Finding the right therapist is hard!
It's one of those cruel twists of fate...
It took a while to realize you need help. It wasn't easy.
But now you get it. You've got problems you don't know how to fix. And the solution is clear:You need to find a therapist to help you fix these problems.
That should be the hard part, right? But no. The hard part is just beginning...
After all that struggle, you've realized it's not so easy to find the right therapist.
It's not a matter of scarcity. It's more a matter of finding the right fit.
You want to be sure the therapist you choose will actually help.
How do you know which therapist to choose?

I’m Mark Dombeck, Ph.D, a California Licensed Psychologist based in Alameda, CA.
I know how to choose the best therapists, being one myself, and I will tell you what you need to know so that you can do this too.
Don't panic! Please don't feel overwhelmed. There's a right way to go about solving this problem.
Read on and I'll teach you what you need to know.
“...finding a therapist who understands you is like finding a needle in a haystack”
Good News:
The help you need is available.
Bad News:
It's not so easy to find the help you need.
Finding the best available therapist— the one most capable of addressing your specific problems — turns out to be a surprisingly difficult task. This is because so many different factors must be considered when making the choice:
“Do I really have to figure all of this out before I can get better?”
Yes, getting diagnosed is important. Here are some examples of how the right and wrong diagnoses can 'make or break' your recovery:
“Isn't all therapy the same?”
You wouldn't let a bone doctor treat your lung problems, would you?
The same goes for mental health therapy: If you have PTSD and it was treated as though it was regular anxiety, your recovery might take a very long time (if it occurs at all). You might become discouraged, conclude that therapy doesn't work and quit — never having figured out that the right treatment that actually could provide you with effective symptom relief was available the whole time.
Here are some reasons why just getting 'any therapy' is a bad idea:
“So ... How do I get the right therapy?”
The answer is simple:
Get the right therapist!
Unfortunately, getting the right therapist isn't easy. Finding the right therapist for you is really difficult, even if you know what you are looking for.
The journey to getting the right therapist can be quite exhausting and time-consuming:
At this point, you might be thinking:
“Getting help is too complicated!”
Frankly, you're right.
Selecting the best therapist that meets your needs is a very complicated task. It may feel like you'll never figure it out, despite devoting yourself to a lot of research and legwork.
But lucky for you, you don't need to do the research and legwork ...
... because there's a better way.
Introducing:
TherapyFilter
The straightforward solution to end the dark days, overcome the invisible barriers, and win back your life by discovering the right therapist and the right therapy.

- 1Get the right therapy solution that will help you win back your life: Recover from the mental health issues that plague you. Return to the lifestyle that makes you happy and productive at work and at home.
- 2Identify the mental health issues you’re struggling with. Knowing the diagnoses you’re dealing with is half of winning the battle.
- 3Understand the connections between your personal history and your diagnoses. You’ll complete a background analysis that will help pinpoint the causes of your pain and suffering. All information strictly private and confidential.
- 4Learn which therapies will give you the best chance to address the issues you’re facing, in the most effective way. Knowing which therapies to pursue and which to reject gives you an advantage in moving forward.
- 5Identify the right specialist psychotherapist who can offer you the right therapies, and the combination of personal attributes you prefer. Effective treatment comes from a therapist you’re comfortable with who has the right knowledge, skills, and tools to help you recover.
- 6Discover all you need to know without traveling to the doctor’s office. Start your assessment whenever you want, wherever you’re comfortable.
TherapyFilter will help you discover the specific mental health issues you’re dealing with and will custom-match you to the right specialist who can help guide you to recovery. TherapyFilter will steer you around pitfalls and dead-ends that might otherwise delay your recovery progress and drain your resources. You are spared from the pain and hassle of finding the best therapist to help you address your specific problems.
“How Does TherapyFilter Work?”
“and what are the deliverables I get?”
TherapyFilter is a professional psychological assessment that follows a simple and straightforward discovery process:
Step 1:
You complete an online problem history questionnaire. This questionnaire is HIPAA-compliant, and the information you provide is all kept confidential and private.
Step 2:
We complete a Diagnostic Interview video conference. During this interview, I’ll ask you questions about your problems and diagnose you. I’ll also ask about the history behind your problems in order to identify potential causes and triggers.
Step 3:
I may ask you to do additional testing after the video interview. These questionnaires will help me learn about the intensity of the issues you’re facing.
Step 4:
We’ll schedule a second Feedback Interview video conference where I’ll give you feedback and findings. I’ll also provide you recommendations based on our initial interview. During this meeting, you’ll get:
- A Diagnostic Report summarizing your problem history and diagnoses. This is confidential, but consider giving a copy to your therapist.
- A Recommended Treatments Report with recommended treatments and actionable suggestions for the order in which to address your problems. This one is also confidential. Consider discussing this with your therapist.
- Fact Sheets containing 'Plain English' descriptions as well as link and book recommendations to help you get a more detailed understanding of your problems. These educational reports will be useful for anyone who wants to learn more about your diagnoses, yourself included.
Step 5:
Finally, I'll give you your Therapists Report: a short list of hand-picked therapists who are currently available, who can offer the recommended treatments, and who fit your preferences as closely as possible.
100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!

To increase your confidence in purchasing TherapyFilter, I'm covering it with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
If you are not completely satisfied with TherapyFilter within 90 days of purchase I will either correct the problem you've experienced or refund your money, your choice.
I know you're going to find TherapyFilter to be valuable, and this is why I'm able to make such a bold guarantee that completely eliminates your risk. You have nothing to lose and the right therapist for you to gain.
Get Your TherapyFilter Now!

TherapyFilter Payment is split into three parts so that you don't pay up-front. The initial $395 payment occurs during the Diagnostic Interview. The second $300 payment occurs during the Feedback Interview. A final $300 payment is made upon delivery of your Therapists Report. The total cost for TherapyFilter is $995.
100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
No Up-Front Payment
Secure Payment
Debit, Credit, FSA & HSA Cards Accepted
What’s A Life Free From Mental Health Problems Worth To You?
I’m positive that the careful, complete and in-depth solution that TherapyFilter offers is your best opportunity to understand the true nature of your problems and connect with the right therapist who can effectively help you address these problems.
But is paying $995 for this information really worth it?
To answer this question, I ask that you imagine what might happen if you don't take effective action to address your problems ...
... you might lose your job and damage your relationships. You might stay more or less permanently stuck in your distress.
It’s not likely that you’ll get these benefits if you let your mental health problems grow unchecked.
I list these questions to show you the brighter future you can have when you finally recover from and address your problems, and to remind you of the real and painful consequences you may face if you do not act.
Now the question is:
How badly do you want to win back your life?
It's Time To Win Back Your Life
100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
No Up-Front Payment
Secure Payment
Debit, Credit, FSA & HSA Cards Accepted
A Word of Warning!
TherapyFilter is a complex and time-consuming professional assessment process.
It takes time to maintain the quality of the solution and the short list of qualified therapists you’ll get. Quality takes time and care to get right.
I’m sure you’ll agree, when it comes to your own mental health you’ll want your problems to be approached in this careful way too. It’s not a good idea to take short-cuts with your mental health or to accept the first “solution” that comes along (which may not be a solution at all!).
That’s the reason why I only offer TherapyFilter to one (1) person per week or four (4) people per month. Anything more than that and the quality of the solution will suffer. It’s my duty as a mental health professional to keep that from happening.
Now I’m giving you a heads-up:
If you don't act quickly, I might get fully booked in the coming weeks and months. You might not have access to the TherapyFilter service for a while.
If you need to get your problems addressed right away, make sure to sign up before all slots are filled.
Get Diagnosed + Find The Right Therapist
First Come, First Served
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Secure Payment
Debit, Credit, FSA & HSA Cards Accepted
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can participate in TherapyFilter?
At this time, TherapyFilter is only offered to adults ages 18 and older. My training has been exclusively with adults, and it is outside my scope of practice to offer child assessments.
Is TherapyFilter a private service?
Yes, Absolutely! All client-facing professional psychology services, including the TherapyFilter assessment service, are mandated by law and ethics to be kept entirely private and confidential. There are a few exceptions to this rule, which I will inform you about when we do 'Informed Consent' at the beginning of our TherapyFilter engagement. All of our communication and all of my record-keeping and report-writing will take place using HIPAA-compliant encrypted technologies.
How come there aren't any testimonials?
It's common to display testimonials from past satisfied customers when offering a service online. Testimonials act as 'social proof', helping new customers to feel more confident about purchasing the service because they are in 'good company'.
Psychologists are prohibited from asking clients to provide testimonials in section 5.05 of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
Do I need to be good at computers to participate?
TherapyFilter is simple and easy for you to use. All you'll have to do is click the Google Meet link I’ll send you to get started with our video interviews.
What are your qualifications, Dr. Dombeck?
I am a Licensed Psychologist in California (PSY25695).
I graduated from the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology after completing a Pre-doctoral Psychology Internship at the San Francisco VA. I completed a Postdoctoral Clinical Psychology Fellowship at the Yale Psychiatric Institute.
I have been in private practice in Alameda, CA (near Oakland and San Francisco) since 2013. I have been a member of the National Register of Health Service Psychologists (a psychology credentialing organization) since 2012. At other points in my career:
Why is TherapyFilter better than Googling for therapists or asking for recommendations from people I know?
When it comes to finding a therapist to address your mental health issues, you can’t afford to rely on recommendations from Google or people who aren’t themselves mental health experts. That would be like gambling with your mental health! You want to identify the right expert therapist who can provide the right therapy fitted to your needs; not just the first therapist you find.
TherapyFilter gives you confidence and peace of mind that you're doing it right, and it's convenient too. An experienced, licensed psychologist (me, Dr. Dombeck) who knows your exact problem background and diagnoses will do the work necessary to match you to equally experienced and licensed therapists in your area who have the specific skills and credentials to help you solve your specific problems.
What does TherapyFilter cost? How do I pay?
The total cost for TherapyFilter is $995. This total cost is split into three parts so that you'll never pay for incomplete work. The initial $395 payment occurs during our diagnostic interview. The second $300 payment occurs during our feedback interview. A final $300 payment is made when I deliver your therapists report.
Payments are made with your credit card using IvyPay, a secure and private payment app designed for use by health care professionals. IvyPay protects your privacy by having you enter your card information directly into their secure smartphone app. Psychtools never sees your card information.
Why does TherapyFilter cost so much?
TherapyFilter is a professional psychological assessment process that takes multiple hours to complete. It involves clinical interviewing, test interpretation, customized report writing, a feedback session, and an extended communications process where the best therapists for you are identified.
You come away from the process with a clear understanding of your diagnoses, recommended readings, knowledge about what types of therapy are best suited to address your problems (and in what order you should consider addressing them), and a short list of recommended specialist psychotherapists in your area who are best suited to help you.
It’s an involved and complex process to get you the crucial information you need to have the best chance of quickly recovering your quality of life.
Can I use insurance to pay for TherapyFilter?
TherapyFilter is only offered on a Fee-For-Service basis. This means that you directly pay me a fee in exchange for the clinical service I provide.
Your insurance company may partially reimburse you for 'out of network' services. Let me know if this is the case, and I will generate a 'superbill' for you containing the appropriate service codes which you may submit to your health insurance for reimbursement.
You need to know this:
Health insurance companies generally seek to limit the amount of mental health care you can get. They do this by restricting which therapists you can see, by limiting the number of therapy sessions you can have, and by limiting how much money therapists can charge for each session. As a result, the best therapists generally don't take insurance and only work based on a Fee For Service basis.
With TherapyFilter, my goal is to connect you to the best specialist therapist available in your area to help you fix your problems. It is almost certainly the case that the therapists I identify for you will require that you pay their Fee For Service rate.
It's unfortunate but true: If you cannot afford to pay Fee For Service rates to get the best therapy available, then my premium TherapyFilter service may not be for you.
What deliverables do I get from TherapyFilter?
At the conclusion of TherapyFilter, you will have the following documents in your possession:
Diagnostic Report
Summarizing your problem history and diagnoses, to be provided to your new therapist.
Fact Sheets
Containing 'Plain English' descriptions as well as link and book recommendations to help you get a more detailed understanding of your problems.
Treatments Report
Containing recommended treatments and actionable suggestions for the order in which to address your problems.
Therapists Report
Containing a shortlist of hand-picked currently available therapists who can offer the recommended treatments, and who fit your preferences as closely as possible.
At your request, and with your written permission, I can also contact your therapist and give them my findings directly to best insure they are oriented and up to speed for your case.
How long does the whole process take?
TherapyFilter completion times vary, but average about 3 weeks duration. The first diagnostic interview takes 90 to 120 minutes to complete. After the first interview and testing are completed, an additional 3 to 5 business days are required to make sense of the data and write the reports. The delivery of diagnostic findings meeting runs about 60 minutes. The delivery of the custom therapist short list will take approximately another 2 weeks.
Doesn’t the delivery of the shortlist take too long?
Yes. Finding the right specialist therapists equipped to handle your specific problems and matching your preference as closely as possible takes a long time.
Though TherapyFilter does take some time to complete, it's important to remember that you don't have to do anything during most of this time. It's the difference between driving to work yourself (stuck in traffic!) and having a chauffeur do the driving for you. I’m doing the heavy lifting of finding the right specialists for you so that you don't have to do it yourself.
How do I know that the therapists you select for my shortlist will be right for me?
Each specialist on my shortlist is trusted and vetted by me. They’re licensed, reputable and active professionals from reputable training programs who have the specific skills required to address your specific needs.
I select therapists for their ability to provide you the right therapies. I also work to ensure that they will fit as many of your preferences as possible:
Rest assured, no therapist appearing on your list will ever have paid me for the privilege of being there. Such 'pay-to-play' behavior is explicitly banned in Section 6.07 of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. I select therapists on their merits and only on their merits.
The Choice Is Yours
You are in pain and it’s not going away.
You have to decide what you’re going to do about it.
You have three choices:
- 1Ignore it and hope it goes away.
- 2Accept the first help you can find hoping that it will work.
- 3Study the problem carefully, think through the wide variety of solutions that can are available, reject the solutions that aren’t likely to help, zero in on those few which are, and then figure out how you can best gain access to those best solutions.
The first choice is to deny what is happening. If you've read to this point, you already know something’s wrong and that you need help to fix it. Think back to our discussion of the Mental Health America B4Stage4 model: If you don't get started on your recovery now, your problems may continue to worsen with potentially catastrophic results.
The second choice is an appeal to luck. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find what you need, but also, maybe you won’t. You won't likely have difficulty finding a therapist, but the chance that the therapist you find is the best-suited one for you in your area are small. Going with the first therapist you find could quickly become a recipe for wasting your time.
The third choice is the rational one. It leaves the least to chance. It offers you the best opportunity to identify and get the solution you need to win back your life. The problem with this choice is that it also requires the most planning and legwork of the three to make happen.
There’s a fourth choice, actually:
You can purchase TherapyFilter and I will do the (third choice) heavy lifting for you. This is the convenient choice. All you have to do is attend two online meetings and fill out some online questionnaires. You can do this from the comfort of your home or wherever you feel comfortable. I’ll handle the planning and legwork needed to accurately set you on the right path to recovery. No wasted time or energy for you.
And there you have it ...
Get TherapyFilter today and get started on the best road to your recovery!
It's Time To Win Back Your Life
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Secure Payment
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