How do I find a Therapist?
Date: August 14, 2024
Here’s a question I LOVE talking to my friends, family, and individuals in my community about. Sometimes it even comes up at concerts with random strangers who are openly and maybe a little tipsily talking about their mental health…
But, ahem, lets focus back to the million dollar question: How do I find a therapist?
I’m going to go over the places to search for a therapist, what to consider when choosing a therapist, and then some tips on ‘next steps’ to guide you on what to do with the information you have collected.
Places To Find A Therapist
Word of mouth: ask people who they have gone to or any recommendations your therapist friend can suggest in town. Or ask other professionals like your doctor who may have contacts who they refer their clients too because they know therapists in town who are good at helping folks with whatever you are experiencing.
Psychology today: www.psychologytoday.com is THE number one webby to search up therapists in your city in my opinion. Plus you can filter by so many different helpful categories like “Therapists in Kelowna who can help with anxiety”
Google: Just searching on google “therapist for perfectionism” and see what comes up. Now, a lot of businesses can spend a lot of money to get higher on the list of google hits so just because someone is being seen first doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best in town. However it’s still worth looking into the first ‘hits’ just to check them out.
What to Consider When Looking at Therapists
Now that you’ve got a bunch of places to find therapists, you’re going to find out quickly that there are A LOT of options. Especially thanks to the benefit of virtual platforms you really could see someone across Canada (heck across the world if your insurance covers it and their insurance allows them too). So here are my tips on how to narrow down your search so it encourages the probability of you two being a good fit for each other.
The ‘vibe’ of the therapist: now this is the NUMBER one thing I would recommend you consider. And this is why therapists will always offer a free 20 min consultation because we know how important it is to have a connection/rapport with our clients. How do you get the vibe from just an online profile you may ask? You get it by the pictures they take of their webby or social media. You get it by the the way they ‘describe’ themselves. Or sometimes you won’t know until you book a consultation and sometimes even after a few sessions. A helpful piece of advice is “finding a therapist is like finding the right pair of shoes” you might have to try a few different ones to find the shoe you like. That being said, if you don’t feel safe or you don’t like their tone, then follow your gut and look elsewhere.
The therapist’s clinical niche: Read the profile of the therapist and see if what they are trained or skilled in matches what you are experiencing. For example, if you are looking for someone to help with relationship issues, make sure the therapist has key words related to this like ‘couples’ or ‘relationships’ in their profile/bio/description so you are set up for success.
The Gender/Sex of the therapist: Sometimes people find it easier to confide in the therapist of the same sex or the opposite. Or they have preferences of the gender pronouns the professional is using. It’s all about considering who will be the safest match for you and if you will feel comfortable talking to them.
The Culture/Ethnicity of the client: Same as the above in considering who will understand the undertones or context of your experiences. Maybe you want someone who is culturally sensitive to what you are experiencing because they have a similar background. Or maybe this won’t matter to you as much. Just something to keep in mind.
Modalities of the Therapist: Now this may not be so useful initially, but I want to mention it because some modals can be helpful for some issues more so then others. For example, Gottman theories are good for relationships, EMDR is good for trauma, CBT is good for anxiety, play therapy is good for children, etc. However, in saying that, therapists are usually ‘eclectic’ in their approach so it’s not a bad thing if they don’t have the modality that is typical for that issue. Nor is it a good thing if they do. However, it shows you how the therapist will make sense of your situation based on their modalities. And sometimes some clients want to have experience with a type of modality and sometimes they never want to experience that type of modality ever again. So if you don’t know a lot about clinical modalities that’s okay. I would say keep an open mind to the approach they are using and you can always ask them to explain how they use their theories/modalities to help you with your situation..
Location/Platform: It can be a good idea check in to see if where the therapist is located is convenient for you. And if they offer therapy on the platform you like. For example, do they only do virtual? or only in-person? Or both? And do you have a preference of how you would like to experience therapy? In a post-pandemic world and a big entrepreneurial world, a lot of therapists are virtual-only because the technology is so good these days to allow for that. Also rent can be expensive so it can be a helpful cost-saving measure to have a virtual practice.
Next Steps
Now that you’ve searched up therapists and looked at a few profiles, here are my recommendations for your next steps. Pick 3-5 therapists and contact them. Either text/email/call, whatever your personal preference is because I gaurantee you that a therapist will have at least one avenue to connect and we’re all totally fine with the ones we list. I wouldn’t say I have a preference, but I will mention a few advantages of each type. The pros of email or text is that it could be easier to respond to, especially if a therapist can’t talk at that exact time for confidential reasons, but could spend a few minutes writing back in an email or text to your queries. The pros of calling is that it’s the clearest form of communicating and you can hear your therapist’s voice and ask them questions immediately without a back and forth. If you want to text/email first and then follow up with a call, also good!
Then you wait.
The reason I say pick 3-5 because therapists are people too! And they may have time boundaries around their work email/text/call where they could take 1-2 days to get back to you. Or they may be on vacation. Or they may not actually be a good fit for you once you do connect. Or they may not have the availability that works for you.
So this is why I recommend contacting several therapists so you increase your chances of finding someone to connect with and have several options to choose from. Also feel free to ask that therapist if they have any recommendations of who they could refer you too. Probably best to ask once you have established a point of contact with the therapist… I wouldn’t ask that in the initial email/text just cause that would mean more work on our end when we don’t really know you at this point and don’t have enough information to know who could be a good fit for you.
Keep in Mind
Therapy and your healing journey is a process. And it’s okay to hop around different therapists. Personally I have seen 7-8 different therapists for different lengths over the past 4 years. Reason being, some people I really connected with but their modality didn’t work for me, or vice versa. So don’t be afraid to move on and try different styles and different therapists, especially if you feel like you’re not getting far in your healing. Or your therapist might even gently suggest they refer you out to someone different because your issue might be beyond their scope.
All in all, go in with an open mind but trust your intuition. And I sincerely hope it’s a good journey for you. One of my specialities is working with folks who are new to counselling because I have personally experienced a few fumbles from professionals where I was SHOOK on how the heck they got their license. Now that I’m a therapist I keep in mind that sometimes we have bad days, we are distracted, or even worse, we are struggling with burn out or compassion fatigue.
So I’m cognizant of these issues AND I do a really good job of welcoming folks who are new to counselling so that even if we are not a good match I know how to create a good experience for others and know when to refer my new clients out in a way that feels supportive.
As such, feel free to book a session with me if you want to try therapy and my clinical niche or my personality matches what you are looking for. You can click my “Book A Session” button or go to my contact page to start the conversation so we can book a consultation or a session.
Written by: Melissa Campos
