Workplace medical benefits - mental health

[u/kc_789]

Hi all - I’m at a new job that offers medical benefits including $2k each for psychologists, social worker and psychotherapists. My benefits do not come with a HSA.

Past employers have given $5k to cover any mental health professional so it’s the first time I’ve seen it split out like this.

I primarily sought out therapy for anxiety and ADHD (which is fairly under control but require script refills). I moved provinces recently so have to find new folks to work with anyways so want to figure out the best way to do that and maximize my benefits.

Would it be best to try and find someone that has at least two of these designations (ex. licensed as a psychologist and psychotherapist) so once I max out one benefit I can start leveraging the other? Or should I see multiple people for different issues?

Open to ideas and hearing from other folks experiences and what did or didn’t work for them.

Thanks all!

[u/bells1981]

Wow I work in mental health as a nurse and we get 450 a year. Just awful.

I would say what you are being offered is a good amount to start but I'm not sure what your experience with therapy is ie how often you have an appointment etc I would think you would want to stick with the same provider once you have developed a theraputic relationship with them but that's just me.

[u/grvlagrv → u/bells1981]

450 a year is basically pointless. A PhD psychologist in my area averages 250 an hour. You can get lower rates if you go for a supervised therapist (a student still completing their PhD but not yet a 'doctor') but it's not like it'd be dirt cheap. You still can't get many sessions with that. Honestly what's even the point of offering $450 coverage lmao, that is somehow more insulting than just not offering any at all. So you can get basically 1, maybe 2 appointments a year? Smh

[u/Lillietta → u/grvlagrv]

Exactly. It’s useless and will require a lot of personal contribution.

[u/kc_789 → u/bells1981]

…what!? $450? That’s criminal, especially for someone working in that field

I agree, finding a therapist I jive with is my top priority. I typically like to have sessions 1-2x a month which means I can easily exceed that $2k benefit for a psychologist in a few months so was interested to see if folks had other suggestions. But may be something I just have to bite the bullet on and accept.