Therapist/counselor in the slope...

PM obamanut as well.

apple pants wrote: You know, just as important as a therapist may be a self help group for whatever issue you are facing.

which groups are you in?

(veruca - no disrespect to you)

assuming you have health insurance, I would do the following

1. Go to a website where you can search a bunch of private practioners, such as http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/prof_search.php

2. Read their ads, and pick a few you think you'd be willing to see.

3. Look at your insurance provider's online list of approved providers. See if any of the ones you like are on the list.... (don't bother with the "printed lists of providers who accept your insurance", providers drop out of and join insurance plans far too often for the books to be of any use).

P.S. If you have crappy insurance, medicaid, or no insurance and little $, you'll likely need to go to an agency based clinic.
Here's where to start... http://bi.omh.state.ny.us/bridges/index

let's just say these resources were close at hand.

Flexi,

I belong to two self help organizations, but I hope you understand that I do not wish to share that info here. The self help world is small, as is Park Slope.

At this point I basically volunteer to help others face what I have faced, but I spent about 5 years attending self help meetings several times a month.

I don't know of any greater experts then people who have faced whatever issue is being discussed. While I believe in therapy, I know that there is a lot of research detailing the benefits of self help. In fact, many therapists believe that self help must be included in any therapy program.