How to Successfully Choose a Therapist

With so many different kinds of disciplines within the therapy field, and not to mention the multitude of practitioners practicing in these various fields it can be a daunting thing to find someone who you will be able to fit well with and can help you without wasting a lot of time and money. In this blog I will give you tips and tools to help you easily find a health professional that will complement you and be truly effective, providing you exactly the service you want for the money you spend.

Before you even begin to look at various websites, phonebooks, or different networks that health professionals advertise in, the process begins at home with you. The following is the top 8 questions you need to ask yourself so you can know what kind of professional / person you want to hire, and the actual healing modality you wish to use, whether mainstream medicine, Holistic to Natural Healing.

Top 8 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Locating a Therapist

1. What area specifically in your life are you looking to get help with? Or in other words what are your goals, why are you seeking out help in the first place?
2. Are these goals mostly emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual, or do they pertain more to making external changes in your life?
3. Are you going to be more or less comfortable with a male or female practitioner?
4. What qualities are you looking for in a practitioner, example compassionate, listens well, doesn’t spend the whole time writing in a notebook, challenges your thinking etc.
5. Do you prefer a client oriented organic session, or something with more structure (client led versus practitioner led)?
6. Do you want to talk and do experiential exercises or do wish to learn about tools and techniques and theories in your sessions, or both?
7. If you had to do a map of your entire life at this time, and rate how happy, successful, harmonious, or alternately the opposites of that, unhappy, stressful and chaotic all the different aspects are what would you find?
8. Now looking at your entire life, do you have over all balance between the different aspects or are some things getting way to much of your energy and others hardly any?

From the above questions you not only now understand exactly what you are looking for and need, you can now decide from that information what kind of healing modality are you looking for. Examples: nutritional, fitness, spiritual, therapy oriented, Equine Assisted Therapy, holistic or alternative, hypnotherapy etc. If you have to it is easy enough to Google the different kinds of modalities and see which fits the best with your needs. If you find you are looking for therapy then keep reading the rest of this blog. The above questions are also very beneficial for the therapist, as they will greatly speed up the intake process and allow the practitioner to know exactly what you want.

 The following questions may take a little research or thought on your part but they are very important and will help you to decide what kind of therapy modality you are looking for.

Top 3 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Field of Therapy

1. What kind of therapist are you looking for, Psychotherapist, Psychiatrist, Psychologist, life coach etc.?
2. What field of therapy do you most resonate with? Why? Example, gestalt therapy, spiritual direction, Freudian, or do you wish for a more natural and holistic approach where the focus is on discovering your true self and integrating and balancing your entire life?
3. Of the fields you find intriguing do you resonate with the base theories of why you are experiencing trouble and how they can help?

Now you have a base to interview each individual practitioner. You can do this process over the phone, or during the consultation session, some practitioners will even meet you for coffee and chat. Websites, and blogs that these practitioners write and run will also be greatly beneficial to browse through. They can help you to understand what services they offer and get a feel for who the practitioner is, their beliefs and ideas and the style of therapy they use (not to mention if they are competent). The longer they have been writing a blog the more you will be able to see their own personal and professional evolution. Keep in mind that some practitioners offering consultations sessions charge while others offer the session for free. Here is a list of the top 10 questions you should ask when interviewing a practitioner excluding the all-important question of price and whether their service is covered by health insurance of government funding!

Top 10 Questions to Ask a Potential Practitioner 

1. What are the guiding principles you work by?
2. What area within the therapy field are you best at or most passionate about?
3. What of these areas do you find you are best at: emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, or life coach/ motivator (making external changes)?
4. What are your views on the patient therapist relationship and how do you run a session?
5. What kinds of issues do you find yourself working on most with your clients at this time? (Can be a great way to gauge what the therapist is themselves working on, as often as practitioners we get clients who’s goals, needs and blocks mirror our own) It can also be a representation of their particular niche or expertise, as clients will be drawn to work with a practitioner who offers what they are looking for.
6. How do you differ from other practitioners in your field?
7. What attracted you to practice this modality and has that attraction changed over the years? You can also ask do you enjoy what you do?
8. Is what you offer going to allow me to use the tools and techniques so that I can eventually be self sufficient, in other words am I going to be able to make my life better on my own, and how will you service achieve this? (If the answer is no, walk away!)
9. How long have you been practicing?
10. What licensing or degrees do you have and where did you get them?

Not every practitioner will be able to answer all of the questions especially if they are fairly new to the field as it takes time and experience to get to know themselves, their practice and how their own beliefs, experiences, lessons and learning’s will factor into the services they offer. In other words don’t rule out someone just because they could only answer 4 or 5 of the questions; the main goal in asking these questions is to see if what the practitioner offers matches what you need, as that is what you are purchasing.

Also try to keep in mind how you are feeling and what your instincts are telling you through this process and while around this practitioner. If the practitioners values and practice match what you are looking for but you find yourself feeling uncomfortable with this person, then the time you spend in session will be greatly unsuccessful. A healthy practitioner client relationship has to be based on trust; if you can’t be vulnerable then you can’t share important details that will allow you to create change in your life. Once you go through and finish this process you should have enough information to make an informed choice if this practitioner is right for you or not. Ultimately the reasons we all seek out help differ; the basic foundation of getting our needs successfully met and not wasting our money remains the same to all of us.

Good luck!! Please share your thoughts below

Charlotte Brammer