All About Therapy Letters
A letter of support from a mental health provider is often required for insurance coverage for top surgery. It is not necessary to have an established therapist, because not every patient seeking top surgery has a need for ongoing therapy. A letter of support may be obtained after a one-time evaluation by a therapist, psychiatrist, or other mental health professional, who MUST have an official mental health license (ex. LPC, LCSW, Ph.D or a PsyD). If you do not have an established therapist, we can recommend someone who we work with. If you have a therapist, they do not need to be well-versed or specialize in gender-related therapy (although it may be helpful).
Very occasionally, we run into insurance companies that request two letters, sometimes from a therapist and a psychiatrist. Sometimes this is for a very specific reason, for example a patient under the age of 18. It is always a good idea to check with your insurance company about their specific requirements. Sometimes this is very easy to find – try entering into Google “medical policy guidelines for gender affirmation surgery”+ the name of your insurance company.
What To Tell Your Therapist:
Download our Therapy Template BUT we recommend you tell your therapist to use this template as a guide, rather than filling it out and using it as their letter. Some insurance companies will reject the letter if it is not typed out in a free hand format, rather than our check-box format. However, this template contains all the information that most insurance companies want to see included in the letter. Important aspects of the letter are general timeline (how long you have been living in your identified gender), confirmation that your gender dysphoria is significantly affecting your life in a negative way, and that your other mental health issues (depression, anxiety, etc) and medical issues are well controlled. Every insurance company is different and their requirements may differ slightly based on your plan.
How to Write a Therapy Support Letter
We can provide you with a template that you can provide to your therapist - this will be included in your new patient paperwork. Generally our template has all the information that is needed in the letter of support. However, we have found that most insurance companies prefer a typed-out letter rather than our template filled out on it's own. We recommend you give the template to your therapist to use as a guide, but that you request they actually write the letter themselves.
If you have a strong relationship with another provider such as your primary care doctor and you would like to obtain more than one letter, the more the better! Having more letters sent to us in support of your insurance case cannot hurt you.
How to Find a Therapist to Write Your Letter
- Ask us for a recommendation in the area
- Find a therapist in your area who will write you a letter
- Check out one of the available online resources for therapists by telehealth:
- https://thegalap.org/ - this is a group of mental health clinicians dedicated to helping patients with these types of letters
- www.betterhelp.com – another online therapy service aiming to provide accessible and affordable professional therapy
- Ask our office for more information - call us at (203) 423-3132 and request information on local therapists we can recommend to you!
- Therapists generally need to have some kind of MASTERS level degree in order to qualify to write the letter. Examples are LCSW, LPC, LMFT, LADC. A good rule of thumb is a degree that starts with the letter "L" usually will work! Alternatively a psychology degree (Ph.D or a PsyD) or psychiatrist (MD with a specialty in psychiatry) will serve as well.
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