Tips for Choosing a
Psychotherapist
Questions to Ask a Prospective Therapist
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Do
you have openings? How long is the wait? |
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Are
you available for appointments on weekends?
Evenings? |
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Do
you charge for an initial appointment? How much? |
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What
is your fee? Do you take reduced fee clients? |
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How
long is a session? 45, 50, 55, 60 minutes? |
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Do
you take insurance claims? Do you belong to my
provider network? What is your payment policy
regarding insurance reimbursement? Who files the
insurance claims? |
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What
is your theoretical orientation to doing
therapy? Psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive,
systemic, supportive, humanistic, existential,
transpersonal? Ask them to explain the
difference. A combination can sometimes be best. |
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What's your preferred style of doing therapy?
Individual? Group? Family? Weekly? Monthly? |
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Where do you practice? Private office, hospital,
clinic, agency, HMO, group practice? |
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Are
you available for emergencies by phone? Do you
charge for phone calls? |
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What
is the policy for cancellations, lateness,
forgetting or changing appointments? |
Qualities of a
Good Therapist
A good
therapist will convey warmth, genuineness and
respectful interest for you and your concerns. In
addition, you can expect them to be empathetic,
dynamic and alive, and be able to give you specific
feedback. A good therapist should also convey mutual
trust and not be afraid to confront or challenge you
and your beliefs at times. Above all, a therapist
should leave you with feeling of comfort and
confidence in their therapeutic skills and
abilities; ideally causing you to feel uplifted and
hopeful about your future.
Your Relationship with a Therapist: Assessing
Compatibility
The
relationship between you and your therapist is of
primary importance. A therapist's personal qualities,
attitudes, expectations, beliefs, and values matter more
than their particular technique, approach or theoretical
orientation in making therapy work. The following are
questions you may ask yourself to determine how
compatible you felt during and after your interview:
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Did
the therapist convey personal warmth and concern
for you? |
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Were
they genuinely interested in you and your
welfare in a supportive manner? |
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Were
they sensitive to your feelings? Were you
treated with courtesy and respect? |
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Did
the therapist make eye contact? |
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Was
there an atmosphere of mutual trust? |
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Did
you believe they were listening to you and could
understand you? |
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Were
you able to talk easily and honestly with them?
Could you be yourself? |
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Were
they accepting and affirming of your
individuality? |
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Did
the therapist give you adequate feedback? |
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Were
you comfortable questioning or disagreeing with
them? |
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Were
they insightful, being able to sense things
beyond your present awareness? |
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Did
they have a touch of human wisdom, a sense of
understanding that goes beyond technique and
theory? |
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Did
you like them? Did you find their values and
attitudes compatible? |
Determining Competency and Ethical Standards
There is
no simple formula to determine whether a therapist
is competent in what they do. Credentials, diplomas,
certifications and licenses may be impressive, but
still do not indicate or guarantee that a therapist
is successful or ethical when helping people. At
best, they only inform you of the extent to which
the therapist has pursued his or her education and
training in their profession. Membership in a
regulated professional organization, however, like
the National Association of Social Workers or the
American Psychological Association for example, may
be important. Associations like these may hold the
practitioner accountable for following their
organization's professional code of ethics. Also,
the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies
Mental Health Grievance Board keeps a public record
of complaints filed against psychotherapists. Anyone
can call this department at (303) 894-7766 to learn
if any complaint has ever been filed against a
licensed or unlicensed psychotherapist.
Assessing Competence
The
following questions may further help you to determine
the level of competence of the therapist you are
interviewing by assessing their professional training,
credentials, licenses, organizational affiliations and
history of experiences in clinical practice.
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What
diploma and graduate degree did they receive?
From which school? What year? |
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Did
they graduate from a specific clinical training
program from their university? What was their
major? |
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How
many years have they been practicing therapy?
How long privately? |
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What
was their previous employment prior to private
practice? Did they work in clinical agencies? |
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Do
they currently have a clinical supervisor who
reviews their work? For how many years? If not,
why not? |
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Are
they licensed in a mental health discipline in
your state or are they registered with the
Department of Regulatory Agencies? |
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What
professional organizations are they a member of?
What was the criteria for membership? |
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How
much and what kind of specific experience have
they had treating any particular problem you may
be concerned about? |
Understanding the Different Credentials
There
are a wide variety of master's and doctoral degrees
available to someone who seeks to become a
therapist. After graduating with one or more
degrees, one can qualify to become licensed by the
state in which they reside. In addition, after
completing certain post-graduate training programs
or meeting specific criteria established by state or
national professional organizations, one can obtain
an ever widening variety of certifications which may
indicate additional achievement in a particular area
of practice. Unfortunately, there are also an
increasing number of "degree mills" and self serving
training programs which enable anyone to obtain an
official looking graduate "Diploma" or framed
"Training Certificate" for the right price. It is
often difficult to discriminate between the
legitimately recognized universities and
organizations from the meaningless ones.
Licensed
Psychotherapists
Having a
license to practice psychotherapy simply indicates
that the therapist has met minimum qualifications
for academic knowledge as indicated by having a
master's degree from an accredited graduate school,
passing a qualifying exam, and having completed two
years approved supervised experience in the field.
In Most
states, there are four kinds of licensed
psychotherapists:
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Licensed Psychologists |
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Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) |
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Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT) |
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Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) |
Check
with you state department of business and professional
regulation for the specific disciplines that are
licensed in your state. |
