Purpose
The purpose of this web site is simple enough: To help people seeking mental health services become informed consumers. Too often in today's mental health world the important decisions about mental health treatment and services are left in the hands of the psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and insurance companies. The consumer, the person actually seeking therapy, often has very little say in the treatment options.
In order to accomplish these goals, this web site attempts to create a variety of resources for mental health consumers.
About Dr. Louis Hoffman - Site Creator & Manager
Louis Hoffman, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who has dedicated part of his career to assisting mental health consumers become informed consumers. This is one of several sites which Dr. Hoffman has created as a part of his commitment to providing free, quality information to mental health consumers. Dr. Hoffman has made a professional commitment to dedicating an average of 1-hour per week in developing free resources for consumers educating them about psychology and therapy.
How this Site Functions
This site is designed, funded, and updated by Louis Hoffman, PhD. Unless otherwise noted, Dr. Hoffman has prepared and created the content for this web site. Other professionals are invited to make contributions to the site and may submit information to be considered to Dr. Hoffman. Any content accepted for the web site will be credited to the author. Because this site is created as a community service, it will be updated as time allows.
Links
All the links listed on this site are to free therapy resources. While the web sites can advertise services, accessing the web site be at no cost to consumers. Consumers and professionals are invited to submit links to be considered. Sites are reviewed by Dr. Hoffman before their initial listing. The content of these sites and any services offered through these web sties remain the sole responsiblity of the owner of the web sites which are linked to. Dr. Hoffman takes no resposibility for the content of the links, as they may change without his notification.
What this Site is NOT
This Web Site is not a source for online therapy, professional advice, a referral service, or a self-help web site. I have many strong concerns online therapy and do not include this in my practice. Furthermore, I would strongly encourage anyone considering online therapy to do this with caution or, better yet, reconsider. Next, professional advice must occur within the context of a professional relationship. Using this web site or contact Dr. Hoffman through this web site does not constitute a professional relationship. Third, this web site does have information about therapists and their practices, but is not a referral service. A referral services attempts to match consumers with a therapist that is a right fit based upon professional knowledge. This web site provides informaiton about therapists in order to help consumers choose therapists they would like to see. Last, there are many self-help books and web sites which are readily available. This is not one. Rather, this is a resource about therapy. Many of the resources here can help consumers make better use of psychotherapy, but they are not inteded to replace psychotherapy.