A Therapist Like Me aims to pay minority, therapists their rate of pay whenever possible.

-Like our clients, we can’t always choose whether or not to disclose identities that can be sensed. The color of our skin can be seen. Sometimes there is no choice in communicating that we are blind or visually-impaired. If we speak, our voices are heard. Sometimes there is no choice in communicating that we are deaf or are hearing impaired.

-Self-care and empowerment. There are some identities we can choose to disclose. Just like you, we can choose to disclose a part of our identity or not. What we choose to disclose or not if their is a choice in our disclosing of an identity. So while we cannot choose to disclose if we are a person of color (because you can see that we are a person of color if we choose to post our picture), we can choose whether or not to disclose an identity of ours which is not visible, (i.e., sexuality). and with whom we choose to disclose or not. Sometimes disclosure is not a choice. For example, people of color cannot choose to disclose the color of their skin. We support therapists to disclose and not disclose any identity for any reason.

-Destigmatizes mental health-in choosing to disclose mental health diagnoses. Doctors have lung cancer and get broken legs. Sometimes these things happen to them that are outside of their control: situational, genetics, epigenetics, risk factors, environment and sometimes there are things that they do not do that they could or do that they could choose not to. Therapists are similar. Sometimes there are things that have happened to us or risk factors. Sometimes we are not taking proper care of ourselves. Regardless, mental health exists in your therapists too. We are here to help destigmatize this both in owning this part of our lives and in sharing how.

-We provide minority therapists their current rate whenever possible. Often times therapists of color reduce their rate for people of color which encourages the wage gap. We are here to pay therapists their rate of pay whenever possible.

-Both clients and therapists are eligible to apply for assistance via translation, closing the wage-gap on the societal expectation that minority therapists who have a specialty, focus, or interest in seeing minority clients are paid their rate, and access via telehealth or text options. This also increases access of therapists to clients who may not otherwise afford to pay.

-Want to refer a client to our services because of a minority identity that you don’t have? Please do and consider contributing to the sliding scale that is usually placed on your therapist with a minority identity.