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I would suggest reaching out to your local county action program to see if they have a comprehensive list of licensed therapists in your area!

It's really an issue on both sides.

You have the shitty landlords, the bad apples of the barrel, who jack up rents and only care about getting as much money as they can at the cost of their tenants' living conditions, health, and well-being.

And you have the shitty tenants, also bad apples of their own barrel, who violate leases and are generally just assholes when it comes to dealing with landlords.

So I'm not really surprised at this statistic.

Same applies to doctors and dentists as well. It's definitely not exclusive to therapists.

Have you tried looking on websites like Psychology Today, by chance?

I had an amazing therapist based out of the Portland area while I'm down in York County. She offered walking therapy if I wanted to meet somewhere in the middle, but I opted for virtual and it was honestly better for me than in person ever was. We always had cameras on to read body language and feel more connected, but in many ways I felt more engaged bc I wasn't running there like an errand, it was truly just an hour vs how long driving to/from your appointment can take, and I felt safer being vulnerable because I was in my own space.

She takes limited insurance, so I had to pay out of pocket and it was costly but I did it 2x/mo for 2 years and made incredible progress. I agree with what someone else said that it can take time and sometimes it's about stretching your intentions to find the right fit. Would someone under my insurance been easier? Absolutely, but for me, it was worth the extra cost to have someone that I connected with.

This is her site: https://therisingsuncounseling.com/

When I was a kid we kept it at 65 but the heat didn’t work in most of the house so it was effectively “wear 3 layers at all times” weather once November hit. We’d get ice on the wall of the bathroom that had outdoor air on the other side. (Mr. Freeze is one of my favorite Batman characters but this was…overdoing it a bit.)

My mom moved to a different place 12ish years ago, sets her thermostat now at 60-65 during the day and turns it off at night. The kitchen isn’t insulated though so it’s effectively 50ish degrees if it’s windy out. I just got back from visiting home and was super glad I remembered to bring the extra fleecy slipper socks, lol.

It is very sad. Especially if you are looking for a therapist that takes your insurance. Many therapists stop taking insurance and only take private pay as soon as they can which is $100+ a session. I was looking hard in 2019. Called everyone. Even tried Sweetser. (Don’t try Sweetser). Eventually I found a counselor for $65 a session. But she was just talk therapy and couldn’t help with actual trauma. So I had to keep looking. I started seeing counselors at my university. I gave up for a while during the pandemic and then finally tried better help last year. I had the best therapist I have ever met through better help! It being online only made it better. I didn’t have to drive. I could message her at any time(which was the BEST). You can’t do that with a regular in office therapist. Plus no insurance bullshit. Just a monthly fee! (With that said BetterHelp has faced lawsuits for some unethical practices and some therapists on their site are shitty. I just got lucky!) but it is definitely worth a try if your mental health needs it.

Also, you can call around to therapists and ask if they do supervision. If they do, they might have students/associate therapists (still needing to take the exam) that could see you.

Honestly this was approached far better than Portland and in my opinion is likely to yield a much greater result. It’s a diverse group of voices at the table and the options proposed are all compelling and sound in my opinion.

Perhaps if they'd stop raising rents $100/mo in a year to "keep up with market rates" this wouldn't be happening as much.

You aren't kidding. Going on 2 years now on the CHCS waiting list. It's just sad in general how hard it is to find the right therapist for you but also having the resources and insurance to receive treatment.

I think you’re letting great get in the way of good

It may be your insurance (or lack thereof). There are certain insurance carriers that Maine providers just don’t want to work with

I haven’t had to call because it hasn’t happened since. I’m not much more knowledgeable than you are in this area honestly

So true. Finding a therapist is hard, and finding a GOOD therapist is even harder. I also was really opposed to online therapy but I could find more available options by searching beyond my immediate area and now I actually prefer online. A good platform to try if you're open to it is www.mindandmatch.com All of their therapists provide therapy remotely and the platform allows you to connect with therapists that match your preferences (race, ethnicity, gender, etc). Hopefully this helps, best of luck!

Set at 68 and forget it.

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Spot on. So many commenters continue to blame CMP for these rate increases when they have nothing to do with it.

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> a career in software engineering is the path i’m currently looking to take

Ok cool--if that's the case then yeah, my vote would definitely be for UMO.

That said, a big part of college is what you make of it, so if you really think you'd be more comfortable at UMF then I'm sure you could go there and have a perfectly good experience.

Best of luck to you either way.

Seems to me a lot of these smaller communities would be well served by merging to pool resources

Sailors take warning!

In fact, it's downright depressing.

You should check renters laws. You shouldn't have to be that cold and may have recourse with your landlord.

The housing crisis is going to crater Maine’s economy sooner rather than later.

Workers need affordable, livable, stable housing. Or else they won’t be workers here much longer. And nobody is going to replace them.

Don’t worry though, we’re just going to ignore this until things fall apart completely and people are whining “nobody wants to work anymore”.

Here is what I would say — online therapy is better than no therapy. A good therapist will be effective even through telehealth. I am not saying you are using this as an avoidance tactic, but that MAY be the case… only you can determine if that’s true.