Inclusive Therapists Directory Review

There is a lack of diversity in the mental health field in America. Eighty-four percent of the psychology workforce identifies as White, with just 4% of practitioners identifying as Black, 4% as Asian, and 6% as Latinx. This is not representative of the U.S. population: 13.6% of Americans identify as Black, 6.1% as Asian, and 18.9% as Latinx. This discrepancy can make it difficult for therapy seekers to find therapists of similar racial or cultural backgrounds because there simply aren’t enough of them. And when they settle for a therapist who isn’t culturally sensitive, they can end up experiencing racial and social microaggressions in the therapy room. 

As a Black psychotherapist, I can attest to how this experience is all too common, with many individuals I’ve worked with citing negative past experiences with providers who don’t share their identity. Adverse therapy experiences aren’t only limited to race either. Ableist behavior, or the discrimination against people with disabilities, can also persist in the mental health field, leading some to specifically seek out a neurodivergent or disability justice-allied practitioner. 

The need isn’t only reflected in the statistics; it is also rooted in the lived experiences of marginalized people as well. After my private practice filled up, I found myself continually seeking out referrals for diverse practitioners. Many of the therapists I found on traditional directories like Psychology Today also had full caseloads, and I began to wonder which directory I could send folks to that could make the process of finding the right therapist for them more manageable. In this search, I discovered Inclusive Therapists.

Inclusive Therapists, a directory with a  clear social justice-driven mission to center the needs of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and disabled communities, immediately sets itself apart from its competition. While there is a growing number of therapy directories focused on racial identity, it is truly rare to find one that explicitly includes neurodivergent and disabled communities in its mission.

We surveyed over 180 users at Inclusive Therapists, as well as its competitors, and interviewed 10 therapists listed on the platform. We also tested the directory’s therapist functionality across 18 U.S. zipcodes, scoring those results with the help of three experts in the field, Nic Hardy, Ph.D, LCSW, Amy Marschall, PsyD, and Hannah Owens, LMSW, and reached out to the founder of Inclusive Therapists, Melody Li. And our research confirmed what we already suspected: Inclusive Therapists is a therapist directory worthy of recommendation. We’re not the only fans of this directory either: 77% of users we surveyed stated they are satisfied with the therapist options provided in the directory and are likely to recommend it to others. 

What Is Inclusive Therapists?

Psychotherapist Melody Li founded Inclusive Therapists in 2019 after finding herself educating her personal therapists about white supremacy. Rather than receiving the mental health care she needed, she was exhausted by repeated microaggressions and gaslighting by her practitioners. Being a woman of color in the mental health field herself, she realized her experiences weren’t unique. Inclusive Therapists is her response to the struggles many people of color experience in seeking out a therapist. 

As of July 2022, the Inclusive Therapists directory includes 3,800 practitioners, many of whom are psychotherapists and psychiatrists. Some mental health practitioners on the platform also integrate spiritually-oriented practices, like yoga and breathwork, into their clinical work. The therapists see clients in person, online, or both. 

It’s worth noting that some practitioners listed are pre-licensed. While pre-licensed clinicians can provide great care under the supervision of a licensed provider, some people may prefer a seasoned clinician with many years of practice under their belt. 

Seventy percent of the therapy seekers we surveyed use this directory to find individual therapy for themselves. However, Inclusive Therapists also offers therapists specializing in couples, children’s, family, and group therapy. 

The directory makes it clear that it provides an affirming and inclusive approach that other directories do not, and it specifically compares itself to Psychology Today on its website. This sentiment was affirmed by Claudia Tedoni, a psychotherapist listed on Inclusive Therapists.

“I feel like it’s been really clear on who it is serving in a way that I think Psychology Today [is] not,” Tedoni says. 

First Impressions

Upon visiting the Inclusive Therapists website for the first time, I noticed how user-friendly it is. The color palette’s different shades of neutral colors immediately set the tone. Rather than feeling clinical and sterile, the overall aesthetic feels modern and inviting. Search filters appear in large font on the homepage where you can jump right into searching for a therapist. 

The website features a hand icon that hovers in the lower-left corner; when clicking, there is an option to translate the website into another language (36 different ones), magnify the text, use a virtual keyboard, and change visual elements like the cursor's color and website contrast. 

Inclusive Therapists also has a blog, though it isn’t easy to find on the website. Users need to click on the “Resources” tab to see it, and it is labeled “Mental Health Blog.” 

Blog posts are written by providers listed in the directory, with topics ranging from trauma and specific therapy modalities to burnout and sobriety. Melody, as founder, reviews all the content before it is published. Still, despite this process, most blog posts lack research and statistics. Sharing insight, even from professionals, without concrete evidence like references and citations to back it up, can lead to misinformation. 

Inclusive Therapists does have an Instagram page with 53.3k followers though. Its presence on social media echoes its social justice orientation. Some posts focus on upcoming trainings and events directed towards therapists and therapy seekers with marginalized identities. 

Other social content includes affirmations, resources, and infographics geared towards BIPOC, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and disabled communities. In June 2022, they posted five times to their main Instagram grid. In addition, Inclusive Therapists has multiple highlights on Instagram, including content on Black History Month and decolonizing mental health. The company doesn’t engage with comments for the most part though.

Finding a Therapist at Inclusive Therapists

As noted above, you can begin your search for a therapist right from the homepage. I found the experience to be both exciting and overwhelming. 

When trying out the process of finding a provider on Inclusive Therapists myself, I kept in mind how a therapy seeker might feel. People often seek out therapy when they’re in deep emotional pain, and sometimes even typing out a search in a therapy directory website can feel exhausting. With this in mind, I was curious to see how laborious it is to begin browsing providers. 

I was pleased to learn Inclusive Therapists makes searching for a therapist relatively simple. You can begin your search on the landing page, then narrow your search based on what you’re hoping to find. There are many options to fine-tune your search regarding specific services, specialties, therapeutic approaches, cultural knowledge, location, and more. 

For example, specific filters include specialties like bipolar disorder or grief, focuses like disability justice or fat liberation, and office facilities (e.g., ADA accessible, scent-free, vegan-friendly, gender-neutral bathrooms, low vision accommodations, etc.). 

There is even an option to search for a therapist who identifies as a neurodivergent person, a filter I have never seen included in a directory before. It is rare to encounter so many filters to find a therapist, so while the options may be overwhelming, it is excellent for the individual who has a clear vision of the type of therapist they’d like.

You can also narrow your results to therapists that speak a specific language—though some language filter options, like “Serbian,” yield zero results.

I decided to get as specific as possible in my test search, so I searched for a Black therapist who specializes in treating Highly Sensitive People, offers somatic therapy, and has evening appointments in my zip code. 

I found two providers in my search; one was located near my area but was fully booked, and another was in a different part of the state. 

It is worth mentioning that I wasn’t able to specify in-person or telehealth sessions when using the search filters. I liked that it showed the therapists who matched my needs so I could weigh the pros and cons; however, having therapy in-person or not can be a dealbreaker for some. That said, if I wanted in-person therapy but saw the provider closest to me isn’t available, I would appreciate the option of seeing someone out of my area virtually if they met the rest of my criteria. 

Navigating the search results can be tricky; since the results page is split between a list of providers and a map, you can’t see much about the therapist beyond their photo, name, location, and a brief passage from their bio. To really get a feel for each therapist, you have to click on their profile.

Directory Bio Pages

The therapist bio pages on Inclusive Therapists are quite informative on the whole.

However, while some providers list their rates, others simply state whether they take insurance or offer a sliding scale. 

This lack of clarity can be problematic, especially if the provider doesn’t specify which insurance they accept or specify the range for their sliding scale offerings. Inclusive Therapists also does not handle payment or insurance claims for the therapy seeker. Remembering that a therapy seeker is likely feeling challenged by life circumstances as it is, reaching out to a provider only to learn they aren’t in-network with their insurance or are outside of their budget can be discouraging. It would be preferable if Inclusive Therapists required providers to clearly state their fee on their page, rather than leaving it optional.

About 71% of the Inclusive Therapists providers we surveyed offer sliding scale services and 42% of that same group don’t take insurance. One of the providers we interviewed said they don’t take insurance because they believe it's not the best way to make therapy accessible. However, 93% of those using this platform have health insurance, and 79% use their health insurance to pay for the therapist they found on the platform. 

Despite this lack of clarity around fees and insurance, though, 44% of surveyed users found the number of therapists offering accessible payment options to be “very good” and another 35% qualified the financial accessibility as “good.” 

Note that the therapist bios are confusing in terms of where a therapist is licensed to practice. One might assume that if a therapist shows up in a search by zip code, they’re able to practice there, but if you click on the therapist’s actual bio page, there aren’t any details clearly explaining where they are licensed to practice. 

This is why, at first glance, it appears that the directory lists therapists in all 50 states, but upon closer look, some of the providers in Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wyoming aren’t actually based in those states. When I spoke to Li, she told me that Inclusive Therapists is working on expanding its membership in those locations.

I also noticed that most of these therapists listed coaching as one of their services. Showing coaches and psychotherapists in the same search results without explicitly stating who is offering which service in which state presents an ethical issue. Someone might think they’re signing up for therapy, but in actuality, only receive coaching—and coaching is not a substitute for psychotherapy or traditional mental health care.

Psychotherapists obtain an advanced degree and follow a formal process with a state’s licensing board to practice there. In contrast, coaching is an unregulated field, which means there is no license or requirements to practice, and coaches can operate within any state. Inclusive Therapists could remedy this by requiring and strictly enforcing a policy requiring providers to list where they are licensed to practice in their profile.

In addition, while the bio pages can display whether therapists are or are not taking new clients, 33% of the users we surveyed said this information was inaccurate when they reached out to that therapist. This is likely because therapists don’t update their profile when their caseload is full—a theme across all directories we researched. Twenty-eight percent of all directory users stated information about therapist availability was inaccurate. Despite this being a common issue, it is worth noting that the number of unavailable providers on Inclusive Therapists is slightly higher than the average of all directories. 

If you decide you want to work with a therapist or want more information about them, you can message each therapist through the bio page itself—no need to head to another page. However, users are not able to schedule appointments directly through the platform. 

Sixty-three percent of user survey respondents stated they had to reach out to multiple therapists to confirm their availability. Of those:

• Thirty-three percent said they reached out to two therapists.
• Thirty-nine percent reached out to three therapists.
• Seventeen percent reached out to four therapists.
• Eight percent had to reach out to five therapists. 

Still, on the whole, surveyed users said they were able to find a therapist through the directory. Sixty-eight percent said they found it “very easy” or “easy” to find a therapist who met their needs through the platform. Twenty-four percent of users found the process of finding a provider “average.” Only 5% of users found the process difficult, and just 3% of users considered the experience very difficult. These results are comparable to the other directories we surveyed. Of all the directories we scored, 72% of users found the process of finding a therapist “very easy” or “easy,” 3% found it "difficult," and 1% found it "very difficult." 

As part of our research process, we also tested the search process across 18 representative zipcodes, seeing if we could find therapists that fit 37 common elements therapy seekers look for in a therapist, such as a practitioner with experience working with survivors of family abuse or eating disorders. Then, we had our experts score these results to try to get a sense of how well the search function worked. Inclusive Therapist’s search capabilities scored highest for accessibility and cultural sensitivity searches.

Matching Service

While the search experience might be a bit overwhelming with all the filter options, the good news is, if you’re experiencing decision fatigue, Inclusive Therapists has a feature that will match you with a therapist. 

Simply fill out a form that asks for your name, email, phone number, location, and preferences. There is also a space where you can write a brief message about the type of therapy you want. The Inclusive Therapists team will then review your information and send you possible matches. 

While this matching service is a real advantage of Inclusive Therapists compared to other directories we reviewed, the form itself can be glitchy. (The company does warn that one of the drop-down options may take a moment to populate.) Note that it can also take up to five business days to hear back from the directory.

However, when we checked the matching service on August 9, 2022, it was down until the 10th. So it is possible that you could also run into an issue with the service.

How Useful Is the Directory for Therapy Seekers?

Based on my own experience as a Black woman who was once a therapy novice trying to find a biracial Black clinician, I see the value in this directory. Having a directory that allowed me to narrow my search to the very specific needs I had at that time would have saved me hours and minimized the stress I was already experiencing. Navigating the website and search functions only deepens my confidence in this directory’s ability to provide further access to psychotherapy services for marginalized communities.

Users can also rest assured that any therapist they find on the directory is trustworthy—therapists must go through a vetting process before listing their services on Inclusive Therapists. We spoke with some of the therapists we found on the site who indicated that they had their license and certifications verified, in addition to being interviewed and answering a questionnaire on beliefs and experiences.

That said, it is unclear how coaches and holistic practitioners are vetted for the website. When we reached out for more details Ginnifer Joe, Inclusive Therapists’ operations and communications manager, shared that coaches and holistic practitioners are vetted through dialogue and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. They also require transparency of credentials on profiles. This process is crucial, especially since these practitioners are typically practicing in unregulated fields. Having a vetting process specifically for coaches and holistic practitioners is essential for consumer protection.  

This directory comprises diverse providers, offering a range of racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. “The directory backs up their commitment to social justice and diversity through the therapists they choose to feature on their website,” explains Owens. What I found unique is that the idea of inclusivity doesn’t stop at race, religion, or sexual orientation. Neurodivergent and disabled communities are also included through the varying search filter options, ensuring no person is left behind. 

The users we surveyed seem to agree with our insights about the directory too, suggesting that Inclusive Therapists is highly effective at helping therapy seekers find a provider:

• Forty-five percent of users found this service “very good” and 34% thought it was “good.” 
• Seventy-eight percent of users who found their therapists from this directory are still with them today. 
• Seventy-six percent of users think it is either very likely or likely they’ll be with that same therapist six months from now.

In addition, 45% of users found this directory featured therapists with better qualifications, experience, and specialized training than directories they’ve used in the past. However, 23% of users want to see more licensed therapists in their state. This may speak to their currently expanding roster of providers in all 50 states. 

Range of Services 

There are both pros and cons to the range of services offered by Inclusive Therapists. It's beneficial that the therapists on the directory offer individual, couples, family, and group therapy. And medication and prescription management are also available through certain providers.

But that is where Inclusive Therapists gets tricky, though. When we searched for medication providers, the only applicable search filter was “medication management or prescription.” Medication or prescription management isn’t a clear category. This phrase could be interpreted as psychotherapists who are comfortable supporting folks who take medication as part of their mental health care routine. It could also be construed as professionals who can legally and ethically prescribe medication. These are not the same—though someone looking for a provider that can prescribe may not understand the difference.

Upon selecting this search filter, providers who are not licensed to prescribe medication, like psychotherapists and counselors, also showed up in the search results. This could waste time for a therapy seeker who doesn’t understand the difference, causing them to reach out to a provider who cannot legally prescribe or manage their medication, even when that’s not what they’re looking for. This lack of clarity is a major red flag. 

I reached out to Li and asked her to clarify why medication and prescription management is one category rather than two. 

“This decision was made in collaboration with our members and service-users request and suggestion, with empowerment at the heart of it,” she explained. “While these services are different, there is a lot of overlap.”

She also mentioned that many therapy seekers are unfamiliar with the different titles, roles, and licenses providers have. Due to this, the categories were combined in hopes of encouraging people to consult with providers directly to better understand their options. While this is a reasonable explanation, it may create more work for those seeking support and create roadblocks for some.

Therapy seekers may also need medication services urgently, making this process more challenging. Keeping this in mind, if you’re experiencing a psychiatric emergency or need urgent prescriptions for medication, Inclusive Therapists isn’t the best place to turn to. 

If this is a concern, consider reaching out to the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or Samaritans NYC at 212-673-3000. The Trans Lifeline is clear that they do not engage in police involvement while the Samaritans NYC does not use caller ID or any form of call-tracing, protecting your confidentiality. 

How Useful Is the Directory for Therapists? 

When scoring a therapy directory, the satisfaction of the therapy seeker isn’t the only important component—the provider’s happiness is also crucial. 

When a clinician feels positive about a directory they’re listed in, they’re likely to refer like-minded colleagues, thus building a larger network for therapy seekers to choose from. Plus, feeling confident in the therapy directory you’re listed in as a psychotherapist offers the opportunity to attract clients who are a good fit for your practice, thus increasing a therapist’s work satisfaction. As a therapist, the better you feel about your work, the better the care you provide.

All therapists we surveyed had positive things to say about their experience using Inclusive Therapists, with each one feeling especially connected to the ethos of the directory. 

On a scale from 1 to 5, all seven therapists we surveyed rated the directory a 4 or higher, citing the social justice lens, values, and commitment to the mission statement as key selling points. One therapist mentioned that Inclusive Therapists offers analytics, helping providers see how their profile is performing and along with the opportunity to adjust as needed. All providers we interviewed stated they didn’t find the process of setting up their directory listing difficult.

Another point of satisfaction for some providers is that the diversity of the directory translates into diversity of clientele and professional connections. “I get to see a wider variety of clients. It allows me to connect with other therapists; it offers trainings and webinars [and] it gives me exposure,” explains Brenton Guice, PLPC. 

Affordable Pricing

Inclusive Therapists aims to make the directory accessible to providers through sliding scale and free membership options.

To do this, it offers 45 days of membership for free. This is an excellent feature for therapists who are newer to practicing and have limited resources—45 days gives them some time to see if the referrals they receive will convert into clients. 

After the trial period, membership costs $29 for an individual page and $119 for a group plan that offers up to seven individual profiles. If a therapist is unable to pay these rates, a sliding scale is available for the individual page plan, offering the membership at a discounted rate. 

There are also sponsored memberships available for Indigenous and Black therapists. Inclusive Therapists offers six months free for therapists in locations where it’s growing its community, including 34 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and all of Canada. 

Inclusive Therapists also has a free “scholar plan” which allows therapists to access members-only resources, workshops, and trainings without having a profile. All interviewed therapists were satisfied with the directory’s value, considering the amount they pay and the traffic they receive in return. 

Community and Professional Development

The Inclusive Therapists website states it can help match providers with users seeking their specific specialties, drive increased traffic to their website, provide free monthly trainings, and create community with like-minded practitioners through members-only Facebook and Google groups. 

The directory also states it will provide exposure to providers’ groups, events, podcasts, videos, and more—and our research backs this up. Twenty-eight percent of providers we interviewed mentioned the opportunity to post events on the directory as a feature they appreciated. It has many resources for providers and therapy seekers looking to deepen their social justice knowledge.

For example, there is a “Books & Resources” page with an exhaustive list of must-read titles. Their aim to decolonize mental health is evident not only in the language and therapist directory functions but also in the trainings and workshops they offer. 

The directory also provides a job board, which is a relatively rare feature and furthers the feeling of community for therapists and mental health practitioners. Out of all the online directory founders we interviewed, only two mentioned a job board on the site. 

I reached out to a colleague who had recently joined Inclusive Therapists, and when asked what stood out to them, they mentioned the professional development offerings were a huge selling point. Psychotherapy is a solitary occupation—the chance to connect with others and further your skill set is a special opportunity. 

It’s clear this directory is for therapists who identify with marginalized identities and desire to work with those with marginalized identities. As a psychotherapist who specializes in supporting people of color healing from trauma, I can attest to how useful it could be to use a directory that speaks to your exact client focus. Additionally, a social justice-oriented therapist would find this service especially helpful due to the ongoing trainings and workshops offered. This isn’t one of the busiest directories, so it may not be the best for those eager to build up their caseloads quickly. However, their accessible membership options make it a great fit for early-career therapists with limited marketing funds. 

How Does Inclusive Therapists Compare to Online Therapy Companies and Directories? 

Online therapy companies have become much more prevalent in recent years—and through big marketing campaigns, many users are considering them. But there are real advantages to choosing a directory like Inclusive Therapists over one of these companies. Directories offer the opportunity to search based on cultural experience, insurance, and specialties. Plus, most therapy directories are free for users while they find their provider. 

Our surveys suggest that users and therapists are generally happier with directories too.

In addition, a local therapist who offered virtual options also said they preferred their experience with Inclusive Therapists compared to other companies, too.

Inclusive Therapists also seems to be preferred by therapists who are also using other directories. For example, 90% of the providers we interviewed and surveyed also use Psychology Today, but all found Inclusive Therapists to be much better or about the same regarding usefulness in finding clients who are a good fit for their clinical practice. 

Final Verdict 

Inclusive Therapists is making good on its mission of increasing accessibility to therapy for BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, and disabled communities. By offering funds for BIPOC therapy seekers, the directory stands in alignment with their value of making therapy financially accessible. While some users wish there were more therapists who took insurance, almost 80% of users were able to use their insurance to fund their care. 

The search filters are the most inclusive we’ve reviewed thus far, offering search options specifically for neurodivergent and disabled communities—a feature that is still, unfortunately, a rarity across most therapy directories. 

Early career professionals and established providers alike will appreciate the community cultivated by Inclusive Therapists. In addition, its job board, ongoing trainings, and accessible membership options make it a great choice for those wanting to advertise their healing services. “What stands out most on this site is [its] commitment to professional development in [its] specified area of focus,” explains Hardy. 

That being said, the search function isn’t without its kinks. Be sure to review the state, service, and credentials of the provider you’re interested in to ensure you find the proper care. Also, it doesn’t yield the highest traffic yet, which is expected for a three-year-old company. Overall, we confidently recommend Inclusive Therapists both to therapy seekers and therapists. 

Methodology

For this review, we compared Inclusive Therapists against 24 other popular competitor directories, including Therapy for Black Men, Therapy for Black Girls, and Psychology Today. To do this, we surveyed over 180 users at each company (4862 respondents total), asking them about their experience searching for and working with a therapist they found on the site. We also interviewed a minimum of 10 therapists listed in each directory, including Inclusive Therapists, asking them about why they chose to use it, how it has affected their caseloads, and whether they'd recommend it to their colleagues.

We also tested each directory by searching for therapists that matched 37 different therapy seeker's needs, ranging from "I want to find a Black Female therapist" to "I think I might be experiencing postpartum anxiety and need a therapist that specializes in treating people like me." We then asked our three subject matter experts, Amy Marschall, Nic Hardy, and Hannah Owens, to score our results to get a sense of how successfully someone could find an appropriate therapist using the search filters and search functionality of the site. We also collected raw data about each company—such as prices, therapist numbers, states served, and more—and sent a questionnaire to each company, though not all companies responded.

Before receiving this assignment, I also contacted four colleagues to see if this directory was worth joining. Only one had experience using this directory, and her feedback aligned with the general data results: It isn’t a high-traffic site, but it has a great ethos, is thoughtful about matching providers with clients, and offers great continuing education opportunities. Despite this positive feedback, I did not move forward with using the directory solely because my practice filled up shortly after. Still, my personal insight as a psychotherapist informed my position throughout this article, specifically regarding the ethical issues of differentiating between coaches and therapists, state licensure requirements, providers who can prescribe medication, and therapists’ disclosure of fees in their bios. Read our full methodology here.