Therapy Referral Service

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Please comment!

I created a sample / draft survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREV ... FagZ7c8%3d

The idea is to create a data base of service providers who get the concept of the self-advocacy movement and other Autism/Asperger issues. I believe that the interest exists, and that it just needs someone to give it a solid kick to get it moving.

“”GGGG” is just a name I made up. The referral service/data base would be a new little division of a group that is already known. I have an existing non-profit group in mind, but I don’t want to get tangled in that at this point.

I wish to offer that starting push by creating:

1) A survey for the practitioner
2) Instructions for the individual client who will invite the practitioner
3) Suggestions for how “GGGG” might manage their database.

Instructions to the individual client:

Before even making that first appointment, the prospective client could ask whether the shrink would be willing to register with GGGG's database. I'm a hopeless wimp. I hate to ask such questions and am easily intimidated. If I had a survey like this and a formal organization behind me, I would be more confident when shopping for a shrink.

I would suggest that the prospective client be armed with the “GGGG” survey plus a very brief note about his own personal issues and concerns. Maybe we should create a checklist of things to consider in the creation of such an individual note.

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Yes, my draft is lame, in the extreme. That's the main reason I'm showing it to you guys. Please suggest ways to improve it. What would you want to know about a shrink before your first appointment? Can/should any of my questions be ditched? Combined? Shortened or expanded? Clarified? Please be brutal.

I know from personal experience that it's easier to criticize, tweak, modify, or suggest improvements to a project that has already been started than it is to start something from scratch. Any attempt at all, no matter how lame, would be a step in the right direction.

My survey indirectly addresses a number of concerns, such as Question # 9, "What can a client expect..." I had one shrink who made me sign a paper before the first appointment stating that I understood his policy about cancellations, that if you fail to give 48 hours notice, you need to pay the full price of an appointment without insurance. The more I think about that one, the less I think of such a practice. If it happens again, I would walk out.

Semi-confidential stuff: Gender, age, religion, ethnicity, accent... I would not put such information on the website but, if a prospective client from that geographical area specifically asks, I think the manager of the GGGG data base should have such information available. For myself, gender and accent are important issues. I've got this auditory processing thing and a heavy accent makes everything difficult. In most things I consider it my problem and wouldn't hold it against someone, but in therapy it would matter to me.

As I've mentioned before, in my country there are only 2 serious professionals who diagnose AS in adults (they're Child Psychiatrists with some good will not to leave adults out like everyone else does).

You choose one or the other indistinctly depending on where you live and who has the shortest waiting line. You can't ask questions, since there's no one to choose from.

They charge a fortune, have no competition and if you don't fall in either one's graces, your career as an Aspie is finished before it started and you go to the streets - seeing as without a diagnosis you can't get social benefits and working in this economy is impossible here for us Aspies.

I've been courting one of them for months, dining and wining her with the most expensive wares (via the fees I pay her), though I have very little hope that she'll rule AS. I don't think she'd ever agree to diagnose with AS someone without a monotone voice and with body language. Maybe it's my fault for not trying to put on a show during the sessions. Maybe I should speak in a monotone and not move my limbs. I don't know.

The streets have started to look much, much nearer lately...