Resources
If you are in crisis:
Please call 911 or call the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center (24 hours) at 410.531.6677. You can also call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988, which will connect you to a trained counselor at a crisis center nearest you.
Many other crisis intervention services can be found through 2-1-1 Maryland.
If you are looking for local mental health resources:
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, offers many resources. NAMI has a Maryland state chapter and many local affiliates organized by geographic areas.
The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) is a well-established network of peer-led support groups for people who have, or think they might have, depression or bipolar disorder.
If you want to find a psychiatrist in Maryland:
A good general resource for finding a psychiatrist is the Maryland Psychiatric Society, which maintains a database of Maryland psychiatrists including their location, practice interests and some insurance affiliations as part of their “Find a Psychiatrist” program. Call them at 410.625.0232 and they will be happy to help you.
If you want to find a psychiatrist in your insurance network, the best place to start is your insurance company’s list of in-network providers. Those lists are often out of date, and many doctors on the list may not be able to see a new patient soon, but this will still be more efficient than calling doctors one at a time to ask if they take your insurance.
You should know that Maryland’s Network Adequacy law requires insurance companies to pay for care that is accessible and timely. If you cannot get a timely appointment with an accessible in-network provider, your insurance company is required to pay for out-of-network care that is available. They are unlikely to offer this voluntarily. You can get help with how to negotiate this with your insurance company from the Mental Health Association of Maryland, which focuses on advocacy and public policy.
If you need help getting your insurance company to pay for mental health services:
Both the federal government and the state of Maryland have strong Parity laws, requiring insurance plans to cover mental health services in a way that is on par with their coverage of other medical care. Most, but not all, insurance plans are required to comply with these laws. The American Psychiatric Association has a fact sheet on the federal law with some suggested resources, which can be downloaded here. You can also get many answers and get help advocating for yourself by contacting the Maryland Parity Project.