OWMH to Launch Mental Health Provider Database
The Office of Wellness and Mental Health (formerly the NOVACares Office) is working diligently to continue providing robust services and resources to the NOVA community. We have revamped the Mental Health Provider Referral Database in response to an ongoing stream of requests from our community members for help in locating mental health providers. The referral database includes licensed mental health professionals such as therapists, psychiatrists and LGBTQIA-friendly practitioners that provide counseling and testing services for an array of needs. The database’s search function matches the user to a provider based on parameters of their choice, such as the ethnicity of the provider, treatment specialty services, insurance coverage, language(s) spoken, proximity to the requestor and accessibility, to name a few.
The Office of Wellness and Mental Health contacted many area providers, and approximately 165 providers accepted the invitation to join the database. OWMH staff verifies each provider’s license prior to listing their profiles. We also requested that they update their profiles to reflect changes in insurance accepted, sliding scale fees and special rates for NOVA community members, wait time for an initial appointment, if they are accepting new patients and if they are offering telehealth services, which is of special interest to many during the pandemic. The Office of Wellness and Mental Health will continue to encourage participation from the diverse providers in the local community and is launching an extensive outreach campaign to grow the database over the coming months.
Our listed providers service Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. and beyond. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to use the database to locate providers matching their wellness needs.
In addition to the database providers, we also make referrals to local universities that have programs where graduate students provide counseling services under supervision at a reduced cost. Currently, we make referrals to Virginia Tech, George Washington Art Therapy Clinic and George Mason Center for Psychological Services. We also have a partnership with The Women’s Center to provide mental health services at reduced cost to those without insurance or those who cannot afford the cost of therapy. You can learn more about these programs and more in our Resources section under “Mental Health.”
The Office of Wellness and Mental Health aims to assure the NOVA community that we hear you and want to make sure that our community has equitable access to treatment options to support general wellness and NOVA’s culture of care.