How Does a Therapist Find a Therapist?
When it feels like the world is leaning on you, who can you lean on?
Alex is a therapist who’s always been the one others turn to in crisis. Their caseload is full—too full—but they can’t bring themselves to turn anyone away. Lately, though, something has shifted. Sessions feel heavier. Their patience is thinning. Their usual compassion feels distant, like something they have to force.
Outside of work, things aren’t any better. Their bills are stacking up, their rent just went up again, and their insurance barely covers anything. They’re exhausted all the time but can’t sleep. Their relationships feel strained because they have nothing left to give at the end of the day.
And then there’s the guilt. They know they’re not showing up for clients the way they should be. They can feel themselves running on fumes, but admitting that—to a colleague, to themselves—feels like failure. They tell themselves to push through. That others have it worse. To be stronger. To do better.
But the weight of it all keeps building, and Alex knows: They need help.
When they finally try to find a therapist, they hit another wall—therapy is expensive, few providers take their insurance, and even fewer specialize in working with therapists. Just searching for someone feels exhausting. So they do what so many therapists do: they push their own needs aside and keep going.
Sound familiar? If you’re a therapist, you know how important therapy is—but that doesn’t make it easy to access.
That’s where the Therapy for Therapists Collective can help.
Why Therapists Struggle to Find Therapy
Despite knowing the value of mental health care, many therapists avoid or delay seeking their own therapy. Here’s why:
* Cost: Many therapists are underpaid, underinsured, or working in private practice without employer-sponsored benefits. Paying out of pocket often isn’t feasible.
* Time & Energy: After a long day of supporting clients, researching and reaching out to therapists can feel like another unpaid job. Sometimes, so much of our energy goes to helping others that we just don’t have enough resources left to take care of ourselves in this way.
* Fear of Judgment: Some therapists worry about being seen as “less competent” if they seek help—despite knowing that’s not true.
* Difficulty Finding the Right Fit: Not all therapists are trained to work with other therapists, and many prefer not to take colleagues as clients. This can lead to awkwardness or a fear of being passed on when they find out your therapist, and then you’re back to square one.
At the Therapy for Therapists Collective, we do our best to remove these barriers so therapists can get the support they need—while saving you valuable time, energy, and money.
How We Make Therapy Accessible for Therapists
We believe financial accessibility should never stand in the way of a therapist’s well-being. That’s why we created a pro bono psychotherapy network for therapists, by therapists.
* No Cost, No Insurance Hassles – We connect therapists with other clinicians offering pro bono therapy, eliminating financial worry about paying for therapy. No deductibles, no surprise fees.
* Therapists Who Get It – Our network is built by therapists for therapists, ensuring you’re working with someone who understands the unique demands of the profession. These therapists signed up to support other therapists and have the support of the Collective in doing so.
* We Do the Work for You – Instead of spending hours searching, we help match you with an available therapist, saving you time and energy. We use your profile that includes information about needed areas of specialty, therapist identity, and more to suggest a match that you can feel comfortable with, and you have the ability to schedule a consultation call with the therapist just like you would if you access care through a different route.
You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup—Let Us Help
Therapists spend their days holding space for others. But who’s holding space for you?
If you’re feeling burnt out, overwhelmed, or stuck, you don’t have to navigate it alone. The Therapy for Therapists Collective is here to make finding therapy simple, accessible, and free—so you can take care of yourself the way you take care of others.
Don’t wait until burnout becomes unbearable. Join our pro bono therapy network today.
Closing Work Ritual - Joy Cannon
To you sensitive souls out there, I know the struggle to "leave work at work."
A friend taught me years ago to set a mental boundary for thinking about clients and the endless to-do list. Each day when she turned off the lights, she faced her counseling office (in the non-profit you know it included a dated, donated brown couch) and she thanked the sacred space for holding precious relationships, trauma stories and courageous vulnerability.
The truth is, you're more than your job. You will go back to work tomorrow or in a few days, and what you haven't finished can wait until you return or be passed to another person who shares your work responsibilities. I will never forget the stress of being on-call for a domestic violence shelter. If I could talk to my past self I'd remind her that even though she wanted to do the job with excellence out of genuine compassion, she's not alone in this healing work.
Here are the steps for personalizing your own closing ritual:
1) Identify a physical action that you must do daily. You'll pair your ritual with this closing moment so choose something that you consistently do. Do you have to lock a filing cabinet? Turn out the lights? Get into your car? If you're virtual only, is it close the laptop?
2) Now that your end of day moment is identified, pause daily when you go to take that action. Each day as you get out your keys for example, take 10-30 seconds to do nothing else but simply sigh out this day's work. I highly recommend sighing or moaning out loud until your body "resets", shivers or shakes.
3) Finally, verbalize a gratitude list as long or short as you like. Thank your space for containing your clients and you. From the doorway, look at your chair and thank it for holding you up through tough conversations. Appreciate how the room is big enough for your important work. Tell your computer thanks for keeping track of the details that you can't possibly hold in your mind. Thank the lamps for helping you see people, really see them in the midst of their struggle. Appreciate your plants for breathing life into four white walls. That's all. Let this brief gratitude practice be a ritual that supports your transition into all the other roles you inhabit.
4) Lather, rinse, repeat. If you miss a day because you're placing a dinner order or rushing to soccer practice, thank yourself for doing what was needed at the time. And maybe adjust your ritual. Would it be more fun to just wave as you leave the building while you feel fresh air on your face? Whatever you do, do it with all the kindness you'd show a darling, little, lost puppy.