“Everyone is full! I’ve called so many places and no one has any openings!”
Believe us, WE GET IT. From the client end of things, we know how frustrating it can be to make the decision to start therapy only to make the phone call and hear there are no immediate openings. From the practice end of things, know that we get over 100 phone calls a week and there simply are not enough therapists or appointments to accommodate all the requests for treatment that we receive.
Just like you are ready to get started with therapy, we share the same desire to get people in as quickly as possible. A unique aspect of therapy services is the weekly nature of appointments, meaning we are not like a dentist office where we schedule you for one appointment every six months. Each client must be seen each week, and therefore we cannot book someone new until someone has finished up treatment and a weekly time becomes available for the new person. Likewise, we can’t schedule into cancellations as there would not be a follow up spot for you the following week.
Mental health scheduling is very tricky. Our office has policies to ensure that spots do not get misused and clients attend appointments routinely; if not, we offer that time to the next person. We value access to care and are doing everything possible to increase it.
Increasing Appointment Openings
We are constantly working to increase/expand openings. Since the start of COVID, mental health as a whole has been overwhelmed and there are far fewer providers than there are clients. We wish that we had more available appointment slots, but as we work to increase openings, they immediately fill up and it’s a never ending cycle.
It is likely always the reality that our practice will have more request for treatment than providers who are able to see those clients. However, this is typically the status for any established and reputable practice in any medical field.
The value of the waitlist
We hear of many practices who are simply not taking new clients.
Tampa Therapy does not share this philosophy. We do not believe in turning away people for care. As long as you are coming to us for a problem that we specialize in, we will never turn you away. In fact, in an effort to make things less complicated for new clients, we utilize a waitlist (as it is very rare that we have immediate openings). One of the benefits of a wait list is that you know you’ll get a call as soon as an opening becomes available, rather than having to routinely call back and “see if you’re lucky that day.”
The other reality for our office is that we have utilized a waitlist for several years. While this is new to other practices due to the recent client saturation of the mental health field in the past two years, it is not new to us. This is largely because over the years, we have gained the reputation as Tampa’s number one provider of private mental health. Our strong reputation in the community, our specialization, clinicians with years of experience, and our focus on client care has led us to be in the position of getting over 100 calls a week.
We are proud of the work we do and believe that not only are the requests to work with Tampa Therapy a testament to the community’s desire to work with our office, but to the population as a whole’s recognition of the importance of mental health treatment.
What we Promise
Our commitment to the community is to do everything possible to expand appointment options and maintain excellent communication as appointments become available.
While we are proud and honored that so many want to work with us, this means that we stay booked and schedules are full. However, at Tampa Therapy, we do everything possible to get clients started with treatment. The waitlist is managed carefully and on a daily basis. It is not unusual for a client to be put on the waitlist one day and receive an opening the next. However, sometimes new openings can take a few weeks (for more restricted availability, sometimes 1-2 months).
Nonetheless, in addition to providing client centered care and effective treatments, our priority is to ensure that those who reach out for our services are able to get started as quickly as possible.
Please know we are doing everything possible on our end and that if we could see everyone, we most certainly would. For those working with us, we value and honor your trust in us. We never rush the therapy process, and the most emphasis is placed on the person sitting in front of us. However, when a new spot becomes available, those on the waitlist are the first to hear.