or similar group. Churches and other religious groups may also have support groups already incorporated into their mission space. This can be particularly helpful if your primary need is social support.

If you have a trusted network of friends and family, the people closest to you may also be a great source of recommendations. When you tap into the people around you, this can also be an opportunity to strengthen those bonds.

Say, however, your choices are limited, what can you do? If you are evaluating a therapist without much outside information about their training and beliefs, you can improve your odds of finding a therapist who can help you by figuring out your therapist deal breakers beforehand.

With a list of ‘must haves’ and ‘definitely nots’, you are ready to interview some prospects. Many therapists will allow for a first meeting at no or low charge so that clients can see if they are a good fit. Take this opportunity to directly ask about the therapist’s beliefs on the things that matter to you.

It’s also worth noting that you may be able to find a supertherapist. Supertherapists are people who have a proclivity to be very effective therapists. This group of people has significantly better client outcomes regardless of their treatment modalities, experience level, formal training, or lack thereof. 

Outside of official therapy channels, it may be difficult to find a supertherapist, but in a world where formal training includes bigoted indoctrination, it may be worth it to consider just talking to someone with a reputation for being uniquely compassionate and helpful.

Gender Identity Care

For people who are looking specifically for care regarding gender identity concerns that are based on psychotherapy practices and strive to work out all avenues before considering medical treatment, the following groups are available to fill those needs.

Therapy First is a group of practitioners and scientists who have put together a directory of therapists who take on gender identity concerns therapeutically. They can also help clients with transition regrets.

The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine is a group of clinicians and researchers spanning 20 countries who support non-invasive approaches to gender identity care particularly in youth and teen clients. They put past studies to critical review and are developing new guidelines. This group is primarily for professionals, but it is also a good source of unbiased information.

Genspect is an organization that offers guidance to people and their families who are dealing with gender identity confusion while also working to educate others on issues of sex and gender. They are the go-to organization for scientific method-based gender care information.

Cardinal Support Network This is a group in the US with a mission to support families with loved ones who are suffering from gender dysphoria. They provide support, information, mentoring, and resources. Their focus is on empathizing not medicalizing.

Pastoral Counseling

For people who are part of a spiritual or religious community, pastoral counseling may be a great fit. Long before psychotherapy, people would look to their minister, rabbi, priest, imam, lama, sensei, pastor, guru, or chaplain for guidance in difficult times.

Many religious leaders still perform that role today. People interested in this type of counseling should enquire with their religious leaders about what sort of support they can offer. Faith-based organizations also often host support groups. Depending on your situation, this may be an added benefit.

Support Groups

**As of this writing, the linked groups are not overtly captured. That may change as time passes. Always check the website for things like diversity and equity statements, anti-racist pledges, or anything that seems inappropriate to you.

For many people, a support group may be more helpful than therapy. The built-in social support has been shown to help people overcome personal challenges from coping with a major life change like a divorce, to beating a serious addiction.

Current trends in family estrangement, smaller families, fewer friendships and increasingly more people living alone without finding a partner, are a bad fit for a hypersocial species that developed in tribes.

While there is no guarantee that a given group is going to be accepting of differing political views, there are two things that improve your odds of getting helpful support. First, most support group leaders are not going through the university indoctrination programs that today’s therapists are. So odds are whatever Critical Theories ideology that is added to their training will be filtered and less intense.

Second, the structure of a small group can be the very thing that helps soften political polarization when there is a larger mission everyone can agree on. Your mileage may vary.

These are some of the organizations that create support groups. Anyone who has concerns about all views being accepted can contact organizers before group meetings. No group will be perfect, but they only have to be good enough to be helpful.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) NAMI offers support group meetings in person and online. They have excellent support for family members of people with severe mental illness. Their goal is to provide support and education to those in need.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) AA is ubiquitous. In many places, people can find a meeting happening every day of the week. The program is simple and the best part is that the structure provides the social support that many need to make effective change. Some have found AA groups helpful even when alcohol wasn’t an issue.

Al-anon is a support program for the family members of people suffering from drinking problems. There is also a branch for teenagers called Alateen.

HeyPeers HeyPeers acts as an organizational point to find peer support groups for all kinds of problems. They offer chatrooms and video group meetings that are led by trained peer supporters.

Team RWB Team RWB is the leading organization in the country with the goal of improving veteran well-being. While it is not a support group in the traditional sense, it is built around the idea that having a strong supportive community improves the quality of veterans’ lives and thus their mental health. Many of their events are based around doing different activities and this seems to work particularly well with many men.

Peer Support and Coaching

Peer support is by definition when you get input on guidance from someone who is further down the same path, be it recovery from addiction or coping with anything from mood disorders, to bipolar disorder to ADHD.

By its nature peer support is largely done locally. Most states have some formal certificate that people earn in order to do peer support work and in years past that was a pathway to become a therapist. What that means in today’s world is that most peer supporters haven’t been through university indoctrination, but you will have to connect with your local government to find them. The state usually has an organized list.

So check with your state website or enquire at your local health department to find a list of peer support professionals in your area.

As stated above, there is also HeyPeers. HeyPeers acts as an organizational point to find peer support groups for all kinds of problems. They offer chatrooms and video group meetings that are led by trained peer supporters.

Coaching is not currently a formal title, though some certification programs are springing up. Coaches focus on setting and achieving goals. While they don’t do therapy, some people may find this active approach to problem-solving works to improve their lives and thus their mental health.

Choosing a coach vs someone more in the therapy realm depends a lot on the challenges one is facing and what personal resources people have available. Coaching isn’t covered by insurance, so that may be a barrier.

Noomii Noomii is a directory of professional coaches. Specialties range from ADHD, family, relationships to career and business-focused coaches. As with hiring any professional, do your research, ask hard questions upfront, and don’t be afraid to walk away if something doesn’t feel right.

That said, finding a coach that fits your needs may be just what you need to get past a personal obstacle and back to a better frame of mind.

Volunteering and Self Help

It has long been known that helping others can lead to greater well-being for both the helper and the helped. Helping someone else recover is even the 12th step in groups like AA.

When approached with the intention of helping someone else improve their life, volunteering can be a source of personal fulfillment and belonging. So people who feel motivated to help others may benefit by doing so, despite their own struggles.

There is a caveat though, motivation matters. Studies have shown that volunteering with the intent of personal gain does not work. Volunteering only helps if you really mean it.

There is also self-help. With a plethora of choices across books, YouTube, websites, and journals, the knowledge of how psychology works can be effective in helping people make positive changes. 

Self-help can also be combined with any of the other avenues to help listed above. One of the big advantages of this self-study is that it engages autonomy. Having a sense that we can solve our own problems and have control in our world is one of the pillars of good mental health.

Self-help builds a sense of self-reliance in a way that therapy can not. On that count, it’s worth considering, particularly if other choices are out of reach for whatever reason.

Human Care and Feeding for Maintaining Mental Health During Hard times

Along the lines of self-help, in my own experience of being mobbed and bullied, what helped me make it through was having a routine that accounted for the needs of my physical body.

Even through the worst of it, I made sure to eat healthy food. I kept to my bedtime and I got up at my regular hour, even on the nights I didn’t sleep well. I walked my dog for over a mile every day, and I spent time outside around trees and nature as much as possible. I also practiced drawing and kept up my streak of language learning.

There were times I didn’t want to do any of this, but I did it anyway even if I was crying. By modeling how to persevere I can bolster my kids for hard times in their future. Maybe knowing of my struggle will help others too.

I had a harder time keeping up with friends because my coursework was heavy, but I did reach out to a support group when my situation at school began to get dark. I carved out time to spend with my kids, and I still went out to the groups and gatherings that had been part of my life before school.

Having the support of a close partner would have made a difference, but even lacking that, I have been able to persevere.

I did have the help of a therapist for a while who I saw occasionally. And I think looking after those social needs was a big piece of the puzzle.

These are all basic human needs. Taking good care of your body won’t fix all the problems you face, or turn a sad mood happy if you have good cause to be sad, but it is a good place to start a journey to better mental health.

So hang in there. It can get better.

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About

Diogenes in Exile began after I returned to grad school to pursue a Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s degree at the University of Tennessee. What I encountered, however, was a program deeply entrenched in Critical Theories ideology. During my time there, I experienced significant resistance, particularly for my Buddhist practice, which was labeled as invalidating to other identities. After careful reflection, I chose to leave the program, believing the curriculum being taught would ultimately harm clients and lead to unethical practices in the field.

Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to investigating, writing, and speaking out about the troubling direction of psychology, higher education, and other institutions that seem to have lost their way. When I’m not working on these issues, you’ll find me in the garden, creating art, walking my dog, or guiding my kids toward adulthood.

You can also find my work at Minding the Campus