seeking good quality therapist

I'm sorry that your husband is ill and that your family is being challenged as a result. I commend you for wanting to support your husband in his illness and get help for yourself and daughters. Kaiser is a terrible provider of mental health services for those with serious illnesses. Kaiser has also fallen very short in general in giving adequate, timely therapy to most patients. I know this first hand and you can read about the State of California's findings as well as the $4M penalty assessed against it by the state Dept of Managed Health Care. There are also several pending class action lawsuits against it for failing to provide adequate mental health services as required under both the state and federal mental health parity acts. Kaiser is trying to address its deficiencies by hiring more therapists but it lags in providing the services it has s duty to provide. If you a fortunate enough to find a good KP therapist with the skill to work with you and your family, you will probably have difficulty getting ongoing appointments or keeping the same therapist. With that in mind, I urge you to contact Kaiser's behavior health department and request 1) a psychologist who is experienced with bipolar illness and its effect on the family, 2) who is experienced in treating a family, 3) who is available to see your family at regularly scheduled appointments,  4) indefinitely while your husband's illness is acute. If necessary you should request to see an experienced practitioner outside of Kaiser (KP is presently overburdened with members' therapy needs and is contracting outside its network). Do not settle for an inexperienced therapist or one you or your family does not feel secure with. Follow up all of your requests in WRITING to Kaiser so that you have a record. You will probably find Kaiser's offerings insufficient and may need to find your own therapist outside of Kaiser. You should request in writing that Kaiser pay for this therapy as it cannot provide you will what your family needs. If Kaiser declines to pay, you may file a grievance and then file an appeal to the DMHC. Please get the help you need and hold Kaiser accountable.  To avert or address a mental health crisis, you are entitled to the same quality of care you would seek and expect if someone in your family had a very threatening physical illness. Your husband needs serious professional care and your family needs care now. I hope you are able to find it. 

I want to suggest a support system for you that can be really helpful through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). They do some really terrific support groups for family members caring for someone who is mentally ill, as well as support groups for folks living with mental illness. They have a great website and I know there are local groups. Check out www.nami.org.  I think this would be a good adjunct to any therapy you undertake. Give Kaiser a chance. Their philosophy is more short term therapy and groups but they do work well in supporting folks who have been hospitalized. I don’t think they do family therapy but you could ask your husband’s therapist if they could include the family in some sessions. You have a big challenge ahead of you and it will take a lot of advocacy on your part. You are not alone in facing this though I know it can feel like that. You are being very brave and I send you my best wishes as you take care of your family through this difficult time.

I'll just second what the previous responder said about Kaiser mental health.  It's what I've heard from friends who practice in that system, and that they are definitely contracting with outside therapists because they don't have enough clinicians.  Your family has very specific needs, so I would press for that, although you may have to jump through their hoops first.