Referrals

Dr. Hanson’s psychotherapy practice is closed to new clients. Here are some suggestions that might help in locating a suitable healthcare professional:

General comments:

  • Finding a therapist is a very personal and intuitive process. It can take time, persistence, and mindfulness to find the right match for you.
  • Look for someone who is experienced, smart, nurturing, aware of mindfulness, and focused on results.
  • Try contacting your local association of psychologists, marriage and family therapists, or clinical social workers (by searching on Google or in the Yellow Pages) and leave a message regarding the kind of therapist you are looking for as well as practical details such as range of fees you can afford or what your schedule would need to be. 
  • Additionally, you could look for referrals from other sources, such as a physician, minister or rabbi, support groups, or local meditation or mindfulness centers with a therapist referral network.

Finding a therapist trained in mindfulness, or Buddhist practice:

There are a few online resources that might help with your research:

  • The Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy offers a therapist directory. Consider reaching out to a few of these therapists that appeal to you and find out whether they do sessions via phone or skype.
  • Tara Brach also offers some guidelines and resources for finding mindfulness-based psychotherapists.
  • The Mindfulness-Based Practitioners website offers a registry of therapists who work with meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhist principles, and they have an “available by phone or skype” criteria in their search function.

Online:

Specific Issues:

Trauma and PTSD:

  • Rick can recommend treatment guidelines for PTSD from the American Psychological Association. They are the mainstream “best practices,” and worth being aware of: https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/.
  • Peter Levine and Pat Ogden
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a treatment used to alleviate the distress associated with trauma. There are many therapists and psychologists trained in this method.
  • Also check for any underlying physiology to make sure there is not an imbalance dragging down mood and flattening the results of psychological interventions. People trained in functional medicine can offer a fine-grained assessment and evidence-based interventions.

Social Anxiety:

  • A lot of work has been done in this area and tools developed. 
  • Check out the work of Todd Kashdan and Lynne Henderson on social anxiety and shyness. 
  • Also look for groups aimed at social anxiety.

Locating a researcher trained in the neuroscience of meditation:

  • MBSR Certification program through the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School is reputable and grounded in science (Judson Brewer)
  • Paul Gilbert at The Compassionate Mind Foundation. Paul is very grounded in the evolution of the brain, which informs his trainings of others in compassion-focused therapy, which has a major mindfulness component
  • Richie Davidson and the Center for Healthy Minds (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
  • Altered Traits, by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson – a good current summary of research on mindfulness and meditation and the brain.

Teacher training programs (meditation, mindfulness)