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Finding Mental Health Care Needs a Rebrand
More people are seeking mental health care than ever before. It’s time to rethink how we help them find it.
More people are seeking mental health care than ever before. It’s time to rethink how we help them find it.
Over the past several years, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic, conversations about mental health have changed dramatically.
Professional athletes talk openly about anxiety. Celebrities discuss depression and burnout. Employers offer mental health benefits. Schools are expanding counseling services. Therapy is no longer something people whisper about. For many, it’s become a normal part of taking care of themselves.
That’s real progress.
The truth is, we all have mental health. Just like our physical health, it changes over time. Some days we feel resilient. Other days we feel overwhelmed, anxious, burned out, or simply not like ourselves. Paying attention to those changes and feeling comfortable asking for help when we need it is an important part of overall well-being.
And the numbers reflect it.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults received some form of mental health treatment in 2023, whether through therapy, medication, or both. Approximately 1 in 8 adults received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional, the highest percentage recorded in recent national surveys.
More people are asking for help than ever before.
So why does finding that help still feel so hard?
There’s no question we’ve made progress when it comes to talking about mental health.
People are more willing to seek therapy than they were a decade ago. Friends recommend therapists to one another. Employers are investing in mental health benefits. Those are meaningful changes.
But while we’ve become better at encouraging people to ask for help, we haven’t made it much easier to find the right help.
Think about what it’s like to search for a therapist or treatment center.
Most people begin looking because something in their life doesn’t feel right. They may be overwhelmed by anxiety, navigating grief, trying to save a relationship, supporting a child who’s struggling, or simply feeling unlike themselves.
They’re overwhelmed.
Yet we often expect them to navigate a system filled with clinical language they may have never heard before.
Should they look for CBT? ACT? EMDR? Internal Family Systems? Psychodynamic therapy?
These approaches are valuable, and they matter. Mental health professionals spend years learning when and how to use them.
But someone searching for help isn’t trying to become an expert in psychotherapy.
They’re trying to answer a much simpler question:
Who can help me?
Very few people begin their search by saying, “I’m looking for a therapist who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy.”
Instead, they say things like:
That’s the language people live in.
Yet many therapist directories still ask people to search using diagnoses, treatment modalities, or clinical specialties before they’ve even had the chance to explain what they’re experiencing.
There’s an opportunity to make finding care feel more human. Not by replacing clinical expertise, but by helping people navigate it in a way that feels approachable.
Credentials matter. Every therapist should be licensed, qualified, and practicing within their scope of expertise.
But once those basics are in place, another factor becomes incredibly important: the relationship.
Research has consistently found that one of the strongest predictors of successful therapy is the quality of the relationship between therapist and client, often called the therapeutic alliance. Feeling understood, respected, trusted, and able to work collaboratively with your therapist is associated with better outcomes across many forms of psychotherapy.
That helps explain why two therapists with similar training can have very different experiences with the same client.
It doesn’t necessarily mean one therapist is better than another.
Sometimes it simply comes down to fit.
Here’s something many people don’t realize: you don’t have to book a full therapy session before deciding if someone feels like the right fit.
Many therapists offer a free 10–20 minute consultation by phone or video.
Remember, you’re not interviewing someone to see if they’re “good enough.” You’re trying to understand whether you’ll work well together.
Here are a few questions that can help:
And don’t forget to ask yourself a few questions after the conversation:
The first conversation doesn’t need to tell you everything. It should simply help you feel comfortable taking the next step.
Awareness matters. Reducing stigma matters. Encouraging people to ask for help matters. We’ve made meaningful progress on all three.
Now it’s time to make finding care a little easier.
That doesn’t mean everyone needs to understand every therapy modality or memorize clinical terms before making a phone call.
It means using language people understand.
Helping people know what questions to ask.
Encouraging people to ask for a consultation before committing to a first session.
Making it easier to understand what different therapists are like — not just what degrees they hold.
Because behind every search for a therapist is someone who has already taken one of the hardest steps: deciding to ask for help.
Finding care shouldn’t require insider knowledge.
It should help people move from feeling overwhelmed to feeling hopeful.
If we can make that first step just a little easier, we’ll help more people get the care they’re already brave enough to seek.