How to Find a Licensed Clinical Social Worker
- 1). Visit the HelpPRO Web site to search for a licensed clinical social worker by location, by specialty (developmental disability, anger management or postpartum depression, for example) or by accepted insurance plans. Advanced search options allow you to search for providers by gender, degrees or credentials, whether they charge sliding-scale fees or theoretical approach taken (meditation, Jungian or vocational rehabilitation, for example).
- 2). Contact your state's health and/or human services department, which can provide referrals for licensed clinical social workers who work independently and for nonprofit agencies and private firms.
- 3). Check your phone book for mental health clinics, free clinics and independent licensed clinical social workers.
- 4). Phone or visit the Web sites of universities in your area, which often offer counseling services through their social work schools.
- 5). Contact charitable religious organizations, such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or Jewish Family and Children's Services, which offer sliding-scale therapy with licensed clinical social workers.
- 6). Call the psychiatry departments of local hospitals, which often can make referrals.
- 7). Ask friends, neighbors or coworkers for referrals. Avoid seeing the same social worker as a family member or someone close to you, so that the social worker will not have a conflict of interest.
