I've been trying to find a therapist for four months. Four months. The wait list at my school's counseling center is eight weeks. Online services are too expensive. Private therapists don't take my insurance.
A Texas policy report confirms this isn't just me: "Thirty-eight percent of young Texans reported difficulty accessing mental health services, the highest rate among all of YI's surveyed states".
Even when services exist, young people face "insurance complexity, narrow provider networks, and months-long wait times that make care functionally inaccessible" . So we end up "postponing preventive care, forgoing treatment entirely, or relying on emergency and crisis services rather than consistent, ongoing care".
I've had friends end up in the ER because they couldn't get regular help. That's not healthcare — that's crisis management.
The report also says "mental health strain and basic needs insecurity, particularly food and housing, are the primary drivers of academic and professional instability" . We can't focus on school when we're drowning.
For young Texans reading this: where have you actually found affordable mental health care? Any clinics or sliding-scale places I don't know about? I'm desperate.
A Texas policy report confirms this isn't just me: "Thirty-eight percent of young Texans reported difficulty accessing mental health services, the highest rate among all of YI's surveyed states".
Even when services exist, young people face "insurance complexity, narrow provider networks, and months-long wait times that make care functionally inaccessible" . So we end up "postponing preventive care, forgoing treatment entirely, or relying on emergency and crisis services rather than consistent, ongoing care".
I've had friends end up in the ER because they couldn't get regular help. That's not healthcare — that's crisis management.
The report also says "mental health strain and basic needs insecurity, particularly food and housing, are the primary drivers of academic and professional instability" . We can't focus on school when we're drowning.
For young Texans reading this: where have you actually found affordable mental health care? Any clinics or sliding-scale places I don't know about? I'm desperate.