For years, many of us accepted stigma and avoided therapy. But things are changing. These days, people are seeking therapy more than medication, and the shift is generational — younger people, Gen Z especially, have made therapy ordinary in a way their parents and grandparents never did.

But how do you pay for it?

Therapists across the country say private equity’s move into health care is making it harder for them to care for their patients.

Earlier this month, a local insurer may have made things harder still. If you see a counselor in private practice through Blue Cross, your therapist could be dropped from your plan in March.

What does that mean for our access to mental health care?

David Sniderman, a counselor and art therapist with the Willows Edge Counseling and Healing Arts Center, says the change will hit people’s access hard — especially rural and low-income Michiganders.

Sniderman joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to break down how insurance shapes therapy, and to make the case that what heals people most isn’t the method — it’s the trust between a therapist and client.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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