You are now ready to begin therapy and deal with the issues that affect your daily functioning and your view of life and yourself. How do you go about finding the right person for you? I will provide some general guidelines to help you through this process.
Starting psychotherapy or counseling is a very important decision, so choosing the “right” therapist should not be taken lightly. After all, a therapist is someone you should trust with the most personal and intimate details of your life and relationships. However, choosing the right therapist can be daunting and confusing, especially if you’re new to this task and may not be familiar with the various options available.
Psychotherapy and counseling are talk therapies used in the treatment of mental and emotional problems through the use of psychological techniques and interpersonal connection. Professionals who are defined as counselors or psychotherapists have a Master’s degree, a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, a Doctorate or are medical specialists in psychiatry. Also, there are other people practicing in this field. These are the coaches, like spiritual coaches, life coaches, grief coaches, relationship coaches, etc. These people do not need to have a degree in the field of mental health and their training is usually very short and limited to very specific areas.
Which, you may ask, is better for you?
The answer depends on what you need. If you need medication for your symptoms, you’ll want to contact a nurse practitioner or psychiatrist. If you want talk therapy to help you deal with your emotional problems, learn coping skills, and gain understanding, you’ll want to talk to a counselor or psychotherapist. If you’re not sure, you may want to start with a psychotherapist and go from there. Psychiatrists typically charge the highest fees. Master’s-level counselors typically charge less than doctorate-level therapists. Coaches charge even less. However, if you are experiencing an emotional problem, I advise you to be very careful when selecting a coach.
Now that you have determined which category of professionals is most appropriate for your situation, you can proceed as follows:
Decide your gender preference. Do you think you would feel more comfortable with a man or a woman?
Try to get a personal reference. If you know someone you trust who is or was in therapy and benefited from it, you may want to request a referral. Your doctor can also be a reliable referral source.
Consult academic training, experience and areas of specialization.
Check for malpractice lawsuits.
Establish treatment goals. Are you interested in symptom relief, problems in an intimate relationship, or want to get to know yourself better?
Now that you’ve done all the background work, it’s time to schedule your first appointment. You won’t know if there’s a good fit between you and your selected therapist until he sits in his office and the two of you begin to interact with each other. Do you feel that the therapist understands what you are saying? Does he have a sense that he or she is knowledgeable, empathetic, and committed to you? Is he or she providing helpful feedback? Be prepared to find someone else if you have serious questions after your first date.
Feeling connected, understood, attuned and emotionally safe with a therapist are the most important conditions for therapy to be effective and transformative.
