The following links are for national professional associations which certify therapists, conduct on-going educational workshops and conferences, and advocate for their profession. On these sites you can find links to their corresponding state organizations. Some also run referral services which can help you locate a therapist by specialty or types of therapy, location, or gender. Though the association websites tend to be geared towards therapists, some contain particularly useful consumer information as detailed below.

The American Psychoanalytic Association
www.apsa.org
This website has an interesting feature—an “Ask a Psychoanalyst” column (under About Psychology) which answers general questions about psychoanalysis.

The American Psychiatric Association
www.psych.org
The Public Information section of this website contains useful information on the warning signs of mental illness and suggestions for choosing therapists.

The American Psychological Association
www.apa.org
According to the website, the goals of the APA’s Public Educational Campaign campaign are “to communicate the value of psychology to the public and provide them with information about when and how to seek help.”

National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology
www.nationalregister.com

Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards
www.asppb.org
This association is the alliance of agencies responsible for the licensure and certification of psychologists throughout the U.S. and Canada. They oversee the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), a national psychology exam.

The American Board of Professional Psychology, Inc.
www.abpp.org

The American Psychotherapy Association
www.americanpsychotherapy.com

American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy
www.aamft.org
This website has a Marriage and Family Therapist Referral Directory to help you locate a therapist in your area. 

National Association of Social Workers
www.naswdc.org

Clinical Social Work Federation
www.cswf.org

American Art Therapy Association, Inc.
www.arttherapy.org

American Music Therapy Association, Inc.
www.musictherapy.org

American Dance Therapy Association
www.adta.org

National Association for Drama Therapy
www.nadt.org

American Psychiatric Nurses Association
www.apna.org

The American Association of Pastoral Counselors
www.aapc.org

American Counseling Association
www.counseling.org

National Institute of Mental Health
www.nimh.nih.gov

Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association)
www.nmha.org

National Alliance on Mental Illness
www.nami.org

The National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers
www.nomanagedcare.org